Home for a nice cup of tea,

Market in Guzelyurt (pop. 15000)

mosque...church

Climbing up to St Hellarions castle - 700 steps to go. Inspiration for Disney's fairy castle (supposedly)

Kyrenia castle ... outside

...inside

pic-nic lunch

Bummer of a birth mark (Larsen)

We have had a well deserved holiday, a reward for finishing the decorating.Actually this was a bit premature as the laundry isn't done yet.

Anyway, we have been to Northern Cyprus for a week.

This is the Turkish bit, not very large & not so commercialised as the South.

It was hot - mid to high thirties & sunny with the occasional light breeze.

We stayed at Green Village, a newish resort about 10km outside Kyrenia, the main town, famous for it's castle at the edge of the harbour.

We hired a Suzuki Vitara for a few days, which was great fun & enabled us to go to the Eastern end where there are long sandy deserted beaches where turtles hatch.

We went to the Eastern end, which is mountainous with a couple of historic sites & wonderful views.

G spent a day doing a couple of dives, to test out his shoulder, whilst I swam in the sea, read & sunbathed & we went on a boat trip along the coast for a day, swimming off a couple of beaches.

There was nothing of interest to buy, apart from some local food for lunch. We even dined on our balcony on local bread, salad, cheese & olives, washed down with a bottle of wine 3 times - too hot to want a great deal to eat.

There are a great many new developments partly completed all along the coast - villas & shops.

People have pulled out of sales because of the recession, no new houses, no new shops needed.

It actually took us 12 hours to get home this morning, from pick up at the resort to arriving home - all flights have to land in mainland Turkey en route, which adds another hour to the journey.

Only 2 hours in bed last night, so I have some catching up to do.

G will post some photos.