Larco Larnaca

... of Northern Cyprus behind the Green Line is only recognized by you guessed it...Turkey. In fact, the old airport of Lefkosa is in the Turkish part and as a result of the illigitimacy of the Turkish Republic, only has flights to Turkey. This is why Larnaca and Paphos on the coast have the main airports for the rest of the country.

In Skopje a simple bridge took me from Europe to the Ottoman Empire. In Sarajevo it was as easy as crossing an ...

... there.

Cypress has been a crossroads since those times from World History class and Greeks, Persians, Egyptians, Byzantines and English have all found their way here. If people could make it here in 1000BC, why can't an American travel across the island in 2009AD? I am just having the hardest time in ALL my travels EVER trying to get around this island.

So the road to Cyprus on my BAe 146 proved to be much easier than the roads within it ...

... tacky racy lingerie, all proudly displayed on clear plastic hangers. It's like the perfect dessert after shopping for your pleasures in Billa. Maybe our friend from Finland could stop by Sofia on her way home and try out her newfound "prettiness" as she called it.

I've left all that shopping madness behind and have made it to Larnaca, Cypress. I've got plenty of time here to explore and see what this desert island has to offer.

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 !

... all just fit and seemed perfect. On the return to Paphos we spotted
the spot where Aphrodite was born from the sea and her temple up on a
cliff. It was a very long day but one filled with several
interesting sites. I almost forgot...in Larnaka we happened upon the
church of St.. Lazarus where he was finally laid to rest.

... in Turkey, relatively speaking. The
Turkish side was a bit more run down, however, signs of EU
intervention abounded demonstrating new agreements and a desire to
preserve the past. We came upon the top site in Northern Nicosia,
the Selimiye Mosque which combines medieval Christian architecture
with Islamic influence to create a most stunning Mosque. While
walking around the grounds, a gentleman by the name of Rammadan
(pardon the spelling) came and spoke ...

... from thirst. There are few dog shelters on the island but they just don't have the capacity or funds to cope with the number of dogs being brought in or picked up. The Sotira Dog Shelter near Ayia Thekla is run by a Cypriot lady called Eleni. A London-trained opera singer, she has devoted her life to helping these animals. Unfortunately for many of the dogs their lives are only extended for a couple of weeks after arriving at the shelter. If they are ...

Spent a week in a resort hotel in the city of Limmosal. Toured the entire island except for the Turkish portion on the top third of Cyprus.

Most of the tourist signs are in 1) Greek 2) Russian and last but not least 3) English.

This ...

After a hectic two weeks in London packing up our lives, sun and sea in Cyprus were exactly what the doctor ordered. We have had a great time catching up with LOTS of family and have eaten enough "souvla" to last a lifetime! We did a bit of sight seeing including a day trip to Paphos which was lovely, but this trip was more family orientated, hence the lack of interesting photos. We figured that since we are going to be ...

It was very interesting traveling to the north yesterday. We had about a 40 minute drive over the mountains to the port city of Keyrenia. The city is in the occupied portion of Cyprus. The Turkish Cypriots have really been into developing their tourism industy, so the harbor was very pretty with lots of people willing to take ...