Cyprus Paphos and Nicosia 16 Oct to 18 Oct

On 16 Oct we flew Ryanair from Chania to Paphos.
Since our flight departed at 905 am we decided to choose the 430 am bus as our only other option was at 630.
Not necessary! It takes less than 30 minutes and the airport wasn't busy. But after the debacle at Manchester I thought two hours might not be enough time.
Last night Jeff bought a T shirt - we love Chania keep in mind. We have found the people good natured, expressive and European.

So I took his picture at 4 am and then we walked to the bus. A bit spooky with very few people around.
We saved thirty E by taking the bus instead of a cab and had one coffee and a croissant at the airport which cost 8 E or twelve dollars - quite a rip-off. No jam or butter with the croissant - just plain.
To top it off I didn't sleep at all, fearful I might sleep through the alarm. Like I did in Iceland.
So it was a boring wait.

Because I paid for overhead luggage I had priority boarding but Jeff didn't. I had saved a bit of money by not reserving seats - Jeff got an aisle seat six rows behind me. I was assigned a middle seat, not my favourite but ok for a one hour 15 minute flight. Jeff was shamed into taking the middle seat to let a lady with a baby sit by the aisle. He's a big guy so not the best spot for him
This could happen even if you paid for a seat - so that's the first time this has happened to one of us!! So I guess we've been lucky. The plane was quite full, a lot of Greeks swapping seats and stuffing everything into the overhead bins - Ryanair is usually so intense about underseat and overhead but not on this flight.
Greeks do not queue which must drive the Brits nuts. I have become wary of people butting in front of me and stand with my hands on my hips to block people. They are good natured and unabashedly push in front. In the middle seat I glue my elbows to both armrests.
We had a bit of a bump when we landed - lots of gasps and then clapping.
I did sleep for about 30 minutes on the plane. It's very warm in Paphos also - here's our complete luggage, one overhead two underseat for two adults on a ten week trip

All the luggage for two adults

Jeff's new T shirt cost 20 C and by the time we landed the neckline had bagged out by three inches and the neckline seam was unravelling. Good grief I am wearing pants from Temu almost daily and they are still hanging together!
We made a tactical error and did not wait an hour for the bus which would have taken us close to our hotel. Instead we took the first bus that came along and had to take two more buses to get there. 2 E each trip no transfers but you can buy an all day pass for 6.5 E. So it was hot, 29 C. At the first bus stop a very nice lady from Manchester helped us figure out which other buses we needed to take. She has a place at the beach and has been coming here for several months at a time for 15 years. She was waiting to take the airport bus and likely observed our confusion and came right up and asked if she could help. She did say something we had observed also re bus drivers and the ladies inside the station booth who were not helpful, short, abrupt, don't bother me. "They could use some training in customer service.". We aren't in Crete anymore!! Getting on the bus at the airport the driver barked "hurry up, I'm leaving!". I said "Sorry.". He said "don't say sorry say thank you.". Yikes. Properly admonished I choked out thank you and stumbled to my seat, as the bus lurched forward. Not an auspicious start in Cyprus.
Paphos is crawling with people from the UK, lots of "full English Breakfast signs" and numerous pubs.
It took three hours to get to our hotel because of three buses and a long coffee break. The last bus stopped at Paphos Harbour.

Our room is nice and the AC excellent and there are English shows including BBC on the TV. The bathroom has a shower that doesn't flood the whole bathroom. Nice.
We walked around past many pubs wondering where to grab supper. We ended up across the street having Indian food. Extremely spicy. I had some bread and a mango Lassi _ delicious.

Jeff ate both meals and the spice was so hot his eyes were watering. We forgot to say not too spicy because we were afraid of the waiter. Jeff cooks Indian food at least twice a week so for him to barely be able to eat the food it was shocking.

I had a good night's sleep - best sleep since I left home. Best shower since I left home. Enjoyed breakfast in the pleasant breakfast room.

When we checked out I sat briefly on a couch in the lobby - half a block away I realized I had left my purse behind, yikes! At the airport yesterday I sat in a wheelchair as no benches had room and I almost forgot my purse there. You shouldn't carry a purse and have a neck pouch I guess is the answer.
We made our way to the main bus station (2 buses) and then got on the bus to Nicosia - 7 E each pretty cheap for a nice coach with AC - about two hours.
We are staying on the Turkish side of Nicosia for four nights. From the station at Solomon Square we walked to the green line. We were a bit unsure of how to get there but it was only about a 15 minute walk. We stopped for coffee on the way at a tennis club (in operation for 111 years).

I took these pictures in the bathroom - the airport has this stipulation also so that's strange and a bit repulsive for us

However I have not yet encountered a squat toilet on this trip so small blessings.
We needed to go through a Greek passport check on one side and a Turkish one on the other side
Nicosia is a divided city.

The Turks occupy about one third of the island of Cyprus and consider themselves part of Turkey. The rest of the island is Cyprus, independent country. None of the world recognizes the Turk's claim to Cyprus. We see some blue baret soldiers (UN peacekeepers) so they are still here. Canada had many peacekeepers here in the seventies. There is still a small contingent here.

We found our pension without too many problems. 28 stairs. Has two beds and a bathroom. Looks to be freshly painted and the AC works. The bathroom is kind of old school, the shower in the middle, water goes everywhere, garbage can by the toilet.
There's nowhere to hang a towel but slippers are provided likely for walking on the soaking wet marble floor post and during shower.

Büyük Han (the Great Inn) is the largest caravansarai (Travellers' Inn) in Cyprus. The Turks consider it to be one of the finest buildings on the island. It was built by the Ottomans in 1572, the year after they had seized Cyprus from the Venetians. In the centre of the open courtyard is a mosque with a fountain. It became the first city prison under British administration. It was restored in the nineties and today is something of a market.

It's about 24 degrees on 18 Oct. Seems hot in the sun but considerably cooler in the shade. We had an Americano on a patio first thing and it was basically Nescafe for four dollars a cup
Our next stop Jeff had a Turkish coffee - really small cup but it was real coffee and he enjoyed it, Amazing how much sludge sticks to the bottom of the cup!!

The coffee house has been in operation for over 100 years so lots of experience!
We met two friendly servers on our walk, one was from Bulgaria and the other from Nigeria. The Nigerian girl was a student working for the summer, She had gone to University near here. She told us where to catch the bus for within this Turkish section, by the old city gate. There are a lot of Nigerians here, and many are University students
There are several markets in the old town.

Most restaurants don't show prices on their posted menus. I think there is a two tier system here. If you are a tourist you get a different price. I could be wrong but all these whited out prices seem suspicious.
The first night here we happened across a hole in the wall Indian restaurant. The menu was in Turkish lira and we hadn't researched the exchange. One hundred TL is $4 Cdn. So 420 TL is about $17.
At any rate having talked extensively with the family who were originally from Pakistan and being quoted prices in Euros and having various dishes explained to us, we sat down and ordered Indian food again. It took quite awhile as they make everything from scratch including the naan bread - except this had potatoes in it. I got two pieces of chicken and a lot of golden rice, Jeff's was chicken curry. They brought out a yogurt sauce and cucumbers and a plate of hot peppers and pickled onion.. A really substantial and filling meal - very flavourful and not too spicy. The people were really nice, seemed quite busy with takeout orders. It seems they live there also and have been here 25 years. The husband spoke really good English, very accommodating people. My chicken was really tasty and not a bit spicy so I was happy.

Tonight I had a salad and Jeff had a beef shawarma and we shared. I drank Aryan which sounds odd but it is the yogurt drink I really like. Although food here in the old town seems fairly expensive you can get a beer for 2.5 E. Which is pretty much a deal so tomorrow I will have one.
We can hear the call to prayer from our room as clear as a bell.
Our landlord seems nice enough but doesn't speak English he translates with his phone - he speaks, you read what he said and then you speak and he reads and we never see any other guests so we are not getting much information - on Monday we are going to a seaside town for four nights. The Nigerian server told us it's way nicer there. It's like Turkey but not also some things are different, Pictures of Ataturk abound and his statue holds a prominent position. No rugs. No rug salesmen. No tea boys running around with trays of tea. So far no men holding hands as they walk. But we are seeing a lot of tourists and workers from other countries here in the touristy part. Lots of fake cashmere scarves and lots of Turkish delight. I can buy halvah for less money in Calgary. Nobody has offered us tea. Of course we haven't been to Turkey since 2013 and things change. Maybe things will be different in Famagusta.
The only other divided cities I have been to are Sarajevo and Belfast but they don't have border crossings and a big wall topped off with barbed wire.