We landed in Cyprus in the afternoon. The island is occupied by
both Turkey and Greece and the green line
divides the country between the two.
You have to have your passport stamped every time you cross over. Upon arrival we noticed police in riot gear
near our hotel. Little did we know there
was a local soccer game going on. Our
hotel was near a pub that supported The Hooligans. When we got off the bus, I heard a cannon shot
and of course I hit the deck. But this
is just custom if your team wins to shoot the cannon. After a brief lunch and a group meeting,
Natasha and I set off on foot and were immediately stopped by some locals at
the Hooligan bar for some spirits. We
tried several drinks and headed off back to the hotel as we forgot to get
Euros. We then walked for a spell and
realized we needed a cab. We had the
cab take us to the bus station. What a
nightmare - it was very difficult to find someone who spoke English and even
harder to figure out the bus schedule.
After about 45 minutes of walking back and fourth, we figured out that
we needed to go to the Turkish side of the island to go north. Once we passed through immigration we
realized that the Greek side was much nicer.
We found the correct bus station and realized it was closed. So we headed back to the Greek side and had
some dinner.
The next morning
we walked through the “green zone” - this property is actually occupied by the
U.N. No pictures allowed. We had to have our passports stamped
again. Shortly afterwards we boarded a
30 minute bus to the northern coast of the island. We toured a castle along the coast and small
boat harbour. After a cool drink at a
local watering hole with Bill, we then took a cab to the Buffavento
Castle. We then climbed for thirty
minutes to reach the castle. The views
were incredible. An interesting fact regarding
this castle…it is one of the many castles still standing from the Crusade
era. It was built to help combat the
Arab raiders. We are in decent shape
yet the altitude made the climb more difficult.
After climbing down the mountain we then went to the St. Hilarion
Castle. It is rumored that this castle
actully inspired Disney for the Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs story. Once again, the climb was tough. This particular climb was a little tougher as
we had to find things within the castle and the castle still had several climbs
within its walls. Compared to the
pevious castle hill we climbed the views from this apex were fantastic. You could actually see Nicosia from the top
of this hill.
After heading back to the city, we ran into our fellow travelers
and decided to have drinks and lunch before we headed back to the hotel for
check in. I am sure it is needless to
say, but the food was great, the beer was cold, and the hooka (apple flavored)
was being passed several times around the table. We then went back to the hotel for the
checkin and a much needed shower. After
the shower we found out that were headed to Roma (Rome).
“You can take back
the things you give, but can’t take back the days you live” - Too Short
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