The Oasis

8.16.10

My dad was able to take off the afternoon from work so we could drive the 2.5 hours north to my parents favorite beach at Dipkarpaz. On the way we stopped at the ruins of the Agia Triada, an ancient church with an unusually large baptismal pool, which is hypothesized to have built for adult baptisms during a period of large scale Christian conversions. The mosaics are in surprisingly good condition, especially since people are still allowed to walk upon them. Once in Dipkarpaz, we drove down a dirt road to a secluded cove that my parents discovered and spent a heavenly hour floating in the warm salty sea. The sea floor was mostly sand, with the occasional clump of sea grass for about 100 yards from the shore and about 8 feet deep. The sea was so salty and buoyant, it was easy to float for a long time and not get tired. We drove back towards the more developed area of the beach and stopped to watch some sheep alongside the road. The Oasis hotel was full for the night, but their restaurant was more than happy to serve us delicious grilled haloumi with tomatoes and freshly caught grilled fish. We visited the adjacent Agios Filon (a 12th century church built over a 5th century basilica) to admire more ancient mosaics. The fiery sunset on the drive home behind the Keryneia mountain range was the perfect end to a spectacular day

Links: Oasis

<<<<< Visiting Europe Home >>>>>