Today was a nice change of pace from our company visits, as we spent the whole day doing cultural visits to various castles! We started off by visiting the Kolossi Crusader Castle, which, as the name implies, was a large castle built by the Crusaders while they were occupying the country. What’s interesting to think about is whether this castle was built more to repel foreign invaders or to suppress the local population. Even without knowing the castle’s history, the fact that it was a crusader castle was immediately obvious, as it had a distinctive gothic style. Furthermore, when walking into the remaining part of the castle, it looked very much like a European chapel, largely due to its gothic style. While on the main floor of the castle, we saw a beautiful French coat of arms. While we have learned previously about the French takeover of the island, it remains surprising to me, as I wouldn’t have thought it possible for an ancient kingdom to administer an island so far from their homeland.

After we wrapped up walking around Kolossi Castle, we visited the beautiful Kourion Ancient City. Approaching this ancient city was beautiful as we traversed up a large seaside hill that overlooked a scenic Mediterranean beach. At the top of the hill, we were greeted with a beautifully crafted and preserved mosaic, which depicted a woman using a Greek foot measurement tool. What was extremely interesting was the fact that the mosaic was to scale, as the measurement tool was exactly one Greek foot, according to our tour guide. I honestly never would have thought it possible for ancient artists to be able to create such accurate art using a difficult form of art. As we walked further along, we were greeted with a variety of ruins, which showed the sheer magnitude of the mansion we were walking into. The most impressive feature of the tour, though, was the ancient Greek amphitheater we were able to sit in! The amphitheater was built into the hill we were on and overlooked the Mediterranean. Interestingly, we learned from our tour guide that the only difference between a Greek amphitheater and a Roman one is that Greek amphitheaters are built only in places that have natural beauty, while the Romans would build one anywhere. The natural and ancient beauty of Cyprus has been stunning to me this whole trip, but today was definitely the day that has stood out the most to me in that regard. Sitting in a structure that was 1000 years old, with a pleasant temperature, and admiring the power of an ocean is unforgettable to me and makes me wish we had more ruins like this in America.

After an extremely well-prepared lunch at a fancy seafood restaurant, we made our way over to Limassol Castle. We had previously seen the outside of Limassol Castle a few times, but today was the first day we got to enter the building. The inside of the building has been converted into a museum that displays the various archaeological finds that have been found inside the building. The history of the castle itself is extremely interesting. It was originally constructed by the French, where Richard the Lionheart married his wife; it was later used by the Venetians; it was then used as a fort by the Ottomans after they conquered the island; and finally, it was used as a prison by the Ottomans. As a result of this long history, the castle has been reconstructed and modified multiple times in its history, which you can see evidence of inside. One example of this is the Ottomans significantly shrinking the facility, which resulted in column heads being joined into walls and doorways that no longer aligned with rooms properly. The artifact in the museum that stood out to me the most was a beheaded skeleton. This person was a Venetian soldier who was tortured and beheaded by the Ottomans after they took over the fort. To me, this served as a reminder of the destructive force that religion and nationalism can have on people. If it weren’t for these factors, man could’ve been able to live out a full life and not die horrifically at the hands of invaders. While seeing this skeleton was sobering, the day was still extremely enjoyable, which made me appreciate Cyprus even more.