Saturday, May 13th

Today we spent the day visiting castles with our first stop at the Kolossi Castle which was a stronghold built by the Crusaders in the 13th century. While touring the castle there were many aspects of the construction, I found interesting. First, each floor consists of two main rooms that are oriented in different directions to make the frame of the castle more stable. This is such a smart way to enhance the durability of the castle in an era where it needed to withstand outside forces and protect the people inside. I also found it interesting that they used to sleep in wooden lofts above the main rooms in the castle. There were no bedrooms or even beds for that matter, instead they would sleep on the ground of the loft above a room like the kitchen or dining room. Lastly, we were able to see how they collected and stored water which I found somewhat fascinating. I expected them to use wells or collect water from rivers, but instead they used drains and storage under the cellar to collect rainwater for use in cooking and bathing. This is a much more advanced system than I would have imagined for the time, and it makes me wonder what else I have underestimated about history.

The other castle we visited was Limassol Castle in the old town area which was built around the 11th century. After its construction, many high profile people stayed in this castle when visiting Cyprus one of which being King Richard the Lionheart. During his stay, he married Queen Joanna which happens to be the only English Royal wedding to ever occur outside of England. Unfortunately, about 300 years after it was built, Cyprus was overtaken by the Ottomans. They tormented the island and destroyed a significant section of the castle to turn the remaining structure into a prison. In the current structure of the building, you can see where the walls were filled in after more than half the castle was torn down. It was amazing to see how incredible the construction was despite the age and wear that the building has endured.