Today was the day of the castles! We woke up to our usual breakfast, and made our way on the bus, where started our trip to the Colossi Crusader Castle.
When we first arrived at the castle, we walked on a drawbridge to enter the door, which for some reason I found really cool and reminded me of when I was a little kid and pictured what being in a castle would be like. When we walked in, I could not believe how large the rooms in the castle actually were. One interesting fact I learned was that on each floor, the rooms on the floors were built in opposite directions. For example, if one room has 2 floors, they will be facing north and south, and on another floor they would be facing west and east. Another thing I learned was that for sleeping quarters they would put wooden planks in the holes in the walls of the castle and create almost a second floor for the people to sleep. This was also seen in the small windows at the top of each room that would provide light for the rooms they created. Finally, one of the most amazing things about this castle was the 15th century crucifixion painting. I could not believe that a painting so old would be able to hold up so well.
After walking around the castle, we made our way to the Kourion Ancient city. I think this is one of my favorite places we have visited on the trip. It had the most beautiful view of the Mediterranean Sea and had vast landscape of ruins. First, we made our way down to the covered ruins, which featured a mosaic and multiple baths. There is also writing in the ruins that welcomes the guests saying “welcome, and may your coming bless the house” in greek. After this, we went to the amphitheater and being able to sit on such ancient history and looking out on the sea was one of my favorite moments on the whole trip. Even though we were only there for maybe 15 minutes, I could have sat there for hours. It was so calm and picturesque the view would never get old. I quickly found out why, as it was explained that while Roman theaters can be anywhere, Greek theaters are always close to nature.
We then made our way down to the beach, where we had a wonderful lunch and I had one of the best pieces of salmon I have ever had. We also went on to the beach we were seeing from the amphitheater and it was extremely pretty up close but also extremely windy. After taking some pictures and heading back to the bus, we headed to our finally destination, the Limassol Castle.
The Castle was way bigger on the inside than expected, and featured gothic architecture. It had so many different rooms and hallways I couldn’t wait to explore. It featured tons of artifacts scattered throughout, especially a suit of amour.
After leaving the castle, we took advantage of our free time and layed out on the beach. It was so nice to spend some time with some of my new friends and talk about the trip and all the fun memories we’ve made. I can’t wait to make more!