It seems odd to be writing about Cyprus on the France blog page, especially since these entries aren't going to be nearly as scintillating. (Yes, I do think highly of my writing, thank you.) We arrived at Larnaca airport on Thursday, August 5th after travelling for pretty much twenty four hours. No rest for our tired bodies though - we were met at the airport by my cousin Andri, her husband Simos, and their twins Victoria and Maximus, and taken to the village of Klirou where my mother's younger brother lives (younger by about ten years; safe to say he was an "oops." haha). My mom is the middle child, between two boys. Waiting for us there was a good meal and a lot of family, including my eighty eight year old grandma, who no longer has the one tooth we so fondly remember form our last trip. (Glenn, Andrew and I visited in 2003.) A lot of emotion upon seeing her - so much of what my mother is about is represented by my Yia yia (grandma in Greek), and so in turn my sister and I. Although I don't see my uncles or my cousins very often, I am always surprised by the similarities in behaviours, mannerisms etc.
The three of us are staying with my cousin Andri, and Andrew is pretty lucky as his cousins are only one year younger than him, and they speak English quite well, having attended and English school for the past two years; there are also a lot of toys. Quite the contrast from his last summer in France. My cousin and her family are on holidays, too, and they have been showing us around.
We didn't do much the first day except sleep, and eat, but we made up for it on the Saturday by heading to the beach with my mom, dad, uncle, aunt, grandma, cousin and family, before ending the day with a late meal to celebrate my mother's birthday.
Sunday saw us heading east towards a beach at Ayia Napa. This is a party area, filled with young tourists of whom we saw a lot when we drove along the main strip on our way to an overlook as the sun began to lower. It is a place to which we will return one night. Not sure if it will be without or without kids, but just walking the streets in the evening people watching is entertaining. My cousin Andri worked at a hotel here when she was young, and she told us how she would work her shift at the hotel, head out to the discos, and return home to sleep for just a few hours before she did it all again. Sounds like the Whistler lifestyle to me.
On Monday, we had a pretty lazy day with a late start reminiscent of our days in France. Afternoon meal, then a grocery shop, before going to JUMBO - a very large kids' toy, clothing, furniture store. The money my mom and dad gave Andrew before we left was burning a large hole in his pocket! Afterwards we went into downtown Nicosia. Since it was about seven, most of the stores were closing, but we did get a feel for the area, and no one minded when Glenn suggested we stop at the Starbucks for a coffee. GLENN suggested. He's making me coffee in the mornings now, and Andri & Simos have taught him how to make an amazing Nescafe frappe; he makes those for me in the afternoon. [Kevin and Michelle, you would be proud.] I have had one cup of the Greek coffee, and am looking forward to having a few more at some little cafes. The last time I tried Greek coffee, I was not a coffee drinker at all, and so my first sip was followed by the face pucker. This time - I'm a pro, and need the very smallest amount of sugar. During our time in downtown Nicosia, we crossed over to the Turkish side (pedestrian crossing), and took a brief look around. We'll go back again during the day; we'll also cross over into Northern Cyprus and spend a few days touring there soon.
For those of you who do not know very much about Cyprus, it is a divided island with a divided capital city - much like Berlin. From 1974 until about 2003, neither group of people could go into the other half of the island or city. Now Greek and Turkish Cypriots can cross over, but they must all go through a border check. Nicosia is still divided by what is called the green line - an area that used to be patrolled by UN soldiers. It is still patrolled, but by Turkish and Greek authorities. The southern half of the island is Greek Cypriot, and Cypriots are independent of Greece; Cyprus is not a Greek island, but it's own nation, and it fought for its independence in the 1950's from British rule. The Northern half of the island is Turkish Cypriot, governed by Turkey. If you take a look at a map, you will see that Cyprus is quite close to many Middle Eastern, Muslim countries, yet it is a European, Christian country. I will explain more of the history in a later post. It is an interesting one, and I am fascinated by the various opinions of my relatives regarding their culture, past and present.
Tuesday we drove into the Troodos mountains, following windy, narrow roads. Believe it or not, these mountains receive snow, and Cypriots do ski. Although still hot, it is much cooler in the mountains, hence the reason many Cypriots head for the hills on their holidays. Our destination was Kykkos Monastery - home to an icon of the Virgin Mary said to have been painted by Saint Luke. This monastery has housed this icon for the last four centuries; however, not this exact monastery, as what we saw was built in the 1800's. Andri's husband, Simos, calls it a five- star monastery as it is very rich - certainly we were impressed with the size, the art, the ornate chapel and its many icons beyond the one mentioned above. There are many churches all over the mountain region, and quite a few are UNESCO world heritage sites because of their frescoes. More history: Over the centuries, Cyprus has been home to many cultures because of its location. While under Lusignan, Catholic rule, people of the Greek Orthodox faith were persecuted, and so the clergy retreated to the mountains where they built these small churches with their revered artwork. We will be going to see some of them. Along the way we went through Cedar Valley, home to Cedar trees whose branches grow straight out and parallel to each other, and whose pine cones grow up from the branches. They looked like something out of a Dr. Seuss story, Horton Hears a Who (which by the way was on the television the other day). These trees are cousins to the Lebanese cedar. My cousin's husband, Simos, tells me that the resin these trees contain keep them from decomposing, and they were harvested for boat building. From there, we dragged Andrew on a 5 km round trip hike to the top of Mt. Tripylos. There was a point where he did stop crying - Glenn was carrying him. Aren't we awful. And there will be more. He was most upset about the fact that his cousins stayed at the bottom. We knew he could do this; their parents weren't sure about the twins abilities.
Wednesday, Glenn and I headed into downtown Nicosia with my mom and dad. I convinced my mom to buy a bikini! No one, absolutely no one, wears a one piece bathing suit here (except for the men in their speedos or short trunks). It does not matter what your body looks like - you wear a bikini. We also wanted to have a good Greek lunch, but neither of the two restaurants highly recommended by the Lonely Planet guidebook for lunch were open. Apparently It is an important holiday weekend coming up, and most businesses will take their holidays around it. The nice thing is that my cousin Andri knew both of the restaurants, and they are good, so we'll try them when they re-open on the 22nd. Poolside beckoned later that afternoon. It's great to see the lifeguards enjoying their job: reading their books, chatting with friends, tanning, basically lounging poolside!
Thursday -beach time in Larnaca before heading home to celebrate my aunt's birthday with a 9:30 start for a family dinner. I love it when my child argues with me about bedtime: ME: time for bed. ANDREW: Awww, it's not even late. ME: It's almost 1 a.m. ANDREW: So. We've been to bed later. ME: It's past my bed time. Would you really like to push this?
Okay. I am fading. Time to post this with some pictures.
