From Cyprus With Love
During my time in Turkey I forgot what it was like to go through the rigors of airline travel, beginning with the anxious waiting in traffic on the way to the airport, watching the clock burn precious minutes and praying for short lines once in the airport. Then there was rushing around the airport trying to find my check-in and eventually coming across it on the other side of the airport from where I was told it was. But it's not all bad, the cry of victory in the duty free store and eventually being able to collapse into my seat.
Cyprus Turkish Airlines is no Lufthansa, that's for sure, but it's hard to beat, "Herr Gray, vould you like another Bailey's?" The hour-long flight left an hour late, mostly because the sensitivity on metal detectors at the gate were set high enough to alert police if someone with gold fillings approached them. But I wasn't there for the airplanes or for the in-flight cheese sandwich. Much to my delight, when I landed at Ercan International in Cyprus I exited the plane expecting the usual docking gate only to realize a stairway had been brought up, we exited the aircraft onto the runway and walked to passport control in the warm Mediterranean night. Looking back towards the planes I saw no lights, the night stretched out and joined the sky seamlessly over the pitch-black countyside. I felt as through I had stepped through some portal into a movie, the year wasn't identifiable in the press of suits, my visa stamp came with no questions and hardly a second glance. Back in Istanbul the outgoing passport control official had grinned at me and complimented me on my name, Alexander, it's nice being named after someone who conquered the known world.
Past the final gate and customs, I was greeting with a kiss on each cheek by Fatosh and taken away in a Mercedes Taxi along empty highways to sleep until the next day. Cyprus did not disappoint the eyes. The first place I thought of was Southern California, like Santa Barbara, everything was a rich green and the air was so clean and filled with a warm breeze even in February. Strolling down the road something hit me, it felt at first like someone had shaken up my brains and put them back in, waves of disorientation assaulted me. People drive on the left side of the road in Cyprus.
After late breakfast and wandering around the town we caught a mini bus to take us across the mountains to Girne, the largest city in North Cyprus. We checked into the Socrates Hotel and went out looking for a place to have dinner among the many Casinos dotting the shoreline. After finding the club we wanted to go to was filled with rich morons who can't drive and have horrible and very expensive tastes we just headed back to the hotel to try for an early rise for a day of sight seeing.
The Socrates Hotel is in the style of a British hotel, I know this not because I've been in a British Hotel, but because everything about it's design reminded me of Fawlty Towers, except it was pleasantly free of disaster.
The next day Fatosh and I went to the old castle in Girne, it's built overlooking the harbor and it's a very hands on kind of experience. You pay the ticket person two lira then you cross the bridge into the castle and you're let loose. The castle changed many hands, from Byzantine to Crusader to Venetian to Ottoman before it was retired. Warm breeze next to the ocean, this has definitely been the most pleasant bit of sight seeing I have done.
After the castle we strolled around town, killing time before our bus arrived to take us back over the mountains. Down a side street I made a startling discovery. Draped with Irish flags is the Shamrock Bar, offering you "a wee bit of Ireland." I would have gone in, but it was locked up and with the amount of scaffolding around the building and workmen in the courtyard, it seemed the Shamrock was closed for repairs.
We met our mini bus and settled back for the trip back through the mountains. Zipping back along the mostly empty road we passed a few military bases. I was told North Cyprus has nearly as many soldiers as civilians, and driving past a Turkish Military base I saw a few soldiers out enjoying the weather on a tank that looked like it hadn't moved in years. There are UN bases all over the place too, but Cyprus' violent past feels very distant these days.
Near Fatosh's school is another castle that encloses a small town. Everywhere there are ruins of cathedrals from the Byzantine and Catholic periods, and one very Catholic cathedral on the town square had actually been converted to a mosque. It's incredibly bizarre seeing the stonework that screams "Father, Son, and Holy Spirit" with a minaret stuck on the side. The castle wall was climbable and we spent some time gazing at the stars and moored ships.
All the restaurants we went to were all amazing, one had aquariums and bird cages with tropical birds and I saw others built out of the old castle. Also they were the same price as the cheep restaurants in Istanbul, North Cyprus seems like a great place for cheep vacations in a beautiful part of the world.
My last day in Cyprus we walked along the pristine beaches in the shadow of a ruined hotel, bombed in the seventies. When I returned to Istanbul the ground was covered with snow. I'm already looking into returning.
Cyprus Turkish Airlines is no Lufthansa, that's for sure, but it's hard to beat, "Herr Gray, vould you like another Bailey's?" The hour-long flight left an hour late, mostly because the sensitivity on metal detectors at the gate were set high enough to alert police if someone with gold fillings approached them. But I wasn't there for the airplanes or for the in-flight cheese sandwich. Much to my delight, when I landed at Ercan International in Cyprus I exited the plane expecting the usual docking gate only to realize a stairway had been brought up, we exited the aircraft onto the runway and walked to passport control in the warm Mediterranean night. Looking back towards the planes I saw no lights, the night stretched out and joined the sky seamlessly over the pitch-black countyside. I felt as through I had stepped through some portal into a movie, the year wasn't identifiable in the press of suits, my visa stamp came with no questions and hardly a second glance. Back in Istanbul the outgoing passport control official had grinned at me and complimented me on my name, Alexander, it's nice being named after someone who conquered the known world.
Past the final gate and customs, I was greeting with a kiss on each cheek by Fatosh and taken away in a Mercedes Taxi along empty highways to sleep until the next day. Cyprus did not disappoint the eyes. The first place I thought of was Southern California, like Santa Barbara, everything was a rich green and the air was so clean and filled with a warm breeze even in February. Strolling down the road something hit me, it felt at first like someone had shaken up my brains and put them back in, waves of disorientation assaulted me. People drive on the left side of the road in Cyprus.
After late breakfast and wandering around the town we caught a mini bus to take us across the mountains to Girne, the largest city in North Cyprus. We checked into the Socrates Hotel and went out looking for a place to have dinner among the many Casinos dotting the shoreline. After finding the club we wanted to go to was filled with rich morons who can't drive and have horrible and very expensive tastes we just headed back to the hotel to try for an early rise for a day of sight seeing.
The Socrates Hotel is in the style of a British hotel, I know this not because I've been in a British Hotel, but because everything about it's design reminded me of Fawlty Towers, except it was pleasantly free of disaster.
The next day Fatosh and I went to the old castle in Girne, it's built overlooking the harbor and it's a very hands on kind of experience. You pay the ticket person two lira then you cross the bridge into the castle and you're let loose. The castle changed many hands, from Byzantine to Crusader to Venetian to Ottoman before it was retired. Warm breeze next to the ocean, this has definitely been the most pleasant bit of sight seeing I have done.
After the castle we strolled around town, killing time before our bus arrived to take us back over the mountains. Down a side street I made a startling discovery. Draped with Irish flags is the Shamrock Bar, offering you "a wee bit of Ireland." I would have gone in, but it was locked up and with the amount of scaffolding around the building and workmen in the courtyard, it seemed the Shamrock was closed for repairs.
We met our mini bus and settled back for the trip back through the mountains. Zipping back along the mostly empty road we passed a few military bases. I was told North Cyprus has nearly as many soldiers as civilians, and driving past a Turkish Military base I saw a few soldiers out enjoying the weather on a tank that looked like it hadn't moved in years. There are UN bases all over the place too, but Cyprus' violent past feels very distant these days.
Near Fatosh's school is another castle that encloses a small town. Everywhere there are ruins of cathedrals from the Byzantine and Catholic periods, and one very Catholic cathedral on the town square had actually been converted to a mosque. It's incredibly bizarre seeing the stonework that screams "Father, Son, and Holy Spirit" with a minaret stuck on the side. The castle wall was climbable and we spent some time gazing at the stars and moored ships.
All the restaurants we went to were all amazing, one had aquariums and bird cages with tropical birds and I saw others built out of the old castle. Also they were the same price as the cheep restaurants in Istanbul, North Cyprus seems like a great place for cheep vacations in a beautiful part of the world.
My last day in Cyprus we walked along the pristine beaches in the shadow of a ruined hotel, bombed in the seventies. When I returned to Istanbul the ground was covered with snow. I'm already looking into returning.
posted by Alex Gray at 12:43
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