Europa Hotel Nicosia

... 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 ...

... but he snatched my bag right out of my hand and loaded it onto the conveyor belt before I could retrieve them. Away went the liquids inside and he fussed at me for not taking them out after the bag made it to the other side. I had told him to wait a second before he started grabbing my items. Not my problem he can't listen!

He also wanted me to take off my belt and before I had even reached for it he was yelling, "belt,
belt, belt, belt" and ...

... of a National Enquirer at Publix because fringe kooks don't want the other 99% of us to live our lives. I am kinda partial to the European way of just letting it all hang out in the open. If you want to look, go for it. If not, look away and shut up. Amazing that in 20 years Bulgaria has opened up and we continue to go backwards.

And after leaving Billa, turn right and next door is a tiny storefront selling the latest in cheap ...

... fort ended with us parking the car and eating lunch...a mere
100 yards from the castle. From Larnaka we headed back towards
Limassol in order to visit Ancient Amathous and Kourion. Kourion,
although at the end of the journey, was perhaps my favourite. Here I
saw the ruins of the temple to Apollo as the sun was going down. It ...

... us. He struggled with his
limited English but made the most valiant effort. He simply was
trying to tell us that the troubles between Christians and Muslims
and Jews and everyone should not be. That this minor difference of
religion should not be causing so much trouble, so much difficulty
amongst the people of the world. He was a very nice man and it was
an unforgettable experience.

After a day of driving and walking
around it was an early night.

... 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.

A $70 ferry ride motored me from Alanya, Turkey to northern Cyprus. So, let's start our tale of Cyprus from the north. But, as a prologue, you - the always quiet and never rebellious reader - should know that my boat trip to Israel was going to leave after six days and leave in the form of a $230 cruise. I was given two tough questions to answer. 1. What was I gonna do on Cyprus for six days? And the second: How was I going to escape expensive Cyprus ...

We took a tour of the Turkish side of the city today with our European Cultures class to hear about the Turkish side of the controversy. It was pretty interesting but I still don't really feel like they gave us an unbiased version of the story, though we did learn more about controversy during the 1960s in which a large number of ...

... I never felt threatened I certainly never felt comfortable, and it is a place you have to see to believe. We crossed over at a check point in this "border" into Turkish Cyprus from Greek Cyprus, and had to have our passports checked and stamped and get visas so that we could leave one side and enter the other. It is quite freaky that on both sides of the "buffer/no-go zone" there are vibrant cities, but through the centre is a huge area of deserted city. Brian was fascinated and ...

It was a fun trip... We staid at Ayia Napa but took a car one day and went to Nicosia and walked to the Turkish side and took a cab and went all the way to Kyrenia to have dinner. Very memorable experience... both sides are so beautiful... I wish they stop fighting soon...