Peace at harbour
Next time you go to Ayia Napa don’t drive past the Liopetri Harbour sign as a charming, fishing harbour awaits
PROTARAS and Ayia Napa are places were life is everywhere, new buildings appear every day and people rush down there in the summer, in the same way as they do when the first ‘sales’ signs go up in a shoe shop window. But, have you noticed the road signs just before Ayia Napa and Protaras? Does Liopetri Harbour ring a bell? I know, I’ve passed it a million times and never given it a second glance. Well, next time you’re passing, don’t make the same mistake. No buildings, no rush, no fuss. It’s one of a few places in Cyprus that is blissfully quiet and untouched by technology.
After following the signs, I was led down a road winding and narrow with trees on either side, which made me slow down, not because I was speeding (although I love to) but because I suddenly realised I had the feeling I had been sent back in time. The cars were getting fewer and further apart; five or six tourists on bicycles and motorbikes and pick-up trucks were the only vehicles to be seen. The silence, when I got there, was deafening and more than 100 fishing boats lay still in the water.
The harbour is huge and standing by the fishing boat My Frosso, I could see out to the horizon and the fishing boats all parked neatly by the shore. Unlike other harbours, Liopetri doesn’t have a quay where you can have a nice romantic walk and admire boats on either side. It is more like a river but without the fish. Planks of wood had been placed on the sand leading to the boats and I’m sorry to disappoint you but I didn’t walk the plank.
Although it is somewhat off the beaten track, Liopetri Harbour is already quite popular with tourists. They were all over the place. A bit further down, two girls were having a lovely time sunbathing and an old couple had camped under a tent enjoying absolutely nothing. I assume the place gets very busy in the early mornings because that’s when its best to fish but I suppose everyone knows that. Fishing nets and hooks are stacked in huge fishing bags and everything is quite tidy. But I was let down by the cleanness, or lack of it. Paper bags and empty coca-cola cans were floating in the water, evidence at last of civilisation.
It is a very quiet place but that doesn’t mean you have to have a picnic if you are hungry because there are two restaurants which will serve a delicious plate of fish (what else?). And just to add that touch of Cypriot tradition there is a little white church in the middle of a field built in a very old fashioned way with a small cross on top. Unfortunately, it was locked so I didn’t get an opportunity to see the inside. But it does mesh perfectly with the area.
Heading back to my car after walking on dirt roads in my new sneakers (I decided to give my heels a rest), I finally heard something that sounded like a human being. Wrong, an old man in his pick-up truck was screaming at a kitten that just refused to budge from the middle of the road.
l Liopetri Harbour, follow the signs off the main highway from Larnaca to Ayia Napa/Protaras. Journey takes about an hour from Nicosia
