The Hot Cyprian Air

Didn't save me from getting a cold. In fact, it actually contributed to it, in a weird way. 36 - 38 degrees all week led to us setting the air conditioner to 18 degrees over night. Which of course meant that bathing in the windy sea for 2 hours the next day was a bad idea. Nevertheless, I did, and got sick for the better part of our holiday. Of course, that didn't stop me from having a great time!

We arrived in Cyprus on monday, feeling very much like stuffed turkey that had suddenly been crammed into the oven, very tired and somewhat hungry. At the hotel we had to wait two hours before we could check in, so we took a stroll along the beach, suddenly realising that all our tiredness was being swept away by the warm sea breeze. The view was amazing, and so was the hotel! That same day, after moving into our apartment and swimming in the sea for a while, we went on into town exploring. I soon realised that this was a family/couples resort place, and that we were the odd ones out. But that didn't really bother me because the whole place had a very nice atmosphere.

During the first few days we didn't do much more that relaxing. Mostly I was just reading my book in the sun, and sitting on the rocks in the water (note: I can swim, BUT the sea water is salt, duuuh, which means - it irritates the skin on my face...so basically my face is allergic to it but the rest of my skin is fine and since sea water is so good for the body I found rocks in the water I could sit on). We also did some paragliding and pedalboating (was great fun!). Sometimes there were activities going on in the pool, like water gym, water polo, water volley etc, that I willingly joined in on. And after a while I befriended the entertainment guy so I knew exactly when all the fun stuff was happening. I even participated in the table tennis tournament! I lost, of course, but I wasn't far behind and I was playing against the teacher :D

By the end of the week we were getting a bit bored with just laying around in the sun, so we went sightseeing. Travelled across the border to the north, Turkish occupied side of Cyprus. Two words - flags everywhere. I guess someone really wanted to make it clear whose land it was. I think someone was trying too hard.

But anyway, the trip itself was about two castles and one church (monastery). One of the castles was build over centuries, finally finished in the 14th. It is very beautiful, high up in the mountains, and it looked more like it had just grown out of the mountain itself, rather than someone having build it on top of it. Apparently Walt Disney (who, by any account, had a great imagination cause I sure couldn't have imagined it and still can't see any resemblance) got the idea for Snow White's castle after seeing this one. As a matter of pride we, as always, climbed to the very top of the building. Took us about an hour with all those crooked steps, but we made it, and were rewarded with a magnificent view.

The other castle was less impressive. The only good thing there were the chambers of torture and the 4000 year old ship they managed to lift from the bottom of the ocean. The monastery was far more interesting. The chuch there was the only greek orthodox chuch that still had all the original icons (because during the occupation people barricated themselves in it for a year and after a while the turks just couldn't be bother to rob it). And the monastery, although roofless (due to colonists that smashed it to get building materials for the english channel), was very well preserved. Anywhooooo, I liked it, and although my feed were bleeding from my new shoes (yh yh, I know, silly girl in her silly shoes...but they're so pretty!!), I enjoyed it.

Last few days were all about souvenirs, eating at local tavern's, and packing. We went to "Cyprus night", and got to see lots of national food and dancing. It was great, they even made us dance :p I won't say anything about food portions, only that after the 9th plate I couldn't even look at it anymore.

We left on monday, our favourite tavern being Marco's, where the food was awsome, the portions less overwhelming and thus eatable, and the menues were in russian :D

I'll miss Cyprus, but now it's back to work.