Throughout our day in Lanaraca, three major things were taken from the day. One, oceanic preservation is extremely important to Cyprus Marine and Maritime Institute (CMMI) and beginning to become the focus of many Cypriots. Next, the aspect of the day I found most interesting, was discovering the burial sight of Saint Lazarus and the church dedicated to him is extremely important to the churches. Finally, villages within the Troodos are beautiful yet generate great business from tourists.

CMMI mainly is focusing on the MaRITec-X project, which has the hope of driving sustainable blue growth.  We learned through the lectures that they plan to do this by building a public university; renovating a lighthouse into a public knowledge center, and renovating a house into a career center. The large focus of CMMI is to educate teachers and kids on environmental sustainability within the shipping industry. This is in hopes of reimagining the shipping industry. This applies to industrial engineering as they are trying to promote a new shipping industry focused on the environment. This is through the building of automated boats, and UAVs and focusing on biomethane as renewable energy. This work towards a better shipping industry confirms that the Mediterranean Sea is a vehicle of desire.

After Christ’s death, Apostle Paul traveled up the coast of Cyprus along the Mediterranean Sea spreading religion and culture. Among traveling, Paul met with Lazarus and spread more religion throughout Cyprus. Lazarus is significant within Christianity as he was risen from the dead due to Jesus’s blessings and lived a whole rest of his life. Personally, over the past year, I have grown to be more religious therefore, this tomb was quite impactful on my day and this trip as a whole. It was amazing to see the beautiful church, the tomb, and Lazarus’ bones. It became all too real, making this one of the fantastic elements of our trip so far. Religion aside, the architecture within the Church makes it one of a kind. The pillar heads are assorted throughout the church for decoration along with massive paintings of each of the Apostles all plated in gold. The gold plating was influenced by Russia, as at the time only the sky was considered heaven, not gold. With the introduction of the Russian Orthodox Church, it became adopted by Russian Influence that gold signified heaven as well. Hence through the gold and Lazarus’ remains, the Church of Saint Lazarus was filled with extreme amounts of culture.

Finally, through the village of Lefkara, local tourism is the only means of the economy in the Troodos Mountains. Being very skilled in silverwork and handmade placemats, many of their products are beautiful, yet not cheap. Walking around created some of the most beautiful views and all the little local shops lure you in. After spending a good amount of money in the beautiful Lefkara, I do not regret a thing and would go back immediately. Therefore, Lefkara- the village off of Larnaca is not only a vehicle of ancient culture, but also desire as well.