Our last full day in Cyprus, Monday 9/21/09:
I had it in my mind to make a run for one of the most distant points on the Karpas peninsula (the far Northeast stretch of Cyprus), Golden Beach. So we got up early to ensure enough time to make it up, enjoy the place, and come back. Unfortunately, things didn't work out quite as planned. Golden Beach, though completely untouched, and supposedly incomparably beautiful was just a little too far when it came down to it.
Instead, we made it up to a point that seemed to us very similar to the descriptions of Golden Beach. It was well into the wild on the Turkish side of Cyprus, plenty beyond Bogaz, but not quite to Dipkarpas (maybe 10 kilometers away?). We don't even know the name of the place, but there weren't any tourists. There were only a couple of people who happened upon the beach anywhere nearby us. The sea here was calm, crystal clear, perfectly temperate, shallow for a long way out, with the softest sand and CLEAN. Paradise? Close.
We swam for a while and laid out for a bit, but not too long as Tina really shouldn't be out in the sun on antibiotics. She was feeling quite a bit better though. The pictures will have to speak for themselves.
Afterwards, we headed back on the highway roads of Northern Cyprus, whipping back to civilization. The feel is different there. A lot of signs don't have Greek or English on them and therefore are truly foreign to us. I did try my hand as some limited Turkish that I'd memorized. I got smiles and responses out of people, and even bought some food at a little shop in a country village.
We made our way back to the city of Famagusta. The actual city itself isn't so bad. There's more scenery to it than the outskirts of Famagusta; and the military presence isn't quite so present. The inner part of the city that we explored lies within some Ottoman castle walls, so there's a pretty cool feel there. We walked the high medieval walls a bit, the brick and cobblestone streets some more, oggled some shops and soaked the Turkish feel in a much more positive way. A giant mosque that I believed was originally a 4th century church was right smack in the middle of things. The construction around it is just shy of fascinating.
The highlight of the day, however, was matched at Petek's Patisserie. This trendy Turkish confectionerie is just inside the eastern-most portion of the barricade walls. Every flavor of Turkish delight and cake and treat one could imagine adorns a whole room within the edifice. We sampled and grabbed a few, of course. Then we sat like posh Northern Cypriots on the second floor open patio, eating Turish Cypriot eats and sweets, spooning up pistacchio rice pudding, munching on delectible lamb and hallimli, sipping Turkish coffee and diving into honey-infused pastries.
Northern Cyprus has a wonderful side.
We finished the day back in Protaras by our apartment, checking some shops for last minute memories with price tags. Tomorrow we drive back to Larnaka, fly back to Athens and visit with Costa and his family (and Argyri, of course).
Then, back to the states.
Monday, September 21, 2009
Doctor's order: Salamis and Turkey
Sunday we got to experience the Cypriot medical care first hand. Tina still wasn't feeling quite right and though some things were better, we were both getting a little concerned. First, a dolled up high-heeled Yatre (doctorette) gave us a visit. She encouraged us to go to the clinic to get an intravenous drip of pain medication and antibiotics. Not sure about how our medical coverage would reimburse this potentially bankrupting visit, we opted for the pills instead, picked up the script from the Pharmakeio, and headed over the Berlin wall.
Passing across the border into Famagusta is different. To start, you can't cross just anywhere. You have to go miles out of the way to a particular approved checkpoint. As you enter this militarized zone, you first pass a British sovereign territory (as part of some treaty the Brits still own indefinitely small "bases" around the island), all the while surrounded by barracks and barbed wire. Then you have to buy car insurance (not pricey, just a hassle) that is recognized by the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus. Then you fill out a Visa form, get a passport stamp, and a questionaire to return on your way out later. Then another one or two guys stop you to make sure you did all of these things; and then into the Turkish version of Cyprus you go.
We didn't dally much. We headed straight to the ancient city of Salamis. This was a major trade crossroads in the ancient world. We had to wait out some rain; but all in all it was worth it. We remembered a lesson we learned in Pompeii: don't panic when it rains and buy ponchos and umbrellas and try to march through anyway - this time of year in this part of the world rain comes in bouts measured in minutes, not hours or days. You can actually drive around (so you don't have to hoof the massive archaeological site) the ruins, and walk through sections. It wasn't particularly different than many of the ruins we've seen before; but it is the most extensive, probably most important, and well-preserved site on Cyprus. The unique experience for us was that no one was there because of the inclement weather. So all of the typically "off-limits" stuff was open for us.
Passing across the border into Famagusta is different. To start, you can't cross just anywhere. You have to go miles out of the way to a particular approved checkpoint. As you enter this militarized zone, you first pass a British sovereign territory (as part of some treaty the Brits still own indefinitely small "bases" around the island), all the while surrounded by barracks and barbed wire. Then you have to buy car insurance (not pricey, just a hassle) that is recognized by the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus. Then you fill out a Visa form, get a passport stamp, and a questionaire to return on your way out later. Then another one or two guys stop you to make sure you did all of these things; and then into the Turkish version of Cyprus you go.
We didn't dally much. We headed straight to the ancient city of Salamis. This was a major trade crossroads in the ancient world. We had to wait out some rain; but all in all it was worth it. We remembered a lesson we learned in Pompeii: don't panic when it rains and buy ponchos and umbrellas and try to march through anyway - this time of year in this part of the world rain comes in bouts measured in minutes, not hours or days. You can actually drive around (so you don't have to hoof the massive archaeological site) the ruins, and walk through sections. It wasn't particularly different than many of the ruins we've seen before; but it is the most extensive, probably most important, and well-preserved site on Cyprus. The unique experience for us was that no one was there because of the inclement weather. So all of the typically "off-limits" stuff was open for us.
Sunday, September 20, 2009
We Took A Sick Day
Saturday was a little off. This dry, beatifully weathered island received rain as if it knew one of its visitors was struck ill. It was overcast outside and in. Tina was sick all night; and the day, though better, was painful. Time to rest I guess.
She slept and recovered. Later in the day, I tooled around a little bit and got a better lay of the land. I also visited one of the view points where you can observe the "No Man's Land" between Southern and Northern Cyprus. Without getting into too much detail, or being particularly one-sided, it is off-putting looking into a stretch of land that divides two peoples and is militarized. I mean, you cannot even take pictures out there. There are some 150,000 Turkish military troops in the North, and they will confiscate your camera.
The view point also had a little museum, where you could see the Greek point-of-view on the atrocities of the Turks. There were some very telling propaganda posters and photographs of Famagusta before the Turkish invasion in 1974. It's amazing what kind of beautiful beach town this was then. Now, it looks like Berlin post-WWII. That's not the only parallel with Berlin by the way.
She slept and recovered. Later in the day, I tooled around a little bit and got a better lay of the land. I also visited one of the view points where you can observe the "No Man's Land" between Southern and Northern Cyprus. Without getting into too much detail, or being particularly one-sided, it is off-putting looking into a stretch of land that divides two peoples and is militarized. I mean, you cannot even take pictures out there. There are some 150,000 Turkish military troops in the North, and they will confiscate your camera.
The view point also had a little museum, where you could see the Greek point-of-view on the atrocities of the Turks. There were some very telling propaganda posters and photographs of Famagusta before the Turkish invasion in 1974. It's amazing what kind of beautiful beach town this was then. Now, it looks like Berlin post-WWII. That's not the only parallel with Berlin by the way.
Saturday, September 19, 2009
To Africa and Back
Thursday morning we leisurely went about our business getting up, checking out and making arrangements to go to Larnaka Airport(half way across the island, since there don't really seem to be trips to Cairo from Paphos Airport). The pace was not hurried. We took a bus.
Thank goodness for British Imperialism. There are real roads in Cyprus. Now typically, in Greece, when you look at a map and see a distance of 130 km, that trip can take a whole day if you travel by bus, at least a few hours by speeding car. Somebody thought it would be a better idea to build thousands of extra miles of road winding up and down and around mountains and valleys and so on. And if you have even once experienced motion sickness, get ready for a real treat. Sure, Cyprus has its mountain roads. But we took a clunky bus, and it was a smooth straight shot WITH three midway stops that took under two hours. Oh yeah, and it was air conditioned and we weren't crammed in like sardines.
Needless to say, our unexpectedly hasslefree ride got us to the airport about six hours earlier than we needed to be there. It worked out perfectly though, as we camped out in the food court, read up on what to expect in Cairo and the Turkish side of Cyprus, ate pizza, figured out rental arrangements for when we would get back to Larnaka, and took our sweet time.
Egypt Air introduces you to another world, before you even take off. For one, they showed up late (a running theme in Cairo). Also, the majority of people waiting for the plane are, of course, not tourists. Our soon-to-be co-flyers were chatting up a storm from which my smattering of Arabic phrases could only help me make out a few "I"s, "Egyptian"s ("Mosri"), "you are"s, "hello"s and "goodbye"s. Finally, we boarded and even got food (unique stuff) on this very short (one hour) flight. Even though the flight is pretty much South and slightly East, you actually GAIN an hour when going to Cairo from Cyprus. Weird. We decended into the endless night lights of Cairo around 8pm.
Cairo is huge. Geographically, I've never seen a city this big. Population-wise, at 20 million plus, it beats the STATE of New York. Buildings sprawl out in every direction, none particularly tall, as far as big cities go... maybe 10 stories on average. But many are apartments, partially finished (missing walls), with inhabitants!
Cairo Airport - Let the Dance Begin:
We go to exchange money. The teller ignores us for a minute or two. We insist he recognize us. He tells us this line is "closed." We wait in the line next door. We get up there. We get about 1,100 Egyptian Pounds (L.E.) for 200 American dollars. I ask the teller about this "Visa Stamp" I see signs about. He tells me we don't need it. We wait in line at customs. We get to the counter. The guy tells us we need to go to the bank to get our Visa Stamp. We go back to the bank in the jerk's line, because the liar's is "closed." The line is at a dead stop. Finally, the "liar's" window opens. We PURCHASE our Visa Stamp. We get back in line at customs, which now has doubled in size as people scramble from all over the world to get through the shuffle we just participated in. We get through.
Before making our way to luggage, we make a side trek to the bathroom. Egyptian bathrooms are different. And not in the way you're expecting. In fact, as far as cleanliness and "Western" feel go, Egyptian bathrooms are much better than A LOT of what I've seen in Greece and Italy. They're quite nice actually. However, as you walk up to the stall or urinal someone accosts you, trying to give you a towel. Nice attendant, right? Then you go to wash your hands and they're at the ready to squirt some liquid soap on your hands. Full service, yes? Want to dry off? Guess what? They EXPECT a little baksheesh (tipping). It's dubious any of these people work for the place that has whatever bathroom you're using, because towels, soap and the like are already available for you to use on your own. I found you have to give a pretty firm, and perhaps repeated "la, shokran" (no thank you) to pee without pay.
Then we waited for our bags. And waited...
What Cairenes lack in administrative efficiency and speed they make up for on the road. Our chaperone, Kareem, directed our every step for the evening. And our driver, Samir, transcended time and space in our private Shuttle. He made it to our Nile Cruise on time, somehow, when our airport experience easily took an hour longer than it should have.
On the way, the two men updated us on all things Cairo. We chatted politics a little bit. And then the Nile.
The Nile where we were carried a little less mystique than one might expect. With all of the buildings and bright lights, it looked more like Tokyo waterfront than ancient riverbanks. Nonetheless, the cruise was superb. It was a few days from the end of Ramadan, and all but the most piously devout Muslims will break their fast at night time on a daily basis. So this was the BIG show. Banquet Feast, I think, is the most fitting title. Every possible dish you could never think of, piled high. We didn't know what any of the food was. All of it Egyptian, some of it somewhat recognizable, had an accompanying 20 foot spread of sweets and treats.
And that's just the food. The entertainment was something incredible. There were singers and dancers and a rather scantily clad buxom belly dancer; and then the infamous whirling dervish. In Cairo they call this Tanoura. It's actually a mainstay in a hippie branch of Islam that severely frowns upon all demonstrations of violence or even displays of anger (including facial expressions). From what I've read the Cairene Tanoura is significantly more showy than what people typically think of as whirling dervishes. Ours certainly was anyway. This guy poured drinks while spinning rapidly. He had layers upon layers of clothing that stripped away (don't gasp - it was all G-rated) making all kinds of colorful patterns. He spun objects in his hands, wrapped himself into an inverted cloth top and even arm wrestled me with one arm while spinning a giant piece of his garment with the other.
After more than our fill of food and fun, our private entourage shuttled us to our hotel, The Triumph Hotel. We were guided around and attended to every step of the way. Welcome to paradise! This was hands down THE nicest hotel we've ever stayed in. As far as what we've come to expect overseas, it made everything else feel kind of "roughing it." Giant two story high floors. Grand marble construction. Eighth floor cityscape view. Soft beds. Oh yeah, I don't know if I mentioned, but the beds pretty much everywhere we stay are like wood blocks. The rooms are closet-sized. The bathrooms are literally closets. Showers are pathetic. Not so at the Triumph. This place would be 5 star in the states. The bathroom was big, FOR ME. The towels didn't feel like sandpaper. And they were taller than me. Because we decided to walk around the city a little we didn't get to sleep until around 2:30am. But 5 hours of luxury sleep left us feeling more rested than any of our 8-10 hour slumbers previously.
The Triumph Friday morning:
Can you guess what the continental breakfast looked like. Let me leave it at this: the breakfast area was inside the reception hall they use for lavish weddings. On our way back to the room to pack up, we checked out the workout room. It was laid out like a large Anytime or Snap Fitness. It was not, by any means, the hole in the wall, crap-treadmill and no weights that you see pretty much everywhere. This hotel had EVERYTHING.
We then checked out and waited for Jusef, our private guide. He was very friendly, very fluent, very attentive and very fast. He took us on a whirlwind day tour of Cairo to see the city in a day. And I think we pretty much did.
First stop: Egyptian Museum. Our driver watched our bags. Unfortunately, we had to check our cameras at the door. Nonetheless, we got a few shots outside. Jusef took us to the highlights, which in many ways was better than kind of moping aimlessly around a huge museum. From the get go, Jusef tried to get us to pay attention to details you don't normally think of when you're looking at the Egyptian statues, steles, and ingravings. I don't want to bore you, but a few great insights to keep an eye on were the differences in headwear and beards. A curved beard meant the figure was made after the death of its subject; a straight beard during his life. Different "hats" had a connection to either Upper Egypt (the South because the Nile runs northward) or Lower Egypt (the North). We saw the stele of Narmur to start (dating back to about 2700 B.C.); and the rest of what we focused on was pretty much the contents of King Tut's tomb, sans the actual mummy which is at its original location (in Luxor?).
After that fantastic voyage, our driver flew (yes he actually got air time twice) through Cairo to a Bazaar (fancy name for market). I'll spare the details. We got sold. I mean, you can't go to Egypt without getting an authentic cartouche with your own name in hieroglyphics can you? We picked up some other souvenirs. We saw the real process for making papyrus scrolls and purchased a few.
Then we went to the scent shop, where Tina went wild. Basically, the story goes that this famous oasis or oases in Egypt provide the most famous perfumes and colognes with their integral parts. Then perfumiers in France and Italy and the like dilute them with water, chemicals, alcohol, etc. and then sell them at astronomical mark-up. I believe it. Scent shops supposedly carry the pure extracts, the same ones found in tombs of Pharaohs and their queens. Our scent shop even had the Commerce Ministry's papers of approved business practices. We sampled all these pure scents (lotus and jasmine to name a few). And I actually have to admit, though it's quite a racket, it is quite enrapturing as well.
On to the Pyramids:
Well, what is there to say that hasn't been said? They loom. They stand proud. They're ancient. They're huge. They're ponderous. They're in the middle of the desert. They're a bit overwhelming. We came. We saw. We rode camels, snapped pictures and got taken for a ride metaphorically as well. FIFTY EUROS for a camel ride! That's like 80 dollars for about 10 minutes of work. Who would've thunk that a camel driver makes as much as a trial attorney. I'm in the wrong business. After that we headed down to the sphinx. It was more than a little surreal.
Wow. The Reader's Digest version of Cairo. Our private tour carted us back to the airport for some more hijinks. You have to go through security before checking in for your flight. Oh and then you have to go through security. And then customs. And then security.
And then B.O. I'm not talking about that-one-kid-in-junior-high-gym-class kind of B.O. I'm not even talking Euro-unshowered-pit-hair B.O. I had a Turk on one side, Tina had five guys from Tanzania on the other, and the rest of plane was jammed full of unknown others. I don't know how to properly describe this punishing flight. Imagine, if you will, someone having a newspaper drawn from the back of a dumpster, mixing it with fermented baby diarrhea and a whiskey sour and then whacking you in the face with the newspaper... hard... repeatedly... for an hour as you fly from Cairo to Cyprus over the Mediterranean Sea. Yeah, that's about as close as I can get.
Larnaka Airport marked the end of a full and very long day. We felt kind of energize though, having seen so much. We picked up our car, which was actually a very nice, new, though small, Honda Jazz with moon roof, and headed east.
While tooling around hotels who refused to bargain with us, our license plate fell off. Mind you, it was nighttime, dark and the drive from hotel to hotel was starting to tire us. Finally, Super Glue came through for me.
We decided to let the touristy hotels not have our money and continued east. Finally, the guide book steered us straight and we happened upon a smaller village, Protaras, and picked up an apartment, called Andreotis, for a few nights for only 40 Euros. Nice! The day ended with a visit to a local taverna where Tina got her favorite Kouneli Stifado. We were beat, but it was all worth it as we ate and drank under a myriad of huge bunches of grapes before turning in for the night.
To Africa and Back.
Thank goodness for British Imperialism. There are real roads in Cyprus. Now typically, in Greece, when you look at a map and see a distance of 130 km, that trip can take a whole day if you travel by bus, at least a few hours by speeding car. Somebody thought it would be a better idea to build thousands of extra miles of road winding up and down and around mountains and valleys and so on. And if you have even once experienced motion sickness, get ready for a real treat. Sure, Cyprus has its mountain roads. But we took a clunky bus, and it was a smooth straight shot WITH three midway stops that took under two hours. Oh yeah, and it was air conditioned and we weren't crammed in like sardines.
Needless to say, our unexpectedly hasslefree ride got us to the airport about six hours earlier than we needed to be there. It worked out perfectly though, as we camped out in the food court, read up on what to expect in Cairo and the Turkish side of Cyprus, ate pizza, figured out rental arrangements for when we would get back to Larnaka, and took our sweet time.
Egypt Air introduces you to another world, before you even take off. For one, they showed up late (a running theme in Cairo). Also, the majority of people waiting for the plane are, of course, not tourists. Our soon-to-be co-flyers were chatting up a storm from which my smattering of Arabic phrases could only help me make out a few "I"s, "Egyptian"s ("Mosri"), "you are"s, "hello"s and "goodbye"s. Finally, we boarded and even got food (unique stuff) on this very short (one hour) flight. Even though the flight is pretty much South and slightly East, you actually GAIN an hour when going to Cairo from Cyprus. Weird. We decended into the endless night lights of Cairo around 8pm.
Cairo is huge. Geographically, I've never seen a city this big. Population-wise, at 20 million plus, it beats the STATE of New York. Buildings sprawl out in every direction, none particularly tall, as far as big cities go... maybe 10 stories on average. But many are apartments, partially finished (missing walls), with inhabitants!
Cairo Airport - Let the Dance Begin:
We go to exchange money. The teller ignores us for a minute or two. We insist he recognize us. He tells us this line is "closed." We wait in the line next door. We get up there. We get about 1,100 Egyptian Pounds (L.E.) for 200 American dollars. I ask the teller about this "Visa Stamp" I see signs about. He tells me we don't need it. We wait in line at customs. We get to the counter. The guy tells us we need to go to the bank to get our Visa Stamp. We go back to the bank in the jerk's line, because the liar's is "closed." The line is at a dead stop. Finally, the "liar's" window opens. We PURCHASE our Visa Stamp. We get back in line at customs, which now has doubled in size as people scramble from all over the world to get through the shuffle we just participated in. We get through.
Before making our way to luggage, we make a side trek to the bathroom. Egyptian bathrooms are different. And not in the way you're expecting. In fact, as far as cleanliness and "Western" feel go, Egyptian bathrooms are much better than A LOT of what I've seen in Greece and Italy. They're quite nice actually. However, as you walk up to the stall or urinal someone accosts you, trying to give you a towel. Nice attendant, right? Then you go to wash your hands and they're at the ready to squirt some liquid soap on your hands. Full service, yes? Want to dry off? Guess what? They EXPECT a little baksheesh (tipping). It's dubious any of these people work for the place that has whatever bathroom you're using, because towels, soap and the like are already available for you to use on your own. I found you have to give a pretty firm, and perhaps repeated "la, shokran" (no thank you) to pee without pay.
Then we waited for our bags. And waited...
What Cairenes lack in administrative efficiency and speed they make up for on the road. Our chaperone, Kareem, directed our every step for the evening. And our driver, Samir, transcended time and space in our private Shuttle. He made it to our Nile Cruise on time, somehow, when our airport experience easily took an hour longer than it should have.
On the way, the two men updated us on all things Cairo. We chatted politics a little bit. And then the Nile.
The Nile where we were carried a little less mystique than one might expect. With all of the buildings and bright lights, it looked more like Tokyo waterfront than ancient riverbanks. Nonetheless, the cruise was superb. It was a few days from the end of Ramadan, and all but the most piously devout Muslims will break their fast at night time on a daily basis. So this was the BIG show. Banquet Feast, I think, is the most fitting title. Every possible dish you could never think of, piled high. We didn't know what any of the food was. All of it Egyptian, some of it somewhat recognizable, had an accompanying 20 foot spread of sweets and treats.
And that's just the food. The entertainment was something incredible. There were singers and dancers and a rather scantily clad buxom belly dancer; and then the infamous whirling dervish. In Cairo they call this Tanoura. It's actually a mainstay in a hippie branch of Islam that severely frowns upon all demonstrations of violence or even displays of anger (including facial expressions). From what I've read the Cairene Tanoura is significantly more showy than what people typically think of as whirling dervishes. Ours certainly was anyway. This guy poured drinks while spinning rapidly. He had layers upon layers of clothing that stripped away (don't gasp - it was all G-rated) making all kinds of colorful patterns. He spun objects in his hands, wrapped himself into an inverted cloth top and even arm wrestled me with one arm while spinning a giant piece of his garment with the other.
After more than our fill of food and fun, our private entourage shuttled us to our hotel, The Triumph Hotel. We were guided around and attended to every step of the way. Welcome to paradise! This was hands down THE nicest hotel we've ever stayed in. As far as what we've come to expect overseas, it made everything else feel kind of "roughing it." Giant two story high floors. Grand marble construction. Eighth floor cityscape view. Soft beds. Oh yeah, I don't know if I mentioned, but the beds pretty much everywhere we stay are like wood blocks. The rooms are closet-sized. The bathrooms are literally closets. Showers are pathetic. Not so at the Triumph. This place would be 5 star in the states. The bathroom was big, FOR ME. The towels didn't feel like sandpaper. And they were taller than me. Because we decided to walk around the city a little we didn't get to sleep until around 2:30am. But 5 hours of luxury sleep left us feeling more rested than any of our 8-10 hour slumbers previously.
The Triumph Friday morning:
Can you guess what the continental breakfast looked like. Let me leave it at this: the breakfast area was inside the reception hall they use for lavish weddings. On our way back to the room to pack up, we checked out the workout room. It was laid out like a large Anytime or Snap Fitness. It was not, by any means, the hole in the wall, crap-treadmill and no weights that you see pretty much everywhere. This hotel had EVERYTHING.
We then checked out and waited for Jusef, our private guide. He was very friendly, very fluent, very attentive and very fast. He took us on a whirlwind day tour of Cairo to see the city in a day. And I think we pretty much did.
First stop: Egyptian Museum. Our driver watched our bags. Unfortunately, we had to check our cameras at the door. Nonetheless, we got a few shots outside. Jusef took us to the highlights, which in many ways was better than kind of moping aimlessly around a huge museum. From the get go, Jusef tried to get us to pay attention to details you don't normally think of when you're looking at the Egyptian statues, steles, and ingravings. I don't want to bore you, but a few great insights to keep an eye on were the differences in headwear and beards. A curved beard meant the figure was made after the death of its subject; a straight beard during his life. Different "hats" had a connection to either Upper Egypt (the South because the Nile runs northward) or Lower Egypt (the North). We saw the stele of Narmur to start (dating back to about 2700 B.C.); and the rest of what we focused on was pretty much the contents of King Tut's tomb, sans the actual mummy which is at its original location (in Luxor?).
After that fantastic voyage, our driver flew (yes he actually got air time twice) through Cairo to a Bazaar (fancy name for market). I'll spare the details. We got sold. I mean, you can't go to Egypt without getting an authentic cartouche with your own name in hieroglyphics can you? We picked up some other souvenirs. We saw the real process for making papyrus scrolls and purchased a few.
Then we went to the scent shop, where Tina went wild. Basically, the story goes that this famous oasis or oases in Egypt provide the most famous perfumes and colognes with their integral parts. Then perfumiers in France and Italy and the like dilute them with water, chemicals, alcohol, etc. and then sell them at astronomical mark-up. I believe it. Scent shops supposedly carry the pure extracts, the same ones found in tombs of Pharaohs and their queens. Our scent shop even had the Commerce Ministry's papers of approved business practices. We sampled all these pure scents (lotus and jasmine to name a few). And I actually have to admit, though it's quite a racket, it is quite enrapturing as well.
On to the Pyramids:
Well, what is there to say that hasn't been said? They loom. They stand proud. They're ancient. They're huge. They're ponderous. They're in the middle of the desert. They're a bit overwhelming. We came. We saw. We rode camels, snapped pictures and got taken for a ride metaphorically as well. FIFTY EUROS for a camel ride! That's like 80 dollars for about 10 minutes of work. Who would've thunk that a camel driver makes as much as a trial attorney. I'm in the wrong business. After that we headed down to the sphinx. It was more than a little surreal.
Wow. The Reader's Digest version of Cairo. Our private tour carted us back to the airport for some more hijinks. You have to go through security before checking in for your flight. Oh and then you have to go through security. And then customs. And then security.
And then B.O. I'm not talking about that-one-kid-in-junior-high-gym-class kind of B.O. I'm not even talking Euro-unshowered-pit-hair B.O. I had a Turk on one side, Tina had five guys from Tanzania on the other, and the rest of plane was jammed full of unknown others. I don't know how to properly describe this punishing flight. Imagine, if you will, someone having a newspaper drawn from the back of a dumpster, mixing it with fermented baby diarrhea and a whiskey sour and then whacking you in the face with the newspaper... hard... repeatedly... for an hour as you fly from Cairo to Cyprus over the Mediterranean Sea. Yeah, that's about as close as I can get.
Larnaka Airport marked the end of a full and very long day. We felt kind of energize though, having seen so much. We picked up our car, which was actually a very nice, new, though small, Honda Jazz with moon roof, and headed east.
While tooling around hotels who refused to bargain with us, our license plate fell off. Mind you, it was nighttime, dark and the drive from hotel to hotel was starting to tire us. Finally, Super Glue came through for me.
We decided to let the touristy hotels not have our money and continued east. Finally, the guide book steered us straight and we happened upon a smaller village, Protaras, and picked up an apartment, called Andreotis, for a few nights for only 40 Euros. Nice! The day ended with a visit to a local taverna where Tina got her favorite Kouneli Stifado. We were beat, but it was all worth it as we ate and drank under a myriad of huge bunches of grapes before turning in for the night.
To Africa and Back.
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Last Days in Paphos
Tuesday we started off the day by scuba diving along a Roman Wall in the Paphos harbour. We got all of our introductory training from a master diver, German(?) instructor named Frank, who has done some 15,000 dives, many of which were in the Carribean actually. Now he teaches Americans, Brits, and people from former Soviet Republics here in Cyprus... go figure. Tina was a little shaky at first. We only went down to 6 meters. But things smoothed out after the other two kids in our group left or settled down a little. I'm sure it wasn't too different than what many divers have experienced; but it was entirely unique, given that neither one of us have ever been that deep or gone scuba diving, let alone along an ancient wall with antique amphorae and small sea creatures all around. It was addictive, but we fought the temptation to do the afternoon dive in a sunken ship down to 11 meters.
It's difficult to describe succinctly with detail where we went on different parts of Cyprus because the island is so irregularly shaped. So forgive some of the oversimplifications with mention of quadrants and directions. Anyhow, after the dive, we headed to one of the farther reaches of the Northwest quadrant of Cyprus, the city of Polis. It appears to be a straight shot from Paphos, but it's up one side of a mountain and down the other. We went through a wooded area, with a unique bamboo species and some kind of abundant white bark (related to birch?) trees, to seemingly the hippie beach. Again, Gorgeous. We've come to expect nothing less. Swim, sleep, drive back, wash up, go out. It's becoming ritual.
Today (Wednesday) we checked on the dives for today. The only one my current level of expertise qualified for was in the afternoon, and we already had other plans. Those plans included returning our rental car, finding out how to get to Larnaka airport (quite a distance actually) cheaply tomorrow, and get a dune buggie or quadbike to re-explore the untouched offroad terrain around Lara Beach. After much ado, we settled on the quadbike. It was a lot of fun. Tina tried her hand at hitting some dunes solo. She loved it. We swam for a bit, but then something drew us farther along the coast. And that's where it's always at. Just when you think you've gone too far, you're too far from all the tourists and maybe even too far from the countryside natives, you go a little farther. And that's when we happened upon the real gem: The North end of Lara Beach. We saw several of the sea turtle nests (no eggs though - they're under the sand and it's illegal to touch them). And the beach was the best. At the very end there were dusted white rocks and low white rock cliffs hanging against the water. No waves. Perfectly clear water. Various layers of different colored sand: lines of black, dark, light, tan. No people. You could walk at least a hundred feet out on smooth sea bottom until you'd need to start swimming. My only regret: we didn't get there sooner and we didn't have facemasks to explore the rocky coves.
This evening we made it to a taverna with live music, authentic greek dancing, and an overall fun atmosphere. We're checking some logistics for our next few days of travel before we head back to the hotel and tomorrow move on to the East side of the island, Cairo, and hopefully some Turkish experiences. We miss you all, but not too much.
It's difficult to describe succinctly with detail where we went on different parts of Cyprus because the island is so irregularly shaped. So forgive some of the oversimplifications with mention of quadrants and directions. Anyhow, after the dive, we headed to one of the farther reaches of the Northwest quadrant of Cyprus, the city of Polis. It appears to be a straight shot from Paphos, but it's up one side of a mountain and down the other. We went through a wooded area, with a unique bamboo species and some kind of abundant white bark (related to birch?) trees, to seemingly the hippie beach. Again, Gorgeous. We've come to expect nothing less. Swim, sleep, drive back, wash up, go out. It's becoming ritual.
Today (Wednesday) we checked on the dives for today. The only one my current level of expertise qualified for was in the afternoon, and we already had other plans. Those plans included returning our rental car, finding out how to get to Larnaka airport (quite a distance actually) cheaply tomorrow, and get a dune buggie or quadbike to re-explore the untouched offroad terrain around Lara Beach. After much ado, we settled on the quadbike. It was a lot of fun. Tina tried her hand at hitting some dunes solo. She loved it. We swam for a bit, but then something drew us farther along the coast. And that's where it's always at. Just when you think you've gone too far, you're too far from all the tourists and maybe even too far from the countryside natives, you go a little farther. And that's when we happened upon the real gem: The North end of Lara Beach. We saw several of the sea turtle nests (no eggs though - they're under the sand and it's illegal to touch them). And the beach was the best. At the very end there were dusted white rocks and low white rock cliffs hanging against the water. No waves. Perfectly clear water. Various layers of different colored sand: lines of black, dark, light, tan. No people. You could walk at least a hundred feet out on smooth sea bottom until you'd need to start swimming. My only regret: we didn't get there sooner and we didn't have facemasks to explore the rocky coves.
This evening we made it to a taverna with live music, authentic greek dancing, and an overall fun atmosphere. We're checking some logistics for our next few days of travel before we head back to the hotel and tomorrow move on to the East side of the island, Cairo, and hopefully some Turkish experiences. We miss you all, but not too much.
Monday, September 14, 2009
How the North-West Was Won
After yesterday's arrival in Cyprus and our subsequent rip-off taxi ride, we familiarized ourselves with the city of Pafos, particularly in the Kato (downtown) Pafos area. We walked around the streets beside our hotel and got a lay of the land. Oh yeah, and we got a 20 euro simcard for our cellphone that we got in Florence, Italy a few years back. If you feel the need, I don't know what it may cost you, but it doesn't cost us anything to receive a call or text: Cyprus prefix is 357; the number is 9906-1617 (yeah, they only have 8 digits - remember to add 8 hours to your time when thinking of an appropriate time to call - you might need to add an international prefix before the Cyprus country prefix if it's from the states, 011?). Cyprus is a pretty big island, however, and to get anywhere but the most proximal of touristy sights and sites you're going to need transportation of some sort.
We like scooters and I did just get my motorcycle permit; but we opted for the mini-eurocar (a steal at only 23 euros a day). Without a second thought we skirted Northward along the West coast to Coral Bay. Getting used to driving on the left side of the road wasn't so bad on the longer rural stretches, but city intersections were a bit more anxiety-inducing. Coral Bay is a beautiful stretch of beach. It's a bit less calm than the Mediterranean we're used to, but the waves weren't quite Ocean-worthy. We swam. We sunbathed. We ate some fruit. We moved on.
Next stop: Lara Beach. It's a bit further Northward. We had to take it very slow, because the terrain becomes offroad well before the beach. It's actually a reserve and known for it's nighttime sea turtle hatchlings rushing into the sea. It, too, was gorgeous. We just kind of walked around and took some pictures. But we decided to leave our real investigation of that area for another time when we might have an ATV of some sort.
We drove back to the hotel, cleaned up, rested a little and then hit up the Cypriot nightlife. People come out a little later here than in the states. It's not quite like Greece proper, given the abundance of British and other tourists; but the dinner standard is still pretty much 8 or much much later. We got a taste of Cypriot flavors: suckling pig, beef stifado, avocado salad, local prawn, dolmades. Afterwards, we took a stroll by the harbor, stopping for some sokolat souffle.
Today we were the first people up at our hotel for the continental breakfast, which was very simple and very european: some toast, jam, thinly sliced ham and cheese. Then we napped (ahh, vacation) and woke up in time to head to the southern beaches of the North-West. We wound around some of the local streets and found an isolated beach where we were literally the only people for miles around. Large pebbles and dark, almost black, sand composed the beachhead, which ran up to craggy cliffs. We swam briefly, sunned and napped, and hit the road again for some more of the southern North-West.
Petra tou Rhodiou, or Aphrodite's Rock is where we next stopped. Sheer and striking outcroppings were everywhere. We've got pictures. After returning to the hotel to clean up to go out, we made our last run at the North-West of the island. There's a small village home to a strange phenomenon, called, suprisingly, "Phainomenon." We had to tool around these winding mountain roads, all too narrow of course. We made it to the village, but couldn't find the road. According to the guidebook, if you turn your vehicle off at the bottom of the "Phainomenon" road, your car will make it's way to the top of the next hill from a dead stop (there's a magnetic stream that runs directly underneath the road).
On the way back to Kato Pafos we were well out of range of all things touristy and found a legitimate Cyprus taverna. At long last we partook in the much-famed "Mezes". What ends up happening is for about 90 minutes every 5 minutes or so the server(s) arrive with another dish of some sort, all traditional Cypriot cuisine or Greek cuisine prepared with a Cypriot twist of some sort. We had special bright green olives, oregano bread, tzatziki, chaloumi, tahini, salad, pita, thick olive oil fried potatoes, lamb, beef, pork, fried feta, stuffed mushrooms, sausage, zucchini with egg, eggplant, beets, pickled celery, meatballs, some unidentified dishes and a fruit plate finisher.
What else could you want? Now we're out on the town late at night. Until tomorrow...
We like scooters and I did just get my motorcycle permit; but we opted for the mini-eurocar (a steal at only 23 euros a day). Without a second thought we skirted Northward along the West coast to Coral Bay. Getting used to driving on the left side of the road wasn't so bad on the longer rural stretches, but city intersections were a bit more anxiety-inducing. Coral Bay is a beautiful stretch of beach. It's a bit less calm than the Mediterranean we're used to, but the waves weren't quite Ocean-worthy. We swam. We sunbathed. We ate some fruit. We moved on.
Next stop: Lara Beach. It's a bit further Northward. We had to take it very slow, because the terrain becomes offroad well before the beach. It's actually a reserve and known for it's nighttime sea turtle hatchlings rushing into the sea. It, too, was gorgeous. We just kind of walked around and took some pictures. But we decided to leave our real investigation of that area for another time when we might have an ATV of some sort.
We drove back to the hotel, cleaned up, rested a little and then hit up the Cypriot nightlife. People come out a little later here than in the states. It's not quite like Greece proper, given the abundance of British and other tourists; but the dinner standard is still pretty much 8 or much much later. We got a taste of Cypriot flavors: suckling pig, beef stifado, avocado salad, local prawn, dolmades. Afterwards, we took a stroll by the harbor, stopping for some sokolat souffle.
Today we were the first people up at our hotel for the continental breakfast, which was very simple and very european: some toast, jam, thinly sliced ham and cheese. Then we napped (ahh, vacation) and woke up in time to head to the southern beaches of the North-West. We wound around some of the local streets and found an isolated beach where we were literally the only people for miles around. Large pebbles and dark, almost black, sand composed the beachhead, which ran up to craggy cliffs. We swam briefly, sunned and napped, and hit the road again for some more of the southern North-West.
Petra tou Rhodiou, or Aphrodite's Rock is where we next stopped. Sheer and striking outcroppings were everywhere. We've got pictures. After returning to the hotel to clean up to go out, we made our last run at the North-West of the island. There's a small village home to a strange phenomenon, called, suprisingly, "Phainomenon." We had to tool around these winding mountain roads, all too narrow of course. We made it to the village, but couldn't find the road. According to the guidebook, if you turn your vehicle off at the bottom of the "Phainomenon" road, your car will make it's way to the top of the next hill from a dead stop (there's a magnetic stream that runs directly underneath the road).
On the way back to Kato Pafos we were well out of range of all things touristy and found a legitimate Cyprus taverna. At long last we partook in the much-famed "Mezes". What ends up happening is for about 90 minutes every 5 minutes or so the server(s) arrive with another dish of some sort, all traditional Cypriot cuisine or Greek cuisine prepared with a Cypriot twist of some sort. We had special bright green olives, oregano bread, tzatziki, chaloumi, tahini, salad, pita, thick olive oil fried potatoes, lamb, beef, pork, fried feta, stuffed mushrooms, sausage, zucchini with egg, eggplant, beets, pickled celery, meatballs, some unidentified dishes and a fruit plate finisher.
What else could you want? Now we're out on the town late at night. Until tomorrow...
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Greece to Cyprus
Everything has worked out perfectly so far. We upgraded to First Class (a first time for us both) on our Philadelphia to Athens flight, which still put our roundtrip airfare at a few hundred dollars less than the last time we flew to Europe. Thanks to the fully reclining seats, we arrived in Athens refreshed and rested (and fed).
Tina's uncle Argyri readily awaited our arrival and sped us up to Mavromati that same Thursday morning. My Greek is weak. Tina's is better. But it's a far cry from where it used to be, which was abundantly apparent when trying to communicate with a solely Greek-speaking native.
Argyri got us to the village in about two hours as opposed to some 6 hours years ago. The highways are extremely more developed than they were. But the trip really should have taken longer. He hit 200km/hr several times on the way through the Peloponnese.
The village was beautiful. It still amazes me that they have just about every kind of vegetation you can think of up there, thanks in large part to the Klepsydra spring flowing from the mountain: bananas, peaches, nectarines, walnuts, kale, carrots, pomegranites, pears, melons, prickly pear, cucumbers, tomatoes, onions, peppers, avocado, grapes, cherries, oranges, lemons, mandarins, limes, olives, and my favorite, bright green FRESH figs, and the list goes on.
We dined lavishly, stayed in the family hotel, visited the family orchards, fields and gardens, the Monastery and the Ancient Messene archaeological site (which is even bigger than ever before) all in the company of Tina's uncle Lycourgos, his wife Vika, their children Yannis, Dimitri and Danai. Tina's other uncle Costa's two daughters Amanda and Nikolia happened to be visiting, so we got some time to spend with them before they returned to Athens the same day we got there. Pappou came out to visit here and there; and Vika's mother, visiting from Moldova, was a constant help around the dinner table.
The pace was relaxed. We took advantage of the Greek siesta both days in the village. It was great.
Saturday we had breakfast with everyone and said our last goodbyes to the village and sped back to Athens with Argyri. At long last we finally got to meet his girlfriend, Dimitra, who was a gracious host and excellent cook. She cooked various types of fish and a spread of various salads. I had everything but the fish and everything else was tasty.
While at Dimitra's we finally got to express ourselves fully in English for a little bit, thanks to Dimitra's brother being in town, visiting from London. He was interested in our American perspective and was our go-between for more complicated communication between everyone.
Like real Greeks we went out with Argyri, Dimitra, her brother Taki, her daughter and her daughter's friend to the authentic Greek night life.
Sunday morning (today) we flew into Cyprus and we found a nice, central, affordable hotel, called Pyramos. Blog updated. Time to eat.
J and T
Tina's uncle Argyri readily awaited our arrival and sped us up to Mavromati that same Thursday morning. My Greek is weak. Tina's is better. But it's a far cry from where it used to be, which was abundantly apparent when trying to communicate with a solely Greek-speaking native.
Argyri got us to the village in about two hours as opposed to some 6 hours years ago. The highways are extremely more developed than they were. But the trip really should have taken longer. He hit 200km/hr several times on the way through the Peloponnese.
The village was beautiful. It still amazes me that they have just about every kind of vegetation you can think of up there, thanks in large part to the Klepsydra spring flowing from the mountain: bananas, peaches, nectarines, walnuts, kale, carrots, pomegranites, pears, melons, prickly pear, cucumbers, tomatoes, onions, peppers, avocado, grapes, cherries, oranges, lemons, mandarins, limes, olives, and my favorite, bright green FRESH figs, and the list goes on.
We dined lavishly, stayed in the family hotel, visited the family orchards, fields and gardens, the Monastery and the Ancient Messene archaeological site (which is even bigger than ever before) all in the company of Tina's uncle Lycourgos, his wife Vika, their children Yannis, Dimitri and Danai. Tina's other uncle Costa's two daughters Amanda and Nikolia happened to be visiting, so we got some time to spend with them before they returned to Athens the same day we got there. Pappou came out to visit here and there; and Vika's mother, visiting from Moldova, was a constant help around the dinner table.
The pace was relaxed. We took advantage of the Greek siesta both days in the village. It was great.
Saturday we had breakfast with everyone and said our last goodbyes to the village and sped back to Athens with Argyri. At long last we finally got to meet his girlfriend, Dimitra, who was a gracious host and excellent cook. She cooked various types of fish and a spread of various salads. I had everything but the fish and everything else was tasty.
While at Dimitra's we finally got to express ourselves fully in English for a little bit, thanks to Dimitra's brother being in town, visiting from London. He was interested in our American perspective and was our go-between for more complicated communication between everyone.
Like real Greeks we went out with Argyri, Dimitra, her brother Taki, her daughter and her daughter's friend to the authentic Greek night life.
Sunday morning (today) we flew into Cyprus and we found a nice, central, affordable hotel, called Pyramos. Blog updated. Time to eat.
J and T
Thursday, September 3, 2009
On our way!
Hello All!
We are so excited about our trip and can't wait to get started! We leave Sept. 9th and return Sept 23rd. Check-in periodically to our blog site for our latest adventures! We will try to post as frequently as we can. Our travel plans include: visiting family in the Athens and the Peloponnese, flying to Paphos in Cyprus, busing it to Larnaka, flying to Cairo and then back to Larnaka and visiting Cape Greco and then head back to Athens. It should be fun!
See you all soon!
C & J Watters
We are so excited about our trip and can't wait to get started! We leave Sept. 9th and return Sept 23rd. Check-in periodically to our blog site for our latest adventures! We will try to post as frequently as we can. Our travel plans include: visiting family in the Athens and the Peloponnese, flying to Paphos in Cyprus, busing it to Larnaka, flying to Cairo and then back to Larnaka and visiting Cape Greco and then head back to Athens. It should be fun!
See you all soon!
C & J Watters
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