September 10, 2004
More on Cyprus
On the 23rd of August we packed our bags and boarded an EgyptAir flight to the island of Cyprus for a week holiday (that would be vacation for those of you who aren’t familiar with the “English” language). After our month with the kids and having been in Egypt for nearly a half a year, it was a welcome break.
We had hoped to get to Europe or some place with at least a chance of rain, but when we checked the prices of airline tickets it was ludicrously expensive. Suffice it to say that we flew to Cyprus and paid for lodging for the week for less than it would have cost for one of us to fly anywhere in Europe.
For those of you who are geographically challenged, Cyprus is the island in the upper right hand corner of the Mediterranean Sea that looks vaguely like the USA as drawn by a person from Maine. Ok, so it doesn’t look anything like the USA, but it should help you find it on a map.
Some of our good friends here used to live in Cyprus and so had some suggestions for us as far as sight seeing, where to stay, etc. We stayed in a camping area near the village of Trodoos. I use the term village loosely as even Ellsworth, where Carrie grew up, is much larger.
The camp was a small grouping of canvas “safari” tents, each furnished with cots, a small kitchenette, table and chairs set up on a concrete pad. It was more of a canvas cabin than a tent, what with the electric lights, and all.
It was very nice to be able to lie in bed at night and hear the sound of a car, a single car, distinguishably a single car, driving on the nearby road. The sound, or rather lack of sound, of the forest at night and the crisp air made for good sleeping. We spent most of our waking hours hiking in the forests near the camp and spending time with each other, instead of just being in the same place.
We hired a car, or rather a Kia “Pride” (try marketing that in the US), which is essentially a stripped down Ford Festiva (which I didn’t think was possible until I saw a Kia Pride). It was nice to have our own set of wheels, even if they were tiny roller-skate wheels, although the right hand drive made it that much more adventuresome, and more than once we found ourselves on the wrong side of the road.
We didn’t let the fact that we were driving a faded red roller-skate keep us on the paved roads. No, we assumed that a road labelled “loose surface all weather” would be fine. As it turns out a “loose surface all weather road” in the mountains of Cyprus looks rather like the Jeep trails in the UP, only with more hairpin switch backs and less mud. Looking back we should have anticipated the road conditions, as even the paved roads were narrow, and often full of switchbacks.
All things considered our Pride performed quite well, or at least it never left us stranded. We took one day to drive down to the coast and visit wine country.
Actually most all of Cyprus is wine country, but some areas have more vineyards than others. We visited two different wineries and bought several bottles to bring back to Egypt. We also took some time to go swimming in the Mediterranean and visit the “Baths of Aphrodite” which is a natural grotto with a pool and water trickling down the rocks where they say Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of love and beauty, used to bath. It was very pretty but not what we were expecting for a place called the “Baths of Aphrodite”. A more fitting name might be “Aphrodite’s Bath Tub”.
While it almost never rains in Cyprus during the summer we did find four different waterfalls to stand under to simulate the feel of rain.
There are only a few rivers in Cyprus that have a continuous flow, and our camp was near to two of them. Again “river” is a subjective term. Back in Michigan a stream of this size would not be on any maps, except perhaps the USGS quadrangle maps, and most certainly would not be called a river. In any case, the small mountain streams, affectionately called rivers, were indeed a source of refreshment for us. While the majority of the forest in the area is black pine, and quite sparse, along the banks of the rivers there are Oak, Maple, Sycamore, and many other deciduous trees and undergrowth, including black raspberries, that make up a “riverine forest”, much like the forests we are familiar with.
We enjoyed some of the foods that are hard to come by here, such as bacon with our eggs, pork chops, ham, and sausages (again with pork in them), and BLT’s. We also enjoyed the Cypriot specialty, Halloumi cheese, which is a goat & cow cheese which tastes somewhat like mozzarella and is generally served fried. We enjoyed fresh milk that actually tasted like milk, good wine that was cheaper than bottled water, and of course the pork.
Even though Cypriots speak Greek, or rather a dialect of Greek, it was a good change. Actually most of the Cypriots who we had contact with spoke very good English, but more than anything it was good to spend time in a place where traffic rules were obeyed, there was mowed grass in the roundabouts, people actually drove without honking their horns, and where there was plenty of wide open GREEN spaces.
your host for this episode : dan; 07:12 PM
September 05, 2004
On driving in Cairo: by Dan
Driving in Cairo is not as intimidating as it seems. When you first arrive here it seems as though there are no rules, and the traffic is utter chaos. After living here for a while you begin to realize that there are indeed a few rules, which can of course be bent, and while the traffic is chaos, it is a sort of “organized chaos.” Or rather it only seems chaotic when compared to what we are accustomed to. To an Egyptian this is totally normal, one of them described it to me as “synchronized driving.”
The rules of the road are these:
1 – Tonnage Rights: the one with the bigger car has the right of way.
2 – The one in front has the right of way: even if they are turning right from the far left lane, if they are so much as an inch in front of you, you must yield. Never mind what is happening behind you but be EXTRA aware of anyone in front of you, as they can, and most likely will, do anything at any time with no warning.
3 – Try to stop when the officer holds his arm out. (never mind those traffic lights)
4 – Always assume that all the drivers on the road are drooling morons whose entire reason for existence is to be a menace to you while driving.
Ok, so I made that last one up, but I think you get the point. The biggest problem, really, is being worried about the vehicle, especially when it is not yours. Minor accidents are very common, major accidents are rare, due mostly to the fact that you can rarely drive fast enough to have a major accident.
Other than driving, our stay with the children yielded little worthy of note, they wore us out with their propensity to stay up very late, and our habit of waking up early. I must confess that after a month of nagging them to clean up after themselves and go to bed at a reasonable hour, we were all happy when mom and dad were finally home.
your host for this episode : dan; 10:45 PM