Cyprus and the start of something big!!

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  Kyrenia, Kyrenia, Cyprus
Friday, May 16, 2008

Hi everyone
 
Well, this is the first of many 'International' blogs to come so stand by your beds and my apologies for droning on and on as usual!!
 
Miraculously, we managed to get the house finished by the time we left the UK. Except for a few bits and pieces that my uncle is going to do for us - he's moving into our house while we are away. It was touch and go at one point though! let's just say I packed for 8 months holiday in 1 hour!!!!!!!
 
Our first port of call was Istanbul for one night before flying here to Cyprus. It's all part of the 'Round the World' ticket package so flying from Istanbul first was our only option to start off the epic adventure

Kyrenia Harbour

. Our flight over with BA was great. Throughout the course of our 3 hour flight we got given 4 small bottles of champagne because we were getting married - I had to take my wedding dress on as hand luggage - so at 7am we were guzzling bucks fizz with the in-flight breakfast. woohoo
 
 We stayed in a town called Sulthanamet which is on the coast by the Bosphorous River. 10mins away and there is a magnificent bridge which takes you from the European side of Turkey to the Asian side of Turkey. Something we will check out on our return to Istanbul after the wedding. Our Hotel was lovely, staff were fantastic and the food was delicious. As soon as we got to our Hotel room we lay on the bed and fell asleep for 4 hours until 6pm! Very poor show I know but we had been up since 3.30am for our flight over. We went up to the Hotel restaurant for dinner which had the most fantastic views of Istanbul and the Ocean. You could see the metropolis of Istanbul City in the distance, tiny little white matchbox boats bobbing together on the sapphire sea and you got blinded by the gold paint on the mosques.
 
The next day we had a quick wander round Sulthanamet before our flight over to cyprus in the afternoon. We saw massive mosques, found gorgeous little Turkish paintings, pushed our way through hords of  children on coach tours and swarms of Saga souls wondering what country they were in, wandered up little cobbled alleys with local bars and turks playing backgammon outside and then walked back to our Hotel along the seafront which is like the M25

Lois at the Harbour

! Our flight over to Cyprus we made by the skin of our teeth literally! Not only did we have our small Honeymoon suitcases but we also had one massive case for cyprus (which we're going to leave behind after our wedding) and I was carrying my massive wedding dress in a huge plastic bag. We got dropped off at the wrong terminal by the hotel's driver, so had to rush to the other side of the airport, had to go through 4 separate x-ray/scanning machines involving long hot bustling queues and I kept getting bleeped so had to be personally scanned! You thought UK airports were hot on security!!
 
We arrived at Ercan airport in cyprus to torrential rain, thunder, lightening and hailstones!!! David's mother, Pauleen, and I had to shelter like little mice while David and  his father, John, loaded the car up and got soaked through!! thankfully though, the other side of the mountains where David's parents live was clear and beautiful weather. No sooner had we got home and had a cuppa then we were off out for drinks and dinner to meet up with some friends. "Just a quick drink because we're really tired" turned into a l-o-n-g night of red wine and our friend, Cath, pole dancing up a wooden post in our local bar!! David and I were up dancing to Julio Inglesias with these people we'd never met before and neither of us can remember getting home! We went go karting with some other friends and went for another 'quck drink' in this sexy trendy bar called Cream & Dream where my red wine glass was ENORMOUS. My kinda bar! We've been sunbathing lots and although we've been using factor 15 initially I've gone the colour of a Baboons bottom and have been soaking my chest in vinegar as a result!
 
I went to the local market with my future in-laws. It's a great market and you can buy anything and everything from children's swimming costumes to a pound of potatoes. I bought David's mum a gorgeous skirt and John bought some strawberries which I tried before we bought..yum! I also learnt how to count to five in Turkish and how to say "how much is this?" I can already say "Good morning/afternoon/evening", "how are you? Fine thankyou" and "yes", "no" and "cheers" so I'll be fluent by the time you all come out!
 
David and I have managed to spend a bit of time alone and went to the harbour for dinner and had a cuddle as the blood red sun slipped into the sea. Gorgeous. Then we went off to scoff mezzes.

I have also found THE MOST FANTASTIC handbag shop in the local town. OH MY GOD! I've already been there three times and it's cheap as chips!

As well as all this of course we've been trying to organise and finalise wedding plans, everyone's flights, confirm accommodation, sort out music. Although we're in boiling hot weather and having a super time we're a little stressed with all the preparations so nerves are a bit frayed to say the least! We meet with our wedding co ordinator to sort out the cake, flowers, menu for reception etc next week so that will be another thing off the list hopefully.
 
Anyway, must go now as we're very busy driving around town here there and everywhere!!
 
Keep in touch everyone. Post lots of comments, suggestions, complaints etc
 
Love Lois & David xx

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