Larnaca; Sunday, 16 March, 2025

I had another tour booked for this morning, though thankfully the pickup time was 9am so I didn’t have to get up so early, though it did mean by the time I got down to breakfast it was almost full with athletes and coaches, so it took a little while to find a table and to fill my plate as the buffet was being stripped bare almost as soon as it was being replenished – who would have thought Discus and Hammer athletes had such healthy appetites on a competition day!

The tour ended up being pretty exclusive as it was just me and one Polish lady so it was almost a private tour along the coast towards the Cape Greco Nature Reserve and National forest, the most Southeasterly point of both Cyprus and the European Union. Though our first stop was in the small fishing village of Ayia Napa.

Or at least it was a small fishing village up until 1974. With Varosha becoming a ghost town the Greek-Cypriot authorities moved fast to create a new resort town, taking advantage of the shallow seas, golden sandy beaches and other natural attractions of the area to turn Ayia Napa into a resort that’s been famous pretty much since it’s creation.

Our first stop was at Nissi Beach, a wide stretch of golden sand that is famous for the small Nissi Island just off shore which is connected by a sand bar which means you can walk across from the beach to the island only getting your feet wet. A bit further along the coast and our second stop was at the Bridge of Love, a natural stone arch over an iridescent blue sea that you normally only see in holiday brochures after the image has been manipulated.

From the Bridge of Love it was a short drive into the nature reserve and our next stop the Zangooly Cave, located below a small chapel on a headland you climb down a set of steps and then scramble across some rocks to reach the cave that was once lived in by a hermit. The views out to sea from here, particularly as we were the only ones in the cave, were spectacular.

From the cave it was a short drive through the park for a quick stop at the Crow’s Arch – another rock arch, though this one closed off to the public as just looking at it it’s obvious that it is sadly close to collapse. A bit more of a drive and we then stopped on the headland for a wander around and then up the cliffs to the highest point on this part of the island to take in the full extend of Cape Greco and the views back along the coast to Ayia Napa.

The final stop of the day was the sea cliffs just below the highest point. Here the sea bed has been, over the last 30,000 years forced up out of the water and not stands a good 50m or so above the current seabed, but it still shows all the signs of when it was the bed of the sea, with the anchor points of a large coral bed clearly visible. Down on the sea floor now there are a series of caves that are slowly being carved out beneath the ground and you can walk around the horseshoe shaped formation taking in the stunning views and the almost impossible blues of the sea.

From the sea caves we hopped back in the mini-bus and made the journey back into Larnaca, dropping me off at the hotel, where I headed back to my room and got changed into my swimming trunks as I had the afternoon to myself and decided to go onto the beach behind the hotel and go for a swim – despite it being March and the high 20s the hotel had decided that it still warm enough to open the pool!

By the hotel the water was crystal clear with only a couple of pieces of palm leaves from the nearby trees floating in the water – other than that it was just golden sand and a very shallow walk out towards the breakwaters about 200m off the coast. Even by the time I reached the breakwaters the level of the water was only about halfway up my chest, but that was perfect for spending quite a bit of time just relaxing in the water, especially as there were only about another 5 people enjoying the sea at the same time.

I spent quite a lot of time out in the water before it was time to head back into the hotel, with the long walk back in the warm sun through the shallows giving time for me to be almost completely dry by the time I reached the hotel. I had a quick shower to freshen up and then headed back out along the coast to the Taverna I’d eaten at earlier in the week for an early dinner whilst taking in the sunset. Post dinner I had a bit of a wander along the coast before returning to the hotel and turning in for the night.