Getting to Know Cyprus |
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16 December 2024 - Limassol
Saturday morning I landed in Cyprus from the cold north and was greeted by the warm sun as I stepped outside the plane. Then we rode a bus to customs where I waited in line with all the Russians and Israelis who also don't have European passports. My rental car was a little Citroen with a stick shift to manage with my left hand while I drive on the left.
What two island EU nations still have open borders with the UK? Ireland and Cyprus. The British gave the Cypriots independence in 1960 but kept Akrotiri and Dhekelia, two oddly shaped pieces of the island on the southern coast with several enclaves of Cyprus. The young country was mostly Greek Orthodox Christian, but there was also a sizeable Turkish Muslim minority. The Greeks thought they could join Cyprus to Greece in 1974, but the Turkish army had other ideas and invaded. The Turks took the northern half of the island and another terrible population exchange ensued like the one after the fall of the Ottoman empire. This de facto situation remains to this day.
What's fascinating is that the UK's involvement in Cyprus during the past century and a half wasn't England's. Richard the Lionheart took the island from the Byzantine empire in 1190 and was married to his queen here. Meanwhile back in England Robin Hood was harrassing his little brother Prince John. Richard did not keep it long though. First he tried selling it to the Templars, who quickly taxfarmed the populace into revolt. Then he took it back and sold it to Guy de Lusignan after he lost Jeruselem to Salahadin. I guess guy had learned his lesson, because he started a dynasty that ruled the island for three centuries. Then for some reason the queen of the Cyprus sold it in 1489 to the Venetians, who made the same mistake as the Templars. Soon the island was in Ottoman hands, where it stayed for a further three centuries until the British returned in 1878.
After leaving the airport I headed out onto the highway and quickly became lost as my phone's Cypriot eSIM flaked out. Then, suddenly, I was in the UK on a beach with my feet in the water enjoying the noonday sun. Dhekelia. I continued on to Ayia Napa, where I lunch by the harbor and marveled at the emptiness of the place. But it was great to be in a country where people speak the king's English. The signage on the roads is all in Greek and my native tongue. Geologically the island seems mainly sedimentary rock like much of the Mediterranean. Naturally I was remind of Malta five years ago, which is also a former British colony strongly connected to the crusades.
My hotel for the week is in Limassol, so that's where I headed in the early afternoon. It is a beautiful, very much not empty city. There are three main languages spoken: English, Greek, and Russian. There's even a Russian language radio station! Although still being in the British Commonwealth there were plenty of Indians and Chinese as well. Along the way I stopped at a neolithic site of an aceramic culture. Again, I'm reminded of Malta. Then it was on to Limassol by sunset. After dinner I was in bed early, enjoying not sleeping in an airport.
Sunday was raceday. I was up with sun before 7, had breakfast, and then dawdled until it was time to walk to the bib pickup. It was a VERY informal race. No official timing at all and the course length was probably shorter than a 10K, at least according to my Strava and several women I talked to. Still, with good weather and a flat course my time was good and I had a lot of fun. Then I explored the old city and had lamb at a microbrewery. There is a castle in there that I visited after lunch which reminded me of the fort in Málaga - it was once a beautfiul old gothic church built by the Lusignans broken and mangled into a fort and then a prison. The afternoon I spent reading and relaxing on the beach.
Today was a workday, so not so much time to see things. Still, I though I'd go for a hike at lunch in the Avakas Gorge. Nature had other ideas though, and it started to rain as I reached Paphos. So I stopped for lunch and worked for a while hoping it would pass. It seemed to so I continued on. The roads of Cyprus are excellent ... until you get past Paphos. I soon found myself driving on a steep cliffside trail hewn from the rock with a patina of gravel and muddy holes of variable and unknown depth. Yet I continued and the rain came back and became a downpour. Still I perisited until I finally reached the trailhead. Heading out into a light rain I started along the trail. Soon it became a heavy rain again and I was running back to the car. Foolish fail of a hike. Thinking back to driving around Iceland back in 2018, I was glad that I at least didn't have to cross a river. And there was a shorter way back to asphalt than the one I took there. So I drove off into the rain. And there was a river to cross. Well, even swollen by the rain a river on Cyprus in a creek by reckoning. So I zoomed across and soon found myself passing banana farms on asphalt again. Now back in Limassol and finished with my work day I need to get some dinner!
