By: Zander Weinberger

Before this trip, when I looked at the map of Larnaca and saw this huge salt lake on the southwestern edge of the city, I was intrigued and wanted to at least swim in it. However, I became more interested once I learned that in the summer months, it is actually a completely dry salt bed. I’ve made two trips out there, one at night and one during the day. From the Blazer Hotel, it’s only a 30-minute walk, so on the 3rd night of the trip, I walked down there, getting some souvlaki first. Near the lake on the northern side, there is a park that preserves some of the natural environment, and at night, it was quite eerie due to the lack of any noise except for the insects. I was scared of being a snake when walking through the bushes, but thankfully, there wasn’t one. I came across a wooden lookout area right before the lake that looked a little decrepit, but it was nice enough for me to eat my souvlaki there. I then headed to the lake, which at night looked like a normal lake, but when you walked onto it, it was obvious that the salt was present. You could see all the way to the airport, and I saw planes landing around every 10 minutes or so. The texture of the lake was very interesting, as it was pretty obvious it had dried up quickly. The ground composition began as just sand and gradually became increasingly salty until it was a complete salt bed. Then, going further, it started to get wetter, until in the middle, it was basically a salt marsh. I saw a cliff on the other end and walked to it, around half a mile from where I had started. There were tire tracks here in circles, showing that people had come out here to drift at some point. I started making my way back and saw a small viper making its way over the salt. I wish I had taken a photo, but I’m terrified of snakes, so I didn’t.

On the second trip, I decided to go during the day, and it was a very different experience. I went to the same spot, but I noticed that there was actually a makeshift straight path with rocks on both sides leading to the other side of the lake, approximately 200 feet to the left. At this point, it was around three weeks later, and the salt was noticeably drier, even though in the middle, it was still a little mushy. I had some extra energy and decided to do some sprints up and down the lake. It was interesting running on that surface, as I was sore the next day in a way I’d never been before, having never had to grip onto a surface like that while running before. Near the cliff on the other side, I saw someone had propped a broken beach chair up on a rock. I took a quick photo of it and ran back on the path, this time seeing around 5 other people out walking on the lake. I would recommend that anyone go see the lake, as it’s pretty close to the hotel and is really the closest “nature” you can walk to from Larnaca. Being from Colorado, I’ve never seen a salt bed before, so it was a fun experience.