Limassol…day 2

For our last full day of exploring, we went back to Limassol to explore the city, meet up with some more cousins, and go to the beach.  This time, the GPS actually knew where we were supposed to end up, though that didn’t deter me from having to turn around at some point.  There hasn’t been a day on this vacation that I didn’t have to turn the van around!  Anyway, we ate a light breakfast (we’ve learned our lesson!) and headed off.  We arrived at Loretta & Lucky’s home within 45 minutes…though he had to guide me to a parking spot because the streets were SO narrow.  As I walked in to their home, they had the CUTEST puppy in the back.  I was so busy playing with him, I totally forgot to take a picture…but trust me, he was so cute!  Within 5 minutes of sitting down, Loretta was bringing out breads, cheeses, fruit, Greek coffee, etc. and oh boy was it good.  Shortly after, cousin Ellue came in and everyone spent time catching up.  Pictures came out and although some were ones I’ve seen, others were brand new to me:

I mean…this is a picture of my Yiayia and her siblings…I’ve NEVER seen Yiayia looking like this.  I bet she’s maybe 16 here.  She is in back row on the right side.  This is more like what I know her looking like:

Yiayia is back row, 2nd from right (next to my Papou).  She pretty much looked like that her entire life.  Now, interestingly enough, back row, left side is my Mom, then next to her is my Thea Cynthia.  Sitting on the bench from L to R is Thea Fay and Thea Connie.  Awww!  Everyone had a nice visit with cousin Loretta, her husband Lucky & cousin Ellue:

From here, it was time to hit the beach for a while.  Loretta is about 4 blocks from the beach, so it was quite convenient.  The water was warm and blue, blue, blue!

Alex trying to get me in the water:

Alex & Brittany trying to catch the fish that were swimming all around them:

After playing in the water for a while, we decided to go to the old downtown area and explore the shops a little.  Alex & Brit wanted to stay at the beach for a bit and would walk down later so Mom & Thea went to a cafe to sit a while, while Dad, Keith and I explored Limassol Castle:

Originally built in the 9th or 10th century, it was used as the venue for Richard the Lionheart’s wedding to Princess Berengaria in 1191.  The Turks later rebuilt the castle as a prison and during WWII, it was used as British Army Headquarters.  It was beautiful inside:

And as always, there are interesting things, and funny things:

After the Castle, we caught up with Alex & Brit, found Mom & Thea, then shopped in town a while.  Everyone finished up the shopping they had to do, then we found a nice place to eat:

They had great food!:

I had to be quick when taking pictures of the food.  We were all so hungry, and grabbed it before I could snap a shot.  I mean…look at this lonely stick of souvlaki!  We headed home for the evening to get some rest.  Next up…packing, and our adventures in Larnaca….more soon…