My final day of walking both across Cyprus, and across Europe on the E4. Highlights of my last day of walking were the Kamares aqueduct and the Hala Sultan Tekke mosque by the salt lake.
Rejoining the E4 north of Aradippou, I walked through an uninspiring vista of fields of stubble, rows of round bales of hay, cows herds in large sheds, silos and piles of gravel. Crossing the Nicosia highway on a curiously large bridge brought an improvement. I visited the little church of the Panagia Aimatousa, with its simple barrel vaulted nave and stone walls, and my final viewing of Greek Orthodox icons on this trip. Some road walking brought me to my final "forest", the Rizoelias park. Following the circuitous route up through small pines I reached a viewing point over Lanarca by a picnic site. Then it was downhill, exiting the park into an industrial estate.
After some urban walking with a diversion through ploughed fields (unfortunately attracting some fly tipping), I reached the suburb of Kamares and admired its lengthy aqueduct carried by some 20 graceful arches of yellow stone, built in the 18th century but looking Roman. Leaving buildings behind I crossed open ground to reach the large salt lake, white at the edges, red further in. Beyond it to the east were the buildings of Larnaca, to the south planes landing at the airport.
Hidden at first from my view, the Hala Sultan Tekke mosque shyly revealed itself as I rounded a corner of the gravel track I was following. An important pilgrimage site it is said to contain the tomb of Umm Haram, holy helper and Aunt of Mohammed, who died here during an Arab army attack on Cyprus. Inside the mosque is quite plain but looking back as I crossed a causeway towards the airport, its location beside the salt lake makes it a striking monument.
My final obstacle was to find a way into the airport, not always easy for a pedestrian as you are not expected to arrive on foot, but apart from crossing one busy road, it was all on pavements from the exit road of the mosque. This has just left me with a long wait for my flight back home later this evening, thinking of where my next trip might take me...
21 kilometres walked today. A GPS track of my route can be found on wikiloc.com and on ViewRanger short code johnpon0047.
Rejoining the E4 north of Aradippou, I walked through an uninspiring vista of fields of stubble, rows of round bales of hay, cows herds in large sheds, silos and piles of gravel. Crossing the Nicosia highway on a curiously large bridge brought an improvement. I visited the little church of the Panagia Aimatousa, with its simple barrel vaulted nave and stone walls, and my final viewing of Greek Orthodox icons on this trip. Some road walking brought me to my final "forest", the Rizoelias park. Following the circuitous route up through small pines I reached a viewing point over Lanarca by a picnic site. Then it was downhill, exiting the park into an industrial estate.
After some urban walking with a diversion through ploughed fields (unfortunately attracting some fly tipping), I reached the suburb of Kamares and admired its lengthy aqueduct carried by some 20 graceful arches of yellow stone, built in the 18th century but looking Roman. Leaving buildings behind I crossed open ground to reach the large salt lake, white at the edges, red further in. Beyond it to the east were the buildings of Larnaca, to the south planes landing at the airport.
Hidden at first from my view, the Hala Sultan Tekke mosque shyly revealed itself as I rounded a corner of the gravel track I was following. An important pilgrimage site it is said to contain the tomb of Umm Haram, holy helper and Aunt of Mohammed, who died here during an Arab army attack on Cyprus. Inside the mosque is quite plain but looking back as I crossed a causeway towards the airport, its location beside the salt lake makes it a striking monument.
My final obstacle was to find a way into the airport, not always easy for a pedestrian as you are not expected to arrive on foot, but apart from crossing one busy road, it was all on pavements from the exit road of the mosque. This has just left me with a long wait for my flight back home later this evening, thinking of where my next trip might take me...
21 kilometres walked today. A GPS track of my route can be found on wikiloc.com and on ViewRanger short code johnpon0047.
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| Kamares aqueduct |
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| Hala Sultan Tekke mosque as viewed from the south, with the salt lake before it. |
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