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Galleria of my hovel. In the center is a nineteenth century Armenian carpet with Tree of Life design. The construction hanging from the ceiling is by Anunaran .  (Click on photos for enlargement)  Better look at Armenian carpet Detail of Armenian carpet

The day after I visited the Statue Of Zeno I wandered into town again, but instead of walking the whole way down the Phinikoude I turned left a block past the Fort and proceeded a couple of hundred yards to St. Lazarus Square. The Church of St. Lazarus, one of Larnaca’s most famous landmarks, fronts the square on the west. Although the square is on the southern edge of the highly developed area behind the Phinikoude it serves as the symbolic center of town. Saint Lazarus, who according to the Christian Bible was raised from the dead by Jesus of Nazareth, was supposedly buried here, and over the last 1500 years or so three different churches have stood over the site of his tomb. The current church is used by a local Greek Orthodox congregation. It is also visited by many pilgrims from all over the Orthodox world and figures in most tourist itineraries. As I walk by a service is in progress, and I can hear the chanting of Greek Orthodox priests. I want to view the interior of the church

I guess it was inevitable that I would someday end up on the island of Cyprus. It is, after all, one of the great crossroads of the world, linking the seaways between Europe, Asia Minor, the Middle East, and Africa. The northwest tip of Cyprus is just forty-five miles from the coast of Turkey. The coast of Syria is sixty-five miles from the northeast corner of the island. Beirut is 110 miles from the southeast tip of Cyprus; Damascus 160; Jerusalem 228. From the southwest coast of Cyprus it’s 280 miles to Alexandria at the mouth of the Nile in Egypt, and 325 to the Big Bopper, Cairo. All of these places have left their mark on Cyprus.  ©2105 Google Earth (click on image for enlargement) The island has been inhabited for 12,000 years at the very least. The earliest human inhabitants may have shared the island with dwarf elephants and hippopotami. A well-preserved Neolithic village has been dated to 6,800 b.c. By 2500 b.c the indigenous population was engaged in trade with Egypt, Greece,

From Larnaca I moseyed up to Nicosia, the largest city on the island of Cyprus. Downtown Nicosia is only twenty-eight miles from downtown Larnaca, but given all the bus stops the trip takes over an hour. Since 1974 Nicosia has been divided into two parts; the northern part in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus and the southern part in the Republic of Cyprus. At the risk of over-oversimplifying a very complicated and contentious issue, let it be said that the Republic of Cyprus is Greek and Christian and the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus is Turkish and Muslim. The Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus was created after the invasion of Cyprus by Turkey in 1974. Since then Nicosia has been a divided city. The border separating the two parts of Nicosia is to this day administered by the United Nations. Although there were numerous sights I wanted to see in both southern and northern Nicosia my first objective was the Büyük Han, or caravanserai, in northern Nicosia. I was curious