The Tomb

To start off our day we got out the door at 9:30 to take an hour bus ride over to lanarca where we went to see some religious history. The first location we visited was a monastery that also contained a tomb for Umm Haram, a religious figure in the Muslim community. When we first entered we had to meet the dress code requirement which meant having to keep our knees and shoulders covered at all times. If we also wanted to explore further into the mosque we also had to remove our shoes. This was something I was u familiar with and never done before but it was very nice inside so I can understand why they take these precautions. Attached to the mosque was the tomb room which we weren’t allowed to enter but we could look through the windows to see some of the tomb.

Orthodox Christian Church

After the first tour we got back on the bus and drove over to Lanarca bay. Here we visited an orthodox church which was very interesting because I had never seen anything like it before. The church was decorated with large chandeliers, artwork, and gold. When we entered there wasn’t an actual session going on but there were still a lot of people there. It is common for people to go to the church and kiss the old paintings (there is glass over them) because it symbolizes them kissing a religous figure or someone important to them. This was very unique and not like any church I’ve been to in the United States. There was also a basement with an extremely low ceiling that contained old tombs but they were open and didn’t have bodies in them.

Beach Time

Once the tours were over we had the rest of the time there to go to the beach which I really enjoyed. The beach was very calm, the water had no waves and it was very shallow. It was also a little cold but I didn’t mind since it felt refreshing after being in the heat for so long. This beach was a nice change from the jersey shore I was used to. We were also able to order food right on the beach and have it be brought out so we didn’t even have to leave the beach to eat.