After we had gone by bus to Protaras the day before, checked into our hotel and Melanie had clarified all preparations for her dive today, the day started very calmly for Andreas. So while Mel was with “Herbie” Hubert and others under the surface at the dive site Musan since 08h, he spent some hours relaxing in the sun.
Hubert was an Austrian who had already come to Cyprus in the 1980s. Herbie was a UN soldier at the time and had already been able to tell us several stories the night before. Excitedly we listened to him and talked for several hours, although the formalities and the equipment check had actually taken only 30min.
von Zypern. Unsere Wassertemperaturen sind nicht zu schlagen.
After Mel returned from diving and freshened up, we continued on our journey north. We took a bus to Paralimni and found out there that we could take another bus almost to the Green Line, the border and UN buffer zone between the southern and northern parts of Cyprus.
After we left the bus, a short walk took us to the border post. With our bags in our hands and backpacks, we brazenly mingled with the car traffic – there was no border crossing for pedestrians. A short handover and scanning of our ID cards later, we had left the EU on foot and were now in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus. Our next destination was the city of Famagusta or Gazimaǧusa (from here on most cities had two names). Unfortunately, we had not considered that neither cabs, Uber, nor buses were available at the border. However, it was another 7km to our destination and Mel suggested we try hitchhiking. After Andreas already wanted to sink into the ground again with shame and several Cypriot vehicles had simply driven past us, a Turkish worker with a pick-up truck stopped beside us of his own accord and invited us into his vehicle. Despite the fact that he hardly spoke a word of English, we understood each other right away, were sympathetic and laughed at our gestures and facial expressions. Due to the appearance of the nice man, his laugh and his manner in general, Andreas immediately felt reminded of this man (content not so serious; laughter from 01:40):
After we had passed a very adventurous road construction site and he had dropped us off directly at the city wall, we strolled a little through the old town, organized Turkish Lira and looked for a nice place to finally – around 2pm – have our breakfast.
Now that we were sufficiently fortified, we started our walk to the nearby former vacation paradise of Varosha. Until 1974 years Varosha was the biggest vacation paradise of Cyprus. Even Elizabeth Taylor has lain on the beach here. But then Turkish troops invaded the north of the island – and the once thriving resort became an abandoned ghost town, cordoned off by a barbed wire fence. It was a strange feeling to walk through the deserted streets – we felt a bit like in Chernobyl or the nearby town of Prypyat.
However, it was also interesting to see how quickly nature takes over again when there are no or hardly any people around to take care of the buildings. Already the way to the ghost town led us permanently past guarded restricted areas and soldiers, also some side streets in Varosha we were not allowed to enter and were politely but very firmly “whistled back” by the security forces. Of course, there had to be another small “incident” – in one of the dilapidated buildings the UN still operates a kind of “listening and scouting post”. Mel was not deterred by the prohibition signs and wanted to take a picture of the building … Immediately the entrance door flew open and an armed soldier pointed again very clearly to the photography and filming ban.
In fact, we were so captivated by the sight that we lost track of time a bit and our walk to the bus now had to be a bit rushed. Since we couldn’t take a direct route through the various restricted zones, we had to cover the little over 2km to the bus very quickly.
After we reached Nicosia or Lefkosa (the capital of Cyprus) by bus and checked into our room in a “hotel” – Andreas just called it the “shabby nightmare chamber” – we spent some more time in the city center with a little night sightseeing and local delicacies.
09.04.2023 – “Logistics problems”, perfect eyes and back to the EU
The next day started once again without breakfast and we took a minibus to the north coast, to Girne. There we wanted to visit the imposing Venetian fortress with historic natural stone chapel, shipwreck museum and harbor view.
Through narrow, winding streets of the old town by the harbor, we reached the fortress and spent some time here. Unfortunately, the weather was not our best friend that day and it started to rain every now and then. We spent a longer rain shower in the inner courtyard of the fortress under the umbrellas of a small café with a snack and drinks – some cats and a dog also kept us company, peacefully at first, in this dry spot. After the shower, we continued to explore the fortress and Andreas didn’t miss the chance to go into every corridor and descend the gloomy catacombs.
Slowly, however, it was time to make our way back to Nicosia. After waiting for a while and looking for a bus to take us back, fortunately a local woman came to our rescue. It was possible to travel to Girne by minibus, but for the way back we had to organize a shared cab.
Finding such a cab was actually less difficult than first thought. Cabs were to be found almost right next to the bus stop – a young lady was already waiting in the cab while the driver was fast asleep. Slowly the cab filled up and our driver slowly woke up. While collecting the money from all the passengers, he engaged us in a conversation … in Turkish … “mükemmel gözlerin var” (or something like that). A young passenger translated between us and a fat, satisfied grin formed on Andrea’s face: the cab driver had repeatedly told him that he had “perfect” eyes. What his real intention behind this statement was, we will never know.
Back in Nicosia, after a very fast ride, we again strolled through the alleys. We found a small café just before the border and enjoyed cake and coffee or beer once again.
We crossed the border into the south of Nicosia and landed directly in a long shopping street with hundreds of people. For a short time we suffered a “culture shock” – about 10m behind us was Turkey or Turkish territory and there it had been felt much quieter.
We also strolled a bit through the alleys in the southern part before stopping at an ice cream parlor. After a short rest we boarded the bus back to Paphos, which we barely reached – the driver was in a hurry and wanted to start 6min before the actual departure time.
After about 2 hours bus ride we reached Paphos – start and end of our stay in Cyprus. After what felt like an eternity, we reached our accommodation. We chatted briefly with our hostess and tried to convince her little Maltese that we were not the enemy.
We visited the best and most expensive restaurant in town for our last dinner. The food was fantastic and the view over the city made it even better. With full stomachs, Mel Andreas then dragged through the night old town. We discovered a very nice square, various graffiti and, after heavy rain had started again, a cozy bar with heating mushrooms. Sated, satisfied and filled, we fell into our bed.
10.04.2023 – End of a journey
s in every vacation, Melanie doesn’t allow Andreas a second’s rest, even on the last day. Once again, with full luggage and without breakfast, we went in full sprint towards the bus stop to the airport. Where Andreas had expected a quiet time, Mel had made a diabolical plan and wanted to drag Andreas over an excavation site before the bus left – for Andreas it felt like the area of a big city. But this time he was on strike, he didn’t feel like it anymore, it was too hectic for him, and while grumbling loudly that there were “only broken, old stones here anyway,” he dragged himself to a bench near the exit while Mel explored the grounds.
The rest of our return journey was only interrupted by the stopover in Thessaloniki. The next hit on Andreas: 4 hours until the connecting flight was enough for Mel. So we took a cab and drove the 20km from the airport to the city center for sightseeing.
At least the cab driver was friendly and gave us many more tips about sights and restaurants. We rushed through downtown and across the boardwalk so Mel could check off her checklist. There were a few nice corners, but all in all Thessaloniki was a typical Greek mainland city… big, loud, hectic, dirty. Mel appeased Andrea’s mood with a visit to a typical Greek taverna before we took the bus back to the airport – without having bought a ticket.
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