One Last Hurrah!

This was the last trip of the semester, and there’s no better place to end than in Ayia Napa – the biggest beach town in Cyprus! Friday - we first stopped in Larnaca and went to a few more sites, I mean I guess we hadn’t seen enough of the religious sites yet. We went to Hala Sulten Tekke, a small mosque – nothing special (I am now ruined after seeing Ayia Sophia and the Blue Mosque because nothing is even close to that impressive). Then we went to St. Lazarus Church. It was pretty with tons of gold and the tomb of St. Lazarus inside/under the church (right). Then we went to the Cultural Center of Famagusta and watched a propaganda film about the Turkish invasion of Famagusta and how they are holding it hostage now. But the lady who talked to us actually lived in Famagusta and was 16 when the Turks invaded; she was still very emotional about it.

And finally, we got to Ayia Napa! Our hotel (above) was awesome and had a huge pool. We got our room and laid by the pool for the rest of the day. Perfect! We had some delicious Mexican food for dinner (first time having it since I’ve been here!) and walked around the main square area. There were bars and clubs all over – that is what Ayia Napa is known for. They were all themed: BedRock Inn (Flinstone themed), Titanic, Castle Club, Pirate Bar, Ice Bar, Black & White Bar, etc. I was glad we took a nap before dinner though, we left “early” = 3 AM.

Saturday – we walked to Nissi Beach – the most famous beach in Cyprus! The water was unbelievably blue! But once you’re in the water it is as clear as bath water! Basically, what you always see on the paradise beach calendars that people put up in their little cubicles at work – that’s where we were! We lay out on the part of the beach that is on all of the post cards – a small sandbar/peninsula connecting the white sandy coast to a little island; it was perfect! It was also an interesting people watching place…yes, interesting. Lots of topless women, thongs, Speedos, and the British tourists who are all either white as snow or red as a tomato!

Then we took a bus to Cape Greco (or Cavo Gkreko) – sea caves in the Mediterranean! We got dropped off at a corner and had no idea where we were. We found a sign that said Cape Greco 2 km, but after that it was not marked anymore. So we wandered around the white coral rocks for a while dodging the lizards that were fast and camouflaged into the rocks and sand perfectly and we over a natural rock bridge trying to figure out where the sea caves were – this was probably the best part actually, being lost and just wandering around. We even named ourselves the Pita Chip Adventure Brigade…long story behind that. Anyways, we finally found a church that had some sea caves, not the most famous ones, but it would suffice for our cliff jumping needs! :) (Don’t worry mom, I did hit any rocks nor did I re-rupture my ear drums)

Sunday – we just walked around Ayia Napa for a bit and laid by the pool and back home to the ugliest part of Cyprus. Ayia Napa was great! The beaches were beautiful and it was so nice to get away before finals and packing this week…whoa, it’s almost over…We went to a nice place for dinner that some of our friends went to the night before and went back and sat on our balcony/veranda all night talking and enjoying the perfect weather that is Cyprus!

Too good to be true? Nope!

Thursday’s International Spring Festival at the amphitheater at University was just too good not to write about! We got there and there were people everywhere! Where have all of these people been the past 4 months? Anyways, there were booths set up representing different clubs/societies from students’ home countries who go to UNic (University of Nicosia), and all of them were giving away traditional food from their country!! Clearly, I was in heaven! I had Russian, Indian, Pakistani, Bulgarian, Serbian, Arabic, American, and Spanish food! (I may have missed a couple) Everything was delicious and so flavorful, well minus the American potato salad and macaroni.

Then there was a big show with traditional song and dance from all of the countries also! There was traditional singing and dancing from Greece/Cyprus and Bulgaria (above) – accompanied by the traditional outfits as well. There was also Russian rap, Pakistani dancing (right), Indian singing and martial arts, and a belly dancer from Romania. It was incredible! One of my favorite times in Cyprus this whole semester! :)

Games, Ghost Towns, and Birthdays

After getting back to my apartment, I dropped off my bags and went to class…literally. Thursday, we went to the bar down the street to watch the big Barcelona vs. Milan football game to see who would go to the championship. While we were just sitting there enjoying the game a guy from Serbia was standing in front of the TV. First, let me just tell you, he was wearing very tight gray elastic sweatpants which he pulled up into capris and had the quintessential man purse which he kept holding close to him for the duration of the game. Anyways, my friend Alli asked him to move a step to the side so she could see. He moved, then looked at/studied us and goes, “Where are you from? You are girls, why are you here?” If I didn’t have any inhibitions you all know what I would have said/done, but I just kept watching the game. Good job Marie. This just goes to show you how Cypriot (or maybe Serbian) men and women act. I don’t think I could last here more than 1 semester with that. On Saturday we celebrated Mifflin with all of the UW-Madison people here. So much fun!
Sunday we took a taxi to the old city, then walked through the North side of Cyprus to the bus station and went to Famagusta! Famagusta is on the eastern coast of Cyprus. It used to be the most popular tourist area in Cyprus with hotels and restaurants next to a small village in another Venetian walled-in city. But when the Turks invaded the North, this was one of the towns they took over and have not touched it since. So now, part of it is a ghost town! It has fences all around this one area with Turkish soldiers watching. Apparently a few UN people have been let inside the fences and they said it was clear that the Cypriots who lived there had to leave immediately. There were clothes in closets and food on the table; mostly likely they were given 5 minutes to leave their homes (with the promise of being able to return).

We walked through the old part of the city (above) which was very nice with lots of shops, restaurants, and old ruins (right). Then, beach time!! We got to this beautiful beach with nice sand and blue water (actually when we went in it was clear! No joke, there was not even a bluish or dark tint; it was like being in a freezing cold bath). We were walking on this beautiful beach and I looked behind us and there were hotels lining the beach…all in ruins and haven’t been touched since 1974! It was SO bizarre!! This island just keeps getting more interesting/strange. We also met some people who were studying at a university on the north side who were from Istanbul and Russia. I love meeting so many people from all over the world! :)

Side note: after we left I realized my legs were BURNT! Since I didn’t have any aloe, one of my friend’s friends (well 60 year old Cypriot woman) advised her to put yogurt on it. I figured it couldn’t hurt and, I mean, when in Rome…so I put Greek yogurt all over my legs. I smelt like yogurt/cottage cheese for a while, but it helped! So if you are ever in dire need of sunburn relief, you know what to do!

Tuesday we had a “field trip”/class in old town for my European Cultures class. It was the same place where we had our very first tour of old town. Our professor, Evi (probably my favorite Cypriot ever), told us about the “Cyprus Problem” (Greek/Turkish division in the country)…information which the Greek Cypriots fail to mention to us. Before the British colonized Cyprus, everybody lived together in harmony. But once they settled they decided to make it more nationalistic because there were both Christians and Muslims living here. So they got textbooks, etc. sent from Greece for the Christians and from Turkey for the Muslims. Since there is a lot of tension and resentment between Greeks and Turks, the Cypriots eventually developed these feelings. In the ’60 the Greek Cypriots killed thousands of Turkish Cypriots (but fail to mention this in textbooks/recognize it). So while the Greek Cypriots think the invasion in ’74 was a barbaric invasion of their country, the Turkish Cypriots think it was a way to make peace and save the Turkish Cypriots. Anyways, enough of the history lessons, after classes we went to our last meze to celebrate Natalie’s birthday. Man, I am going to miss those ridiculously large meals that never end!!

Wednesday – went over to our neighbor’s apartment to celebrate his birthday. Sammy and all of his friends are Nigerian and they made some spicy Nigerian food! Delicious! I also met a girl, Susan, who was ½ American and ½ Syrian. Her dad worked for Conoco (I think) so she has lived all over the world – she said she was never in 1 place for more than 2 years! So, we were talking and it turns out her dad is from Minnesota! Whoa! That never happens. But it gets better – turns out her dad is from Forrest Lake!! And she had some uncles from Chisago! I almost died! This world just keeps getting smaller, I love it! :)


Tonight we are going to the International Spring Festival held in the outdoor amphitheater at the University! And tomorrow = Larnaca and the infamous Ayia Napa!

On the Edge of the World

Sunday, April 25 – Jordan! On our flight, we met a couple of men from Jordan who gave us advice on what to see, do, etc. They were SO nice; they even gave us their business card in case we needed anything we could contact them. Interestingly enough, one of the men got his PhD from Duke! Our hostel owner, Nijmah, picked us up at the airport and we immediately loved her! She must have thought we were the funniest people ever (or thought it was funny that we were all staring out the window and taking pictures) – for the entire 45 minute drive to downtown Amman, she would look back at us, giggle, look forward, look back at us, giggle, talk to the driver, look back at us giggle, etc. It was hilarious! We all thought she was on something, little did we know, she is always like that!

She brought us to the Roman Theater by our hostel and up to the citadel that overlooks Amman, it was really pretty with the sunset! Our hostel was nice (well, nicer than Egypt…but, that’s not hard to do). We talked with all of the other backpackers while we waited for Nijmah and another guy from Canada (who is a chef) make dinner for us! We met people from Vancouver, Holland, Toronto, New Zealand, Australia, Romania, and Brazil – so cool! We waited for 4 hours for dinner (ate at 11), but it was delicious! Chicken, rice (with every spice in it), salad, and a lemon sponge cake for dessert. As soon as we were done we went straight to bed, big day tomorrow!

Monday, April 26 – Woke up at 5 AM, had some breakfast and jumped in a van to go to Petra (3 hours driving). Petra is one of the seven wonders of the modern world. It was the location of the tombs in the Nabataean Kingdom. It was completely lost to the world by the 14th century, and then in 1812 a Swiss traveler pretended to be from India and told the local Bedouins that he wanted to sacrifice his goat at the top. They believed him, and he rediscovered the ancient city carved into the sandstone mountains. Anyways, we found out that with our admission ticket we got a free tour of the lower portion of Petra – we were all over that since none of us knew much about it. We walked about ½ mile and got to The Siq – a natural gorge made over thousands of years from rain water. This may have been my favorite part of Petra; it was amazing, like walking through the Grand Canyon! Some of the peaks were 200 meters tall, and the colors in the rock were unbelievable! Indiana Jones was filmed in part of The Siq. It had occasional carvings, water channels, and even a natural sculpture (looked like a fish). We saw this guy dressed in the traditional red and white headdress and white robe to keep cool…and he had a giant knife! May be hard to believe, but this was a typical sight (minus the knife) throughout all of Jordan – I got very used to seeing men walking around or leading a camel or driving around throughout all of Jordan dressed like this.

After about 30 minutes of walking through The Siq we made it to the most famous part of Petra – the Treasury. This was built as a tomb for the King. It was huge and perfectly preserved! It had so much detail, it was unreal! It was called the Treasury because the pot on the top of it was thought to have gold and jewels in it, so they used to shoot at it with machine guns to try to break the pot and get the riches (they shot at it until the 1930s!).

We walked down the street and went inside a tomb – it smelt disgusting! Then we walked down the street of facades. It was a row of tombs for royal families (2 story tombs = royal families). Most of them were not completed though – they would start making them during the person’s life, but once he died, they just stopped because nobody would pay them anymore. At the end of the street was a 3,000 seat Roman Theater built in the 1st century AD. Next came the Royal Tombs – 4 giant tombs built for royalty. The rock on the inside has so many vivid colors of rock, so cool! Finally, we got to the end of our tour at the site of more Roman ruins, what they think was a city hall.

We were about ½ done with our day, so we started up the mountain to the top (around 950 stairs!) We passed lots of Bedouins (many times children) selling souvenirs, donkeys, camels, and older tourists (not sure how they did it, but I was glad to be 21 and climbing the mountain). We got to the top and there was the Monastery! It was just like the Treasury (less detailed), but even bigger! It was awesome!

We hiked up two more peaks to get a view over the desert mountains. One peak was called, “The Edge of the World,” it felt like we were really on the edge of the world! The view was incredible! We were running out of time; we had to be back outside of Petra so our van could bring us back. We basically sprinted down the mountain and through the rest of Petra and made it just in time!

Petra was incredible!! It was huge, but apparently only 20% of it has been discovered so far! We were hiking (in the beating sun in the middle of the desert) for 7 hours and didn’t see everything, and what we did see, we were very rushed! The tombs and colors in the rocks were amazing; my pictures do not do it justice. Even though some friends of mine had already been there and had raved about it, Petra definitely surpassed my expectations!

We went to a hole-in-the-wall restaurant near our hostel with the 2 Canadian guys for dinner. They didn’t have any menus, so we had Chris (the chef) order everything. We got chicken shish, pita, salad, humus for only 2 JD (equivalent to about $3.50, so cheap!). Tried to shower in the hostel, which basically ended up being me crouching under the 2 ft. high facet in the bathroom; needless to say I was not the cleanest person in the world.

Tuesday, April 27 – Got to sleep in until 7 (but still tired after sleeping for 5 hours and hiking for 7 from Petra), and we were on the road by 8. We shared the van ride with Andy, a backpacker from England. First, we went to Madaba – “the city of mosaics.” We went to the Greek Orthodox church, St. Geroge, which had mosaics from the 6th century – they were perfectly preserved! The most famous was a map on the floor showing Jerusalem and the Holy Land. Afterwards, our driver brought us to a mosaic factory where we were asked/offered to marry one of the guys working…they were serious. After avoiding that, we got to see how the mosaics are made: they have a drawing/outline on a piece of white fabric, then they cut the rocks and place them on the fabric with a flour and water mixture. Once it is done, they put cement on the side that is facing them for 10 days, then take the fabric off of the other side with water, and voila! It takes about 65 days for one mosaic! They were all beautiful!

Back in the van to Mt. Nebo, the place where Moses is buried! We saw the rock that was placed in front of his tomb – it was huge (above)! Then we walked to the edge of the mountain and overlooked the Holy Land. This was the same place where Moses stood overlooking the Jordan River Valley, the Dead Sea, Jericho, and Jerusalem (below). Very cool.

Then, we drove down the mountain (past Bedouin camps, camels, men leading their sheep, etc.) and to the Dead Sea (above)!! We covered ourselves in Dead Sea mud – supposed to be really good for you skin. It felt sort of like a smooth, thick clay – so weird! Then we went into the water! It was a really weird feeling to just lay back (especially knowing that we could not put our head under because the salt concentration is so high, it can be really harmful). So we walked in (it was so warm!), slowly laid back…and we just floated! Such a cool feeling! It was actually kind of hard to even stand up, we would just bob up and down. Under the water my skin felt really cool – smooth and kind of slimy. After a little bit, when the salt started to sting, we rinsed off, swam in the pool for a bit, and took a shower.

On the way home we were stopped at a light and a boy about 10ish (maybe younger) came up to the van to sell something. Our driver told him no, so he started walking around the van and saw that 2 of the girls with us had shorts on. So, he proceed to put his nose up against the window and stare at their legs for a good 2-3 minutes! I suppose he has never seen a woman or girls legs before because they are always covered….but it was still very strange. Back at the hostel we had some tea with Nijmah. She and another of the workers started playing the drum and singing for us one of the traditional Jordanian/Arabic/Middle East songs. It was awesome! I love her!! Later, we walked around Amman for a while. Again, everyone was so nice to us! They all welcomed us as we walked down the street, were all very respectful, and loved to talk to us and take pictures! Throughout Jordan, there are pictures of King Abdulla II in every type of setting in Jordan. Below is just a glimpse of this...

For dinner, we went to a restaurant with live traditional music. I had one of the best meals since I’ve been here; it was a traditional Arabic dish – salver of chicken and vegetables. Probably one of the simplest dishes, but it was DELICIOUS! It had so much flavor and spices! New mission: figure out how to make that for dinner every night! :)

We got back to the hostel and Nijmah gave us a huge piece of cake that she had made or gotten for a guy who had stayed in her hostel for 6 months and was leaving. He had some of his friends come over; they played guitar and the drum and sang – it was so much fun!

Wednesday, April 28 – After breakfast we went in search of a smoothie that one of my friends recommended we have before we left. It was really good – had a combination of orange, banana, carrot, melon, and grapefruit. We made friends with the juice/smoothie guys, and then had to go say good-bye to Nijmah. She was so funny! She kept hugging us and saying, “Ahh, I’m going to miss you guys! My little babies!!” We took some pictures with her and went to the airport to go back to Cyprus for our last 2 ½ weeks…

Jordan was amazing!! It met and exceeded all of my expectations (as did Istanbul). It was a somewhat poor country, but much less than Egypt and cleaner. Everybody was overly nice to us – it was unbelievable! I felt so welcomed and safe there. I loved it!!