Park Nicosia Hilton

... where the flavor and architecture of the city changed within steps. Here it was a border checkpoint with armed soldiers at the end of this Ledra Street that brought me into a world that I never even knew existed when I woke up this morning.

No border formalities to cross in or out of Cyprus proper exist but the Turkish Republic has its owned formalities. Instead of stamping passports, the guards stamp a piece of paper since this is ...

... an old English **** in a wheelchair with a giant plastic bag containing something he had purchased and this same security guy reached for it. The old man told him to be careful because it was fragile and the old man even made motions not to crush the bag. Mr. Grab At Everything took these motions to mean go ahead and please do crush it and throw it in the trash can. Which he actually did right before our astonished eyes and that old man jumped out of that ...

Where Shopping is a Pleasure. Isn't that Publix's slogan? I found a grocery store called Billa where shopping may not be such a pleasure but their checkout stand can put you on a road to some. Now visualize the g rated checkout stand at Publix. All the "racy" tabloids are covered up because God forbid should someone steal a glance at Britney Spears sans panties. Besides, our magazines but a big black rectangle over anything worth looking ...

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 ...

... 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.

... form, universe-saving ... MODERN ODDYSEUS' TOP 5!!! Seeing how this story will explain the north first and then the south, I'll name the highs first and then the lows. The Top 5 Best Things About Cyprus! are narrated by a Pac-Man wearing white and with a halo: 1. TURKISH SIDE OF NICOSIA 2. A LOT OF SOCCER IS PLAYED 3. THE NATURAL PLACES 4. BUJON 5. THE LOCALS' GARDENS HONORABLE MENTION includes CLEAR SEA-WATER; and GOOD HITCHHIKING IN THE TURKISH ...

Journeying to Cyprus to stay with my cousin and his family obviously involved catching a boat and we stupidly opted for the slower, cheaper overnight ferry. What a grave mistake! It was undoubtedly the most revolting boat I have ever set foot on in my life. Words cannot describe how filthy, oily and smelly Fergun Ferry really was. It is a disgrace to the ferrying world ...

... ready to head back to limassol to pack our bags and head over to egypt and isreal for the next week!!! how exciting to see the pyramids and see where jesus was crucifed! so we will post a few more pictures and put out our next blog asap!! ( by friday ) michael will spend his birthday aboard a ship on the isreal cruise, something a little different! talk soon kirsty and michael p.s happy birthday mummy ( Marion )

... to see what we had originally came for. Therefore we settled for wandering around each side of the city for a couple of hours trying to get a feel for the life style and endeavoring to understand what it was that had happened. We had withdrawn some Cypriot Pounds from an ATM on one side, only to walk a couple of klms across the "border" where we withdrew Turkish Pounds from an ATM there. The past three days could not have been of greater contrast, starting with visits to ancient ...