Day 9: Lefkosia to Larnaca

All the shops in Lefkosia seemed to be closed this morning, so we ended up navigating to a drive-through McDonalds a few miles away from our apartment for breakfast. Once we'd eaten, it was back to the apartment to pack before we set off for our ultimate destination of Larnaca. Larnaca is located on the southern coast of Cyprus, about 37 miles south of Lefkosia. It's a fairly easy drive to get there, mostly along a series of motorways.

When planning the route I'd chosen a slightly scenic variation, which would take us past Larnaca's Salt Lake.

We found the lake without too much difficulty, but it wasn't immediately obvious where we could stop to look at it. Eventually Tim caught sight of a small car park on the lake shore, and we were able to get out to explore.

It was a rather strange place, but quite picturesque.

The ground really was completely covered in salt; Tim tasted some of it to double check 

Once we'd finished admiring the lake, we continued on into Larnaca. It was only a couple of miles further on. The first thing we caught sight of as we parked the car was a minaret in the distance.

This is thought to be the first Ottoman mosque which was built in Cyprus.

It's a really pretty building.

We'd driven through this archway, which is attached to the side of the mosque, on the way to park our car.

A bit further up the road from here, we found Larnaca's main church.

This is the church of Saint Lazarus, believed to be the burial place of the biblical Lazarus (when he died for a second time).

It's a really lovely church.

From here it wasn't far to the sea, so went for a stroll to look at the beach.

I'm glad we didn't spend our entire holiday here  

There's a large promenade, lined with palm trees, which runs along the sea front.

The promenade came to an end beside some government buildings.

We'd covered most of the town's main sights by this point, so it was time to get some lunch. We found a restaurant right outside the church  

We decided to have chicken souvlaki for a final time. Unfortunately this time they unexpectedly came in a pitta bread with lots of tomato and cucumber, which we had to scrape out. The meat itself was tasty though, and we also got a final serving of baklava  

Then it was time to head back to the car park and make the short drive to the airport to hand back the hire car. We've had a really great week in Cyprus and seen some really beautiful scenery; I think it's fair to say that it's a country which has exceeded our expectations