Our Month with Gran'ma and Gran'pa

We arrived in Cyprus after our night in the Athens airport quite exhausted. After a couple days of relaxing, we started seeing some of the sights. We spent one evening walking around the village of Omodos. It is a really nice little village up in the mountains with a few wineries. Meghan got the first opportunity to drive the little Mitsubishi Mirage that was to be our mode of transportation for our journeys around the island (when we went by ourselves). Driving on the left side of the road takes a little more concentration than driving at home! We went on a really nice hike around mount Olympus, no not the one in Greece, who would have thought that this tiny mediterranean island would have so many large mountains. We spent a few mornings here swimming in the sea down at the beach in Kurion. The water in the sea was a very nice temperature, it was also the saltiest water that I have ever been in. We went on our first solo trip, without G'ma and G'pa, to the city of Paphos. We visited the tomb of the Kings and then the Paphos Archaeological Park. In the tomb of the kings, we walked around all of these underground tombs, which didn't actually even hold the bodies of any kings so the name is a little deceiving but it was interesting none the less. The archaeological park was an ancient city that had quite a few remains of buildings. The most interesting part of the park was the mosaic tile floors. Almost every floor we saw had some sort of tile artwork on the floor. On the way home, we stopped at the "birthplace of Aphrodite", Aphrodite's rock. We didn't actually go swimming (until a couple weeks later), but we did climb the rock and the views were very nice. It wasn't until we got home that we learned that climbing the rock is not actually allowed, oh well. A couple days later, we went to the Fassouri waterpark. While not as big as the one in west-ed, it was still a lot of fun. There were some good rides with tubes and Meghan especially enjoyed this big half dome that you could climb, jump on and then slide down into the water. After supper, we went to a small concert in Limassol staring an Israeli band called Common Bond. We all had a great time and Meghan and G'pa each bought a copy of their CD. At the concert, G'pa talked to a member of a German youth orchestra and was told that they were playing the following night. When we arrived at the venue, they weren't actually playing, apparently not a strange phenomenon in Cyprus, so we walked along the sea front and down onto the pier and then went home.The next day we went on a hike in the Pissouri area. It was really nice walking along the cliffs and jumping into the water whenever we got too warm. For the next week and a bit, our activity levels decreased quite a bit as a heat wave hit the island. It was about 36 in the shade and the humidity was hovering around 90%. Meghan and I did take a day trip to some sea caves on the eastern side of the Island. It was really interesting to see how the ocean had eaten away at the rocks. You could jump in from the tallest part of the cliffs, but the water was so dirty, filled with peoples garbage, that we didn't go in the water there at all. On the 30th of July it was G'ma's birthday. We spent a nice day together at the house. Ate some nice meals and then at night we went for a hike. We watched the sunset on one side of the mountain and then while we ate dinner, the moon came up on the other side. We then walked back to the car using only the moonlight. It was really nice and the full moon was incredibly bright, you didn't need a light at all. At the tail-end of the heat, we headed up to The Turkish Republic of North Cyprus, which is not really a country or a province or anything, it is only recognized by Turkey. On the first morning, we visited Bellapais Abbey. It was a really old church that had at one time held a lot of power on the Island, the reconstuction on the abby was well done, the arches and court yard Meghan found most impressive. Over all, it was really interesting and the views from the church were really nice. Later, we visited the fortress in the town of Girne where we were staying. The city is known as Girne within the republic but it has a different name everywhere else in the world, can't think of it right now though. The fortress was really cool, there were lots of different towers and there were artists renditions of how in had evolved over time. The next morning, we woke up and went to St. Hellarion Castle. The firdt thing we all noticed was 2 very, very large Turkish flags. We all watched them blow in the wind for at least 10 minutes because they moved beautifully in the wind, as they fell they sounded like fireworks. The castle was huge and built into a giant cliff and is supposedly the inspiration for the Castle in the Disney Snow White. It was really interesting walking up and exploring all the different parts of the castle, especially all of the tallest towers and being able to look down over the valleys and the Mediterranean. After lunch, we took a very long way home, driving through the mountains of the north, across the central plain and then back home through the mountains of the south. It was very interesting to see how diverse the landscape of Cyprus really is. There are mountains that could be the rockies and then plains(not quite as flat as AB and Sask though). It is still hard for us to comprehend the small size of the island as you can almost drive around the whole island in a day. The next day we went out for dinner in the small town of Lofou. The restaurant was a small family run taverna, and the food was delicious. During our last week here, we did two half day trips to see some other sites and do some more hiking. The first was to two Monasteries. The first monastery was very old and was in a remote location. It was not actually open so G'pa jumped the wall and then let us in. It was being used by a least one person(monk??) because we came upon his bedroom. There was farmland around the valley and huge mountains on all sides. The next monastery was much more modern and still very active. It was covered in wall paintings and mosaics. We got to visit the inside of the church which was very elaborately decorated with lots of lamps and chandeliers that were made of silver and gold. The next trip was a really good hike through the mountains. The rock formations at this location came vertically through the mountain. We climbed many of them to have amazing views. We woke up really early to beat the heat and it was worth it because it did start to get quite warm towards the end of the walk. Once again, we were completely astounded by the countryside, as most people only think of Cyprus as a beach resort island. Now we are on our way back to Europe. Flying to London first and then to visit more family in northern England!