Today was day 2 of our two weeks in Cyprus and we toured two historical sites. Hala Sultan Tekke and St. Lazarus Church. After that we were able to take time to ourselves, and we spent time at the beach and shopped around a couple of souvenir stores. There was also many Greek restaurants that we saw and tried Greek food such as Kebabs and more.

First we toured the Hala Sultan Tekke and some facts I learned was that one and Jesus’s followers actually came to Cyprus and stayed here. Hala Sultan was said to come to Cyprus when Muhammad came to visit her, he saw a dream and when mentioning the dream to her, she told him to pray for her, which he did. I thought learning about this backstory was very interesting since I got background information of the site we visited, so I could understand better how and why it was originated. Then the St. Lazarus Church some interesting facts I found out were that bells were actually forbidden for a long period of time. We were able to tour inside and enter the tombs, which was home to the burial sites of many, but none included being buried in wood. They all were buried in tombs made of clay stone and other material, but not wood.

After the two stops we drove to the coast where we first spotted flamingos which I never seen before in their natural habitat. Then we were able to explore Larnaca on our own and a lot of us went to the beach. I swam out to the red bouy, which looking at it from the beach looks very far away. We spent a lot of time in the ocean, where the water was clear, so I could see the bottom almost the entire time I was in the water. We shopped and explored any stores and restaurants, such as coffee shops, and kiosks on the beach.