Two castles in a day

St Hilarion Castle

We have two sights planned for today.  I thought we’d do one as early as possible and the other at the end of the day.  That way, we would avoid the worst of the day’s 36 degC heat.

After an awesome breakfast on the rooftop, we headed out about 0845 on the drive to St Hilarion Castle.  The route took us on what seems like a motorway (the road back to Nicosia) but it isn’t really:

• The speed limit is lower at 65 km/h and there were a few (very few) roads than run off to private properties.
• Quite scarily, there were some unsafe provisions to turn off and make U-turns. These provisions were gaps in the barriers without an additional lane.  With the speed of vehicles around, I didn’t think they were safe enough.

Incidentally, there are lots of cameras on the roads, highways and intersections here.

Freshly having arrived at St Hilarion’s castle around 0915, we couldn’t quite work out the route that we would be taking:

• There was a castle wall that went up a very steep mountainside. Can that be it?
• Are we going all the way to the top or just part way?

We started from the ticket desk (lower ward) followed the marked path, stopping at an intermediate set of buildings (middle ward) along the way.  The stone paths were slippery at times and Kim only had flip-flops on whereas I had sturdier sandals.

About 40 mins after starting off, we reached the Prince John’s Tower (upper ward).  The upper ward was reserved for the royal family.

In the upper ward but beneath the tower, was the Royal Apartment.  The Queen’s Window was particularly pretty and offered a good view of the northern coast.

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Climbing in this heat, I was drenched.  The 11^th Century Byzantines must have been desperate to get away from their enemies to fortify themselves so high up.

It was only a 15 min walk downhill without stopping at the sights along the way.  On the drive back, we stopped at the Sah Marketplace supermarket which we had an awesome deli and sit-down eat-in area.  We had a nice selection of meals, which can easily beat some restaurants.  The afternoon was spent back at the accommodation with a couple of swims in the super-clean pool.

Buffavento Castle

I had read that Buffavento Castle (or rather the drive) is worthwhile, even if one doesn’t make the arduous hike up.  One such hike per day is more than enough in this heat.

The drive up was along narrow windy roads which dropped off steeply on one side.  We were pleased that it wasn’t a popular place and encountered only one other car that was coming in the opposite direction, and fortunately at a place with some space to pass.

We admired the castle from the carpark and looked at the walking track, trying to work out where on the cliff it may run.  Again, we thought about how desperate the Byzantines must have been to keep safe away from their enemies.

On the drive back, we stopped at the supermarket to get some dinner from the deli.  There was hardly any hot food left; it’s more a lunch trade we reckon.  We got one vegetable dish and a couple of salads to have back on our patio after a quick swim.