Bella at down at 'her' Lake today

One of the most amazing natural beauty spots in Cyprus and believe it or not you hardly EVER see ANYONE else down there (maybe on account of no cafes, amusements or ice cream vans?) when the water dries up you get the occasional jogger. I am lucky it is at the end of my road.

Arriving in the entrance


Head straight for the water


Bit of stick retrieval practice (she will only fetch stuff from water - never on dry land!)






Clever girl (actually brought this one right over to me - usually dumps them in the shallows)


Now to hunt down some lizards


They're in here somewhere!


It's a long way to the other side


Think I'll just sit down for a while!


Can't understand why no one else is ever here but it's nice to have it to myself


I now have to walk up top for a bit to dry off so off to the sand path




But hey there's lizards up here too!


And when we got home she gave me a lovely warm shower and I dried myself off in the sun.

Thanks for looking - I don't know why my pics come out so small after putting them in PB? they are huge when I upload them. If you have trouble 'spotting the dog' it's the reddy brown blob in the middle of most of 'em!

*editing to say my neighbour says the reason I never see anyone down there is because most 'normal' people are still in bed before 7am lol!

Amazing place!! Do you ever go swimming with her? One of my boys would love me to dive straight in with him - and if my local park lake looked like that - I certainly would! Unfortunately it doesn't - and so I dont!

Hi Superfly - it would not be advisable to swim in there. It is a natural salt lake (not sea water) and when it dries over it is pure white crunchy salt - but just underneath that is this black oily gooey stuff! (I've broken thro to it many a time and so has everyone else I've taken down there!)

Hard to believe that most summers all summer long there is not a DROP of water in there isn't it? And the whole thing can dry up in just about 3 weeks when temps go over 40deg and stay there.

I will dig out some snaps of it when empty to show you.

I intend to go swimming with Bella down at this secret beach we've found (dogs not allowed on beaches here).

I'd take her in the swimming pool here with me if I didn't think I'd be evicted for doing so lol! She's a darn sight cleaner than some of the kids that get in there!

Here's where it is - I live in the road between the lake and the sea running parallel to the sea.


They were still extracting salt from it up until the 80s. They import salt now. Donkeys worked down there and you can find odd thick socks everywhere - they used to put them on the donkeys' feet to stop the salt getting to them.

When I had my apartment in town with the beach just a couple of minutes walk away, the oldies used to meet up at 5am on the beach for exercises - led by a retired instructor.

Then go into the Med for a gentle splash around...

They do that here too Malka. My upstairs neighbour goes every day. I meet up with them too - when they have a night down the pub lol!

Here's what it looks like when it starts to dry up. Amazing sight bright band of coral colour at the edge (from these plant thingies like little stonecrop that feed the shrimps that feed the flamingos)

That is the Hala Sultan Tekke Mosque in the background on the other side of the lake. One of the holiest Islamic sites in the world.

My daughter walking across it when it is dry.




Bella wandering out on it


Close up of the salt formation

Best of all the beautiful flamingos - there are often thousands of them down there in winter.


And also it is the BEST place to watch the sunset over the mountains

Things you find down there (my prize thing was an ENORMOUS TOOTH!)