Nicosia to Nisou – 20th October
Distance: 22.2 km – Elevation +230 m -130 m
Weather: Sunny. Thunderstorm. Temperature: High 30 degrees
The Nex hostel was excellent. The rooms were clean with comfortable beds. There was a large well-stocked kitchen where I was able to prepare a simple but filling breakfast which I enjoyed on the roof terrace. It was a beautiful warm Sunday morning, very still with clear blue skies. The view from the rooftop terrace across the rooftops to the deserted streets below.was serenely peaceful and so typical of a Sunday morning in a Christian environment.
After speaking with the owner of the hostel, Ilias, last evening I had planned my route today to avoid crossing the buffer zone. I had 50 kilometres left to reach Larnaca and I decided to take two days to complete my journey across Cyprus. My destination today was dictated by available accommodation, a B & B on a farm near the village of Nisou. It was a relatively short flat walk of 22 kilometres predominantly through an urban and industrial environment, so different from the walk of yesterday.
I left the hostel at 8.00 am and the route took me through a district where the embassies of Germany, Austria, the Netherlands, and France were located, and from there I passed the large and modern Church of Agios Demetrios and the Agios Demetrios park designed to provide a sanctuary away from the hustle and bustle of Stavros the largest of all of the Nicosia suburbs. It was a generally uninspiring walk as I continued through the seemingly endless suburbs of Nicosia. After walking for close to 3 hours I came to the suburb of Latsia where I found a “Coffee Island” open and stopped for coffee and a croissant.
From there the route took me through a large industrial zone before I reached a more open farming landscape and it was here that the storm that had been brewing for a while finally arrived with thunder, lightning, and torrential rain. Temperatures dropped and a strong wind joined the rain and I was happy to arrive at the B & B. It was 3.00 pm when I arrived and was greeted by Hannah who together with her husband George run “George’s Villa”, a delightful rural retreat. Hannah showed me to the self-contained annex and later bought me a warm drink and a few snacks. The room included a large jacuzzi bath in which I was able to recover from the wetness and cold of the passing storm.
