Sunday
We awoke and went down to breakfast with Derek and Elaine. It was all right now we were where we were supposed to be, and the food all seemed fine. Except my last cup of tea got mixed up with coffee once again, I still have trouble getting the right tea at breakfast time. We went out from the scoff and looked at the maps to decide where we were going to go. I had seen a fort on the northern road so we decided to see what that would turn out like.
As we went long we came to a huge empty cafe, sitting on the beach where the posters told us all that the turtle were nesting and that we should not disturb them. Well I dare say that so early on in the year, we would have a long wait to see them turn up but, we decided to stop off and have a look around. By now it had started raining and we were glad to get inside for a drink. So a couple of Turkish beers later we went out to carry on our look fro the castle.
We were now so close we could see all the local signs directing us to the castle. Well we turned off up the road to the local castle and ended up in the middle of some strange village half way up the hill with no signs of any castles anywhere. We decided to carry on along the road to see where the hell we ended up. Derek was all for it so off we went up this gloomy lump of a hill. Well, blow me down. We got there! It must have taken us another 30 minutes but, we found ourselves at the ticket office and paid our few Lira’s and went in.
Well were we were parked we could see the castle entrance and thought no more about going in but, we soon found out where we were going. It appeared that our castle Anthrax was apparently a bit of let down as all we could see was the entrance just above us. Oh how we found out this place was something not to be ignored. It turned out to be quite a steep climb up to the main entrance, which nearly killed Derek and Elaine, and left us all puffing and panting by the time we got there. However, we could see from the entrance that there was a second entrance hall a bit further up the hill, so off we went.
I decided to go off on my own to see were this went and left the other three to clamber up a little slower. By the time I’d got to the second tower I could see that there was a complete fort built here but, it was mostly hidden by the hill itself. As I went through the secondary fortress I found that there was even more hidden stuff leading round the back of the hill. I shouted that I was going to have a look at this and plodded off leaving the rest walking up to the central castle. As I walked round I could see that it was indeed an impressive fort and that the walls continued around the hill. So I kept on going until I found a secondary path going back into the area where I left the others.
As I climbed up I could see them making there way back down towards the main entrance. I signaled that I would see them down there and I carried on. The main fortress tower was as impressive and overall I got the impression that this castle would certainly take some taking, if you could find the place that is. So I had my quick look around and soon caught up with the others as they were making there way back to the entrance. Before we knew it we were back at the bog and were pretty glad to find that was not a thousand feet up the cliff.
So it had been quite a good day out but, we couldn’t find anywhere open for a drink. We went back down to the local Cypriot village but, could not find anything open, so we went on down the roads until we could find a bar that was open and willing to take our cash. Derek and Elaine were starving again so we got stuck in. We had our chicken and chips (or Cypriot equivalent) and finished off with our free Cypriot coffee. Well everyone looked fighting fit so we went back towards the hotel and our beds. To my mind it had been a nice ride out.