Avenue Holiday Apartments Larnaca

... everyone now in the recent past. I am proud of the fact that I am one of the pioneer travelers to explore this fascinating side of the island far, far removed from the five star resorts an hour away. It is the same feeling for me like being in Kosovo, another area where I am one of the first in for a look at a place well of the tourist trail.

The Republic of Cyprus is the legitimate government that controls the entire island in theory. The Turkish ...

... feeling in the world knowing I am going to get on the flight and a few bad apple gate agents don't treat me like I am some smeared piece of dog excrement just because I am trying to fly standby on my pass and I am making them have to work. You airline people out there know what I am talking about, right!!!???

But the best thing about today was flying on my favorite jet of all time...the BAe 146. If you are into aviation you know the plane and I won't ...

... unlike here where it's all out in the open.

But back to my point...Billa provides a shopping experience I have never before seen in a supermarket. Just when I think I have seen it all, I find one of those travel experiences in some Bulgarian grocery store underground next to the subway station. All right there grouped together next to the registers (manned by dour matrons) where we would keep the tic tacs and magazines were mints ...

All packing and cleaning is underway !!! Only 36 or so hours left before we hit the tarmac at Larnaca !! Just need to get the dog wormed and de-flead (not that he has them !), groomed and then buy him a travel box for the flight !

Fingers crossed all our accommodation arrangements have been made for Athens and Samothraki !

Sunday, July 5th, 2009
This began one of the longest driving
days of the entire trip. If you get the chance look at a map of
Cyprus. We left Nicosia and headed to Agia Napa. En route we
stopped at a fishing village and several famous beaches. From there
we headed to Larnaka where following conflicting signs to the
Larnaca, Cyprus lantian1979

... and old buildings. We
began to come across check-points to cross the green line. For those
of you who are unaware, Nicosia is the last divided capitol in the
world. Half of it is on the Turkish side of Cyprus and half on the
former Greek side. For years it was very difficult to cross from one
side to the other but fortunately regulations have eased and it was
easy to pass through. This meant the first half of the afternoon was
in Cyprus and the second ...

... of the island tourists are rarely aware off. This is the plight of the island's dog population. It is horrific. Most Cypriots are not kind to their dogs. Many hunting dogs are released to fend for themseleves at the end of the hunting season once they have served their purpose. Other dogs are dumped as a matter of course once their owners become bored with them. The result is dogs are either killed on the roads or end up starving to death or ...

... is certainly a great place to vacation in the early fall. Late October and early November was still quite warm to our standards, but the tourist season was over for Eurpeans so it was a good place to vacation as it was moderately priced.

... number two, so it did the only thing that is possible in these times of need. Up went the high rises right on top of the beach !!! Not far from the beach, is as usual, the old Church converted into a Mosque. There was restoration work taking place, but I went in anyway. As this is the Cypriot side, it is open for use. It was quite small, but nice. And then it happened. Like all Mosques, this one had carpet over the floor, but right in front of the mihrab was a small ...

... calls on the other. He was trying to arrange a pickup while giving me a white knuckle ride at the same time. Dropped off in Limasol I located the office, took a deep breath and entered. I tracked down my contact in the partitions and once I introduced myself.. "Ahh, you are the cyclist from England who wants to go the Greece, yes?". The girl in the office had phoned ahead. From then on it was plain sailing ...