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It's hard to believe that it's 22 years since we met on a training course in Cyprus. What adventures we've had since then. So, when some friends, Bev and Sno, were nearing the end of their tour on the island we took the opportunity to go and visit. We have been back in the meantime but that was about 12 years ago now and many things have changed in that time. Getting there from Spain wasn't easy and we ended up flying with British Airways via London Gatwick. It was actually cheaper than EasyJet via Milan!
Our friends live on the eastern side of Cyprus. From there we were able to take a trip down to Ayia Napa to see how the former fishing village, which 20 years ago was rapidly becoming the club capital of the Med, had fared with "progress". It was hard to recognise much of it at all and the harbour looks set for even greater expansion. At the moment it is out of season so it's quite pleasant to stroll around, but soon the clubbers and the party goers will be there in numbers. Further along the coast to Cape Greco we were reminded of
the beauty of the island and we stopped off at various coves to admire the view. There are still some lovely little fishing villages which haven't yet been spoilt but no doubt development will come. One thing which has not changed over the years is the food. It is still as delicious as ever, albeit rather more expensive. Eating out in Cyprus now seems to be a similar price to the UK - a victim of the transition to the Euro according to Cypriots. We gorged on a meze and we had to tell the chef to stop cooking! It was amazing. Of course, halloumi (Cypriot squeaky cheese) is a big feature of our diet during any visit to the island, especially as we can't buy it in Spain!! It was so nice to be barbecuing outdoors too.
Travelling to (The Turkish Republic of) Northern Cyprus used to be such a pain. We had to apply 3 or 4 weeks ahead for a pass which took a lot of planning. Now you just drive up to Black Knight gate, show your passport with a completed visa form, the soldier on the gate stamps it and off you go. If
you have a hire car, check with your operator to see if you are allowed to do this though. Luckily we had friends driving us around. We drove up through the Karpas mountains which still seem to be trapped in time. The descent into Kyrenia showed how much things have changed with so many expensive looking shops around. We even saw a Porsche garage. Kyrenia harbour has always been one of our favourite spots and it still retains its charm after all these years. Unfortunately the bars and restaurants spill out onto the harbour pavement so much that it's difficult to get a good view of the place. A walk along the jetty still gives a good panorama though. One place that Russ had never visited was Bellapais Abbey. We put this right and had a fabulous lunch there too. The ruined abbey is beautiful and definitely worth the trip. We also had a walk around Famagusta which is only just starting to develop. The famous Othello's Tower is currently closed for renovation. It seems a little two faced that the EU will not recognise the TRNC as a country, yet they will happily fund restoration work there. It is
still a beautiful place to savour memories of the past, but it remains tinged with sadness when you get a glimpse of the crumbling hotels in the deserted town of Varosha which is closed off to everyone to this day.
Back in the south we were able to do something else we had never done before - drive from the east coast to the west coast in less than two hours. 20 years ago the motorways were just being built and when we visited briefly 12 years ago they were still not complete. It's great to be able to do that journey so quickly but you miss out on so much when you are not driving through the small villages on the old road. I'm sure the villages must miss out on passing trade too. We had just the one night in Paphos so we went to the Roman Hotel where we had stayed before. Nowadays it is full of Russian tourists and they don't seem the friendliest or the politest either! The hotel still has a tacky something about it but it is a quirky place to spend the night. It's an easy walk down to the port
too, and that is a place which has changed completely. The
olde worlde charm has been replaced by pristine new restaurants and bars. We were not impressed. Even the local pelican seemed to have fled but we are assured he is still there some of the time. We revisited some bars and restaurants which we knew (thankfully the
Flintstones is still cheap and hasn't been taken over by Russians, and the waiter in the Alkion was sure he remembered us - but they all say that, don't they!) and Russ renewed an old acquaintance in James Leatherland. Martha was so happy that Trish received a leather purse as a gift. In bygone days the five star hotels had taken over the seafront stretch which was always annoying. It was a very positive step to remove the private beaches and create a promenade cutting through all of those posh gardens!
From Paphos we took the old road to Limassol. That took us back to Petra Tou Romiou, otherwise known as Aphrodite's Rock. This stretch of coast still epitomises the beauty of Cyprus and thankfully it has seen very little development other than a tunnel to get to the beach protecting
tourists from the busy road they always had to cross in the summer. The views from the road are truly breathtaking and the colour of the water is unbelievable. The sandy beach seems to have given way to shingle though, and that's something we saw in a few places. Next up was Pissouri beach which has been developed a little, but not too much. There are now an awful lot of holiday villas nearby in what used to be bondhu (scrubland). We found a nice shaded bench to eat our packed lunch with a gorgeous view of the Med.
Russ spent 3 years at Episkopi and lived in Limassol for two of them. A drive through the garrison was supposed to be a trip down memory lane but it all looked so clean and different! Maybe going onto the camp would have been better. Once we got to Episkopi village and found the Epi Pub it all came flooding back. George and Stef were there and they remembered us straight away. It was so good to see them and to hear all about their children who have now grown up. Little Simon (who Russ played pool with when the
lad was just 8 or 9) is now in his early thirties, not so little, about to get married, and owner of the
Skyy Bar next door. We only had time for a quick drink before we had to head into Limassol where we tried to find Russ's old flat. Without Google Maps we would never have succeeded as it has changed so much. The flat used to be surrounded by bondhu but now it is lost among the houses which have been built since we left. There's even an archaeological park surrounding some old cisterns which were discovered around the time we were there.
In Limassol we stayed with our friend Michaela and her son Daniel. They made us feel so welcome. It was great to see them and Dan has grown from a two year old into a young man since we last saw him! I guess we just can't hold back the hands of time!! After a kebab in the evening we went for an evening stroll along Limassol's new promenade. We had seen it on TV recently but they didn't mention that only about 500m of it is complete! The next day we went to have
a look around by daylight. The pace of change is enormous and it seems they are creating a soulless new harbour when they could have created it with rustic charm. The old Chinese restaurant is still there and looking at it, you can't fathom the decision to go with modern design rather than traditional. Some things were still as they used to be. The souvenir shop, Cyprus Corner, looks like it has never changed, but Limassol castle has had a bit of a facelift. We found Twin's Cafe where we used to go for a bacon and halloumi sandwich with freshly squeezed orange juice for breakfast. That was a cheap snack 20 years ago, now it would set you back over €6 each! We also found our way to what used to be The Garden Tavern, a popular haunt back in the day. Now it is an exclusive Russian/Uzbek restaurant with posh flats looming over the private garden. What we knew as the Limassol Strip with all its bars seems to have been taken over by Russian tourists and Russian bars. We couldn't even find the Crazy Parrot Cocktail Bar so maybe it has been a victim of "progress".
It was great to catch up with friends and we loved the weather but there was a certain sadness that "progress" in southern Cyprus seems to mean replacing traditional things with plastic and concrete. Save the magic and the charm please! It's easy to see why tourism in the north is on the up, because that's where the charm seems to be now. I know that will make painful reading for my Greek Cypriot friends. Hopefully one day "progress" will mean "peace, reconciliation and reunification". I'm sure we'll be back - if only for the brandy sours!!
If you want to see more photos from our trip, hop over to Flickr:
East North West South
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D MJ Binkley
Dave and Merry Jo Binkley
Tripping down memory lane
It is always tough returning to a place where you have great memories as you'll find this you don't like but you've also discovered some new things and that is great. This area sounds charming and we will need to add it to our list. You must stop making this places sound so appealing! ha! Glad you were able to share this piece of the adventure with your friends.