By: Zander Weinberger

On my first free day, I decided to go to Ayia Napa, a tourist town located around 30 miles east of Larnaca. I was originally planning to go to Nicosia first on my own, but Matthew recommended going to Ayia Napa instead. Since I was a bit tired that day, I heeded his advice. There is an inter-city bus running between Larnaca and Ayia Napa, and I decided to take it for 5 euros at 3 pm. It was only a 45-minute drive, and I got off a little early because I saw a Zorbas and was quite hungry. After getting my Zorbas, I started walking up the main street, which was about a quarter mile off the coast. Ayia Napa has a different vibe compared to Larnaca, where it is a slower-paced beach city; Ayia Napa is definitely meant to be a party beach town.

There were fewer restaurants and many more clubs and bars. Most of the people were British, as it is a prominent British tourist destination, similar to Florida for Americans. There were a few places where you could rent quad bikes, and many people took these up and down the streets, mainly big groups of men. As I kept walking, I seemed to reach almost a red-light district, as there was a half-mile stretch of almost nothing but strip clubs. So, I imagine the town had a very different vibe at night. I walked a little farther and took a turn more inland into the center of the city, where I found a 15th-century monastery with a quaint courtyard and garden. The inside was closed to the public due to construction, but the outside was nice to lounge around in and observe. It was noticeably quieter than the surrounding areas; I only saw one other person in the courtyard.

Going a little further up into the plaza, I saw around 15 cats and multiple food bowls scattered around. Someone must have been feeding them, but I didn’t see anyone doing so. The cats were all friendly, and I sat there for around 20 minutes before making my way back down to the main road. I looked at the map and saw something called “Secret Bridge” on a rocky part of the coast. I made my way over there and changed into my bathing suit in a porta-potty on the way. You had to walk around 200 feet of sharp rocks before reaching the coast and a small arch above a cove. I didn’t see any way down there as the arch was about 12 feet above the water until I found a path on the other side that led down to the water. I set my bag down and started hugging the rocks before realizing they were submerged below the water, allowing me to enter the cove. I then took the picture below and took my phone back to my bag. The wind was decently strong, and the waves were crashing against the rocks pretty hard, so I had to be a little careful when I got in the water. I thought it was around 4-5 feet deep, but after getting in, I saw it was closer to 8-10 feet deep. It was so clear that I could still see the bottom perfectly. I made my way to the cove, where it was shaded, and there was a small outcrop to sit on. I would describe the atmosphere as reminiscent of a Windows 10 background. There wasn’t a soul in sight, and it stayed that way for the 2 hours I was there. It was around 7 pm at this point, and I decided to go to the more popular beach. It was a 20-minute walk west to Nissi Beach, a point where a super-thin sandbar led to an island. The beach was extremely crowded, and I didn’t feel comfortable leaving my bag unattended without a towel or chair, so I walked across the sandbar to the island.

There were people of all ages here, but it definitely felt more chaotic than the beaches of Larnaca, and it wasn’t really my vibe. I saw on the schedule that the next bus was leaving at 7:30, so I went up to the closest bus stop and waited until 7:40 when the bus simply passed the stop as it was full. The next one wasn’t for another hour and a half, so I made my way up to the first stop by the monastery, where my phone promptly died. I still had an hour, so I walked around the old part of the city until the bus came 20 minutes late, when it was already almost full. Halfway back on the way, the bus driver stopped the bus to yell at a lady in Greek who had been going up and down the bus frantically speaking gibberish. She didn’t appear to be in a sane state of mind, but she calmed down after that. I got back to Larnaca around 10 pm and immediately went to bed.