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Salamis - Famagusta - Cyprus
Author: Erkan Kilim  | Posted: 27-02-2008 | Comments: 0 | Views: 11 | Rating: (51)  (?) 
The area covered by the site is huge, so huge that although archeologists first began work here in 1890 and have continued intermittently throughout this century, the site is still only partially excavated. Networks of roads run across it, none signposted, and it can be fairly easy to lose your way, and difficult to get an overview as the site is so flat. A few minutes studying the map will help. Cars have recently been banned from driving through the site, so be prepared for some lengthy walking under a blisteringly hot sun. Bring comfortable shoes, suntan lotion and a sunhat; the flat landscape offers precious little shade. Go weel equipped with liquid refreshments, too or else you may find yourself hallucinating that the marble basins in the gymnasium are still sparkling with cool water. If out don’t fancy walking much, don’t be put off coming altogether: the main sites are right next to the entrance and car park where you leave the car.
The site is open daily 08:00-18:00. note that the only entrance into the site now is the northern side entrance on the coast; the former main entrance, opposite the turn-off for St Barnabas is no longer open. The site is open for ticket sales from 08.00 to 15.30 but the site stays open until after dusk to let you leave at your leisure. It takes about two to three hours to visit the major parts of the site, but you could easily spend a whole day here if you wanted to explore the site exhaustively-much of it spent walking between different excavated areas. If you are coming from the Girne area and only have a day to devote to Gazima?usa, then drive on to Salamis for lunch at the pleasant seaside restaurants beside the entrance-through you’ll probably make separate visits to Salamis and the other sites close by. Recommended times for visits would be three to four hours for Salamis, two hours for the Tombs of the Kings and St Barnabas Monastery, and one hour for Enkomi.
Touring Salamis
Heading north out of Gazima?usa towards Salamis, you pass, near the outskirts of town, a busy area with lots of cafes and pizza restaurants full of young people. Directly opposite is the reason-the Eastern Mediterranean University, North Cyprus’s major university, offering degree courses in sciences, engineering, management and economics. The medium of instruction is English. The road continues north past a most ridiculously ostentations new nightclub, adorned with leaping lions and bugling cherubs, reaching Salamis after about 5km (3 miles or so). Driving past the previous main entrance on your right, take the signposted road running along the northern edge of the site, which brings you out at the beach by the pleasant restaurant raised up and in winter the indoor seating area is warm and cosy. Simple fare is on offer, like curry, kebabs and steak, and can be washed down with beer or wine.
Climbing back into the car, you then drive between the restaurant and the shore to the ticket office just a few metred along. Having bought your ticket, part at the car park by the ticket office, right next to the baths/gymnasium complex. The theatre is just 100m further on.
These two areas together form the most spectacular part of Salamis, the part you should explore most thoroughly. They have also received the bulk of the excavators’ attention. Suspiciously headless statues have been re-erected in the gymnasium and the theatre has been renovated. It is thought that these heads were taken home by the English and French archaeologists as trophies. Though discovered in 1882 and dug erratically since then, the site was not excavated systematically until 1952. from then, work was in progress every season until 1974, when the University of Lyons excavators left.There are still vast tracts of the city that await excavation, and in view of the current political situation the wait is likely to be a long one. Whenever it does happen, the task will be daunting for Salamis was the victim of two severe earthquakes in the 4th century within ten years of each other. Tidal waves combed across the city bringing in sand and debris. Later that century, the Byzantine emperor Constantine II rebuilt it, but on a smaller scale, and renamed it Constantia in honour of himself. It suffered badly again in the Arab raids of the 7th century, and most of the population that survived the massacres moved to Gazima?usa, then called Arsinoe. Abandoned, its collapsed buildings were used as a quarry for medieval Famagusta, and the sand and vegetation reclaimed the city.
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About the Author:Write about cyprus, villages,love to write about cyprus visiting village and historical places lots of information for cyprus visitors Northern Cyprus Holidays
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