Cyprus- Girne (Kyrenia)

Room at the British Hotel!
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More photos of Cyprus can be viewed here!

Day 6-8

Highlights

1. At Ercan Airport, flight was delayed by 45 mins. Eventually took off at 1030 pm instead of 9 pm. It was one of the worst flight ever as the plane was small and there was heavy rain. The turbulences seemed to be a perpetual thing at one point on the plane. :( The cab fare in Cyprus was horrendous, jumping by 50 cents every few minutes. It came up to 85 lira for a 60 Km drive from Ercan Airport to our hotel at Girne (Kyrenia). Eventually paid 70 lira after some haggling with the caddy. It was 2 am when we reached the place which filled me with trepidation seriously. Twm went off alone with a stranger to look for British Hotel. That was really dangerous! Luckily none of us came to harm.

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2. We explored Girne (Kyrenia) Harbour. Anyway the turkish name is Girne and the Greek name is Kyrenia. For the uninitiated, Northern Cyrpus belongs to Turkey and Southern Cyprus belongs to Greece. People living in Cyprus are called Cypriotes, sounds like robots! Back to Girne Harbour.. it is a very picturesque place for photo taking. We went to the Othello Castle as well. Afterwhich we spent quite a while in the hotel due to heavy rain (freak weather as commented by the Cypriotes, apparently Cyprus is supposed to be sunny during this period).

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3. Cooking noodles in our electric kettle. Yes it's a bit gross but I totally enjoy this rather outrageous behaviour!! :) Idea was spearheaded by Twm, supported by SK. haha! We really relish our A.T. behaviour!

4. We rented a citroen and went to Leftkosa (Nicosia) to take a look at the border. The route to Leftkosa was ardrous! We went up the mountains, along small narrow roads. SK was our stable driver who never fail to horn at blind spot areas! Thanks SK! I managed to sleep really well on the car!

5. Met up with Twm's friends, Ufuk and gang! This is definitely the hightlight of Cyprus. They introduced and treated us to duruum (kebab wrap). After which they invited us to watch Eurovision at a pub! I really appreciate their hospitality! We wanted to try EFES Beer but it was sold out. Boo! Anyway, they were very excited about "Shake it up Sekerim" by Kenan Dogulu, their Turkey contestant! He's one handsome dude! Ricky Martin of Turkey!! Everyone stand up and scream!

I learnt from them that:

(a) Simit is in fact a delicious snack. One of them eats it everyday. The one we ate outside Dolmabahce palace must be stale and hence tough. We were advised to give Simit another chance.

(b) Simit Durasayi, a fastfood chain means "The world of Simit"

(c) Eurovision is a yearly contest across european countries and the winner last year was Finland. The winner gets to host the following year contest.

(c) Circumstances have a way of making them not on exactly good terms with Greece which is besides their bitter history. Heard that they are denied entry into Southern Cyprus while the Greeks are allowed to enter their country. Yes, a very sensitive issue and I shall not touch on it further since I am a poor novice in this area.

(d) There are many turks living in Germany and Netherlands, hence they award full marks to Turkey every year during the Euro Vision Contest. Also while watching the show, you I saw possible alliances within the Scandivanian countries and former Soviet Union countries.. maybe I am wrong. I don't know! I am very adept at over analyzing.

(e) A teacher earns around 800- 2000 Lira. They are studying to be teachers at Near East University at Cyprus. (They are on a scholarship!)

(f) First time doing cheek kissing here. :)

(g) Kenan Dogulu is one hot singer. I agree!!!

(h) You do not have to be a good singer to win Eurovision. You need to have good entertainment value as well. Ukraine is a joke. They got second. Trans-sexual serbia got 1st. We were shocked!

Thank you Ufuk and friends for your hospitality!