By: Sarah Healy

Our trip to Lefkara was a part of the optional field trip. After we visited the Basketry Museum, the bus took us through the mountains. We passed several mountain villages which were very scenic. The villages all had coral red roof tiles that stood out brightly against the surrounding green. One moment, you would be looking at the side of a mountain, and the next, a small village with the buildings all smushed together would pop up. The drive from the Basketry Museum to Lefkosa took around fifteen to twenty minutes. The bus dropped us off in a parking lot, and we were allotted one hour and forty-five minutes to explore. The first thing we saw when we walked up the street away from the bus was several jewelry shops. It was a slow day in town, with almost no one else on the street shopping around.

All of the shop vendors were outside and greeted us very warmly. The town was beautiful, with shops smushed together in the streets and colorful plants and trees decorating the spaces in between. Kyna, Caroline, and I decided to try a place called the ‘Silver Store.’ There were two very sweet ladies running the shop. They had a huge selection of silver jewelry, earrings, necklaces, rings, and bracelets. They were very accommodating and pulled out any pieces that you wanted to see more closely. The ladies explained several of the pieces were crafted by people in either Cyprus or Greece. One of my favorite pieces was a necklace with a piece of coral hanging from the chain. They also had several pieces featuring turquoise in various styles. The prices were also very affordable. I ended up buying two new rings, each priced at twenty fives euros a piece. One of the rings I received was designed to wrap around the finger; it began as an olive branch, and by the time it wrapped back around, a small diamond had been added to complete the piece. The other ring I bought had two bands that were joined together by a butterfly pendant. While each piece in the jewelry store was unique, they were all very delicate and beautifully crafted. The lady who assisted me with my purchase provided me with her business card and offered to ship the jewelry to the U.S. for me.

The next place we visited was a small bakery and cafe called ‘Lefkara Lace Biscuit .’The shop is known for decorating cookies with lace patterns in frosting. Each cookie had beautiful, very detailed work. I grabbed a small sugar cookie with a purple lace decoration and also grabbed a lemonade. While I sat and drank my lemonade, I saw the woman who ran the shop go sit outside and continue to decorate sugar cookies. After I grabbed my drink and cookie, I only had forty minutes left to shop and look around. I ran across the street and looked at a shop that sold lace. I ended up grabbing a black lace shawl for around forty euros. The pricing of everything in the shop was overall affordable. The last place I went was another small jewelry shop. I ended up getting a beautiful silver bracelet with diamond flowers. The shop also sold chess boards. Each piece was either silver or gold, and all the pieces were different themes. One board, for example,  was mythology-themed, and the pieces represented different mythological symbols or deities. I was surprised by how much money I could go through in just under two hours.I look forward to visiting Lefkara again, with perhaps a bit more cash next time.