Karpaz Region, North Cyprus (Wild Donkeys!) -- and Kantara Castle

Dear Readers,

In this post, I’d like to describe a recent travel adventure shared with my girls and some friends on the north side of Cyprus.

So there we were, careening around hairpin turns on a one-lane, pot-holey road in the Karpaz Mountains in North Cyprus. We had been promised sightings of large flocks (herds?) of wild donkeys (also known as wild asses, to the great amusement of my 10-year-old) in this region of the island. The story goes that after some period in the history of this great nation, donkeys were no longer needed for the work they had previously served, and rather than being barbecued into delicious kebabs, were humanely set free to roam the hills, where they immediately set about procreating like rabbits, and have since (supposedly) taken over the land. We had been on the road for two hours, with nothing more ass-like than the black outline of one of the creatures on a road sign.

We rounded the corner and came upon a huge bus, puttering along behind another huge bus. A few kilometers later, the road widened just in time for a convoy of cars to pass us from the other direction. We swerved out, passed the mega-busses and crested the hill. Before us lay a vast expanse of sandy beach dotted with low-growing pines and a row of neat brown bungalow cottages. The sign read, ‘Big Sand Beach.’

We pulled in, then sat comfortably in the shade, sipping drinks while we waited for our rooms to be ready. After check-in, we could hardly wait to dash down the hill to the edge of the blue and green sea. We squeezed into our once-fitting wetsuits, then plunged into the chilly waters. To our disappointment, no marine life was visible, so after splashing about until our lips turned blue, we stretched out on the hot sand and waited to be toasted like lobsters under the yellow sun.

The next day, we drove a few kilometers down the road to the National Park in hopes of visiting the old monastery and maybe seeing some herds of donkeys.

Adriana was the first to spot the scruffy animals lounging between the parking lot and the sea, looking like they owned the place…which they kind of do. There were seven of them. Not quite the massive herd we had imagined, but nothing could dampen our spirits now and we raced down the path toward the docile-looking donkeys. I guess these guys are used to visitors, because they didn’t flinch as we walked around them snapping picture after selfie and trying to scratch their long ears. I even lifted Maria and held her over one, so she could claim she had ridden a wild ass.

When we had had enough of the donkeys, we wandered around, peering through wire mesh at the half-finished reconstruction of the old monastery. On the other side of the parking lot, the long row of tourist-trap shops attracted our attention, and we spent the next hour perusing the stalls, the girls ‘Ooh-ing’ and ‘Aah-ing’ over a myriad of plastic articles clearly made in China.

Back to the bungalows for dinner, a bit of star-gazing and a good night’s sleep. The next two days were spent in much the same way, then it was time to return. On the way back, we stopped to see one of the best castles on the island, Kantara Castle. This castle, built on the very tip of the peninsula, strattles the Karpaz Mountains. When we arrived, a thick cloud was just settling over the castle. We explored every room and looked through the slit-windows down the sheer cliff to the car parked far below.

The whole structure is falling in, with twisted pines growing up between rock foundations and walls and wild poppies adorning smaller cracks in the building. We arrived at the top just as the cloud began dispersing, revealing a stunning view across the plane out to the sea on both sides of the peninsula. Then the clouds settled on the castle again, and we made our way back to the car and on to Girne (Kyrenia), where we had planned to eat a delicious meal of meze, the local, lavish service of mixed appetizers.

Unfortunately, the restaurant we had chosen had decidedly poor service, extremely small portions sizes and tasteless, undercooked food. We escaped after paying twice what we should have for less than half of what we wanted, and then went to a place where the locals eat. We filled up on pide (cheese-filled flat bread), lahmajun (thin-crust pizza eaten with shredded vegetables and lemon) and complementary cups of authentic Turkish tea.

Tummies full, we made our way home to fall into bed for a good nights’ sleep before going back to work the following day. Thank goodness for three-day weekends!

Thanks for tuning in! Come back again soon to read more about Cyprus.

This is me, signing off...