oooo...so THIS is Cyrpus

Last Tuesday we took a trip to the US Embassy in Cyprus. After going through the most scrutinized security of my life, we finally were let in. We heard from people who did all sorts of jobs in the embassy - sounds pretty sweet! (Just to put you at easy mom, its all business, politics, administrative, etc. not my cup of tea). But its a pretty sweet gig, they get their home paid for, education for themselves and their children paid for, and holidays for both countries! We also found out that one of the guys we hung out with at karaoke the other night ("creeper guy") is actually a Special Agent for the Department of Secrete Services....whoa.

Thursday, after having an awesome night full of way too much guacamole and finally meeting our Nigerian neighbor, we hopped on yet another bus for our weekend trip to Limassol and Paphos (on the south/southwestern coast of Cyprus)! Looking out the window you can see random ancient ruins from over 2000 years ago! We saw one archeological site in particular that had five circular foundations of what used to be huts. I think Cyprus could be much more well-known and a huge history-geek tourist attraction if they cared (or were not so lazy) to unearth more of the history and advertise it. Anyways, we drove through Limassol and then went to the Limassol Fort and Castle. It was built in the 14th century on the site of an earlier Byzantine castle. It was here, according to tradition that Richard the Lionheart decided to claim Cyprus as a British possession, but today the castle houses the Medieval Museum. It was pretty boring from the outside (a small square “castle” built of plain limestone), but once we went in it was more interesting. We could walk through it and touch everything. In the museum part they had knight’s suits of armor, old jewelry, pottery, etc. on display in old jail cells. But, only parts of it had old relics, the rest looked like it was original and the knights had just left it – very cool! Outside of it was a huge wooden/concrete contraption where they used to make olive oil. It looked really confusing, and I couldn’t figure out how it worked, but it was still very interesting.

Then we went to the Kolossi Castle (above) built in 1200-1300 AD. It looked very similar to the Limassol castle (3-4 stories tall and small, square shape), but it had BEAUTIFUL flowers in around it. We went to the top and had a view of the fields/plantations around and a small village…much prettier than Makedonessita (where we live). It was in this castle where the knights perfected how to make the famous sweet wine of Cyprus – Commanderia.

We made our way up the side of a mountain/cliff to Kourion – an ancient city-kingdom. We went into the House of Eustolios, which used to be a private Roman villa built/renovated around 400 AD. It had huge mosaics on the floor. It was very well preserved – you can still clearly see the pictures, designs, and words. Next to this was an ancient Roman theater built in the 2nd century AD. This was also very well preserved, and we could sit/climb around on it. One of the guys with us was prodded to “testing the acoustics” and he did a whole song and dance to the Temptations for us – it was great!

Then we drove to a spot where we could overlook the Sea and Petra Tou Romiou (“The Rock of the Greek”): Birthplace of Aphrodite. It was here, at one of the small, black, mushroom-like rocks tha according to legend, Aphrodite, goddess of love and beauty, rose from the waves. The Greek name, Petra Tou Romiou, is associated with Dighenis Akritas, who kept the raiding Saracens at bay by throwing this large rock into the sea destroying the enemy’s ships. Anyways, the water was unbelievable!! It was turquoise blue and crystal clear – gorgeous!

We had lunch by the harbor in Paphos watching all of the British tourists, then went to our last sight of the day – the House of Dionysos named after one of the mosaics depicting Dionysos, the God of Wine. This had spectacular 3rd- 5th century Roman mosaics – perfectly preserved after 16 centuries under the soil. Most of the mosaics were depicting Greek mythological figures and stories and were all decorated. It was awesome!

We drove back to Limassol (about 30-45 minutes away), checked into our hotel and went in search of food! The restaurant we ate at was fine, but the family that owned it was so nice!! We met the owner (who was born in Cyprus, but lived in London all his life), his son was our waiter, and his daughter was another waitress. We stayed for karaoke – the owner started it off by singing “New York, New York” for us, “the ladies from the USA.” He was an unbelievable singer! Sounded exactly like Frank Sinatra!! After we sang, our waiter (the son) sang, and then the daughter. Then they did a duet to “Love Shack.” They were all awesome singers (but nothing compares to dancing/watching Erik dancing to Love Shack at every Koch wedding!)

Saturday – BEACH!!! We were FINALLY able to see the water (yep on an island ½ the size of Connecticut and have yet to be by the water)! We laid on the sand, went swimming in the Mediterranean, and went kayaking! The water was so blue; it looked like it had food coloring in it. And I could see to the bottom no matter how far I went out! It was unbelievable! For dinner I went out with a new group of girls and we had Greek/Cypriot meze and wine – nummy!! It was so much fun; the perfect day!

Sunday – we didn’t have to leave until 11:45, so we got some more beach time in for a couple hours before going to Lefkara (above), a small village in the mountains famous for their handmade lace and silver. According to tradition, Leonardo da Vinci visited the village and bought an altar cloth which he donated to the Milan Duomo (Cathedral). The little village was so cute! It had little winding roads with lace/silver shops everywhere! And the little old Greek men and women shopkeepers sitting outside (and occasionally taking a nap). In a lot of the stores, the woman made the lace and the man (husband) made the silver. A small lace piece (smaller than a placemat) takes over 1 month to make! The shopkeepers were so nice and hospitable – I guess it is true what they say about Greeks/Cypriots, just not in Nicosia! I LOVED the little village!


This trip was EXACTLY what I thought Cyprus was going to be like…I have been about an hour away from it this whole time, dang! (After this it is official, I do NOT like Makedonssita or Nicosia! Everyone on our trip concurred) It had ancient ruins, little villages, cute harbors, beautiful water, and overly nice people – I loved it! I guess I’ll just have to go back before I leave! :)

Budapest

Thursday, April 8 – Woke up at the crack of dawn to catch our flight to Budapest (pronounced Budapechst). We met our tour guide and hopped on yet another bus for a tour of the city before our flight to Cyprus. The first district we went through was super sketchy, dirty, and run down; I didn’t like it. But our tour guide was great, she pointed out more of the communist apartments that are still there and explained the layout of them – she said they are extremely small; you can’t fit a double bed into the bedrooms.

We first were on the Pest side of the river, drove by a zoo and a castle and to the Heroes’ Square (below) – a monument built after the conquest when Hungary became independent (I think). We drove toward the center, this part was much nicer. The Parliament building was awesome!! It looked like a cross between a cathedral and a castle and a palace – it was beautiful!

We crossed the Chain Bridge to the Buda side and went up to the church at the top of the hill. We saw a building that had a ton of divots/marks on the side; it was from bullet’s hitting the building during WWII, whoa! We walked up to the Matthias Church (right) which had a really cool, multi-colored designed tiled roof. The Fisherman’s Bastion (below) was in front of the church and overlooked the river to the Pest side – it was gorgeous!

Parliament Building on the Pest side

We went back to the Pest side to go to Vaci Street towards the Central Market Hall – a huge hall with lots of fruits, veggies, books, tourist stuff, everything. We shopped around (everything was so cheap!!) and went to dinner – goulash soup and a salad that could have fed a family of 5 for a good 3 days!! We walked down by the river/bridge (almost got hit by a train) and took some pictures of the sun going down, it was BEAUTIFUL!!! Some of my friends went wandering around and found a church with a bunch of lights and paparazzi around, then they saw Uma Thurman! Turns out Uma Thurman and Robert Pattinson were filming a new movie in the church in Budapest – crazy! Back on the bus -> airport -> and finally back in Cyprus at 5 AM!

I loved Budapest; I wished we could have stayed there longer. The city center is beautiful! It was a perfect end to the trip!


This 16 day trip was unreal! I saw so much of Europe in such a short amount of time, it would have been nice to have a little more time in each city/time to decompress and take everything in, but it was awesome!! I learned more in this 2 ½ week trip than I could have in any textbook, everything from history to politics to culture. There are so many things that I love about Europe (don’t worry mom, I will come back…eventually). But I was definitely ready to be back in Cyprus! Time to rest, diet, and get a few things done before our next adventure! :)

Berlin

Tuesday, April 6 – Arrived in Berlin, out hotel was on the outskirts of the East side of Berlin. We took the U-Bahn to Alexanderplatz and had dinner at a really good German restaurant. Tried the beer sampler (when in Rome…or Berlin) and had spätzle. BEST DINNER EVER!!! It had tomatoes, broccoli, onion, and tons of melted, creamy cheese! Ahh, I lover Germany/German food!

Wednesday, April 7 – Had a huge German breakfast with yogurt and muesli, bread, cheese, jam, fruit, eggs, crepes, and cake!! Yep, had a giant slice of German cake for breakfast…add another plus to the Germans :) We had a 3 hour bus tour of Berlin. We first went to this red castle-like bridge that used to be a pedestrian crossing/checkpoint to the East/West. We also saw the Berlin wall, but this portion of it was very new and had a big mural on each section that depicted everything from dark paintings to bizarre/abstract to peace paintings. Then we went to Checkpoint Charlie (right) which wasn’t too much to see except the giant picture of the US solider and a fake US solider there for pictures. But they did have big posters up about historical facts and information about the wall/checkpoint. The most interesting was a description about people’s attempts to cross to the west. Most that made it across either were smuggled across inside of trunks of cars or with fake US uniforms or fake passports (usually Switzerland). They had a bunch of pictures of people who were caught hiding in cars and they put black lines over their eyes, which made it much more scary and dangerous-looking. Back on the bus we passed by another part of the wall, this time though it was part of the original wall – it had a fence around it protecting it, but I could still see faded colors from graffiti and holes in the wall – very interesting to see!

We drove through Charlottenberg, which was very pretty, then to Reichsthe – the German parliament building with a big glass dome (above). We weren’t there for long enough to go up inside the dome, but we did enjoy lying on the grass under the sun looking at the building with the German flags – I loved it! We finished our tour by driving through the museum district and past the Holocaust memorial and to the Brandenburg Gate.

By this time in the trip, being with 8 other girls 24/7…I decided to go off and explore Berlin solo. It was great! I found my way through Hauptbanhof and found the best döner kebab in the world!! Well, I think I found it, Steph (one of Jill’s friends who lives in Berlin) gave me very rough directions: “out of the u-bahn station, toward the sex shops, and under a covered walkway.” Nevertheless, it was amazing!!! Went to Ka-De-We, one of the biggest malls in Europe that has a famous 6th floor which had every kind of food and drink.

Then I went back to Alexanderplatz and saw the Berliner Dom (below) and then went to the DDR museum which is a small, interactive museum about what East Berlin was like under the communist rule. It was very interesting! They had community bathroom breaks in school where they could not stand up until everyone was done; they built hundreds of apartments/concrete slab buildings that were very small, but you can still see them all over East Berlin. Also, “young people” would go to some place and listen to blues and rock and music that the government didn’t approve of, so people from the government were sent to take pictures of everyone there so they could keep tabs on them in the coming months and years. So they had a little TV set up with real pictures of these people sitting and talking to friends or walking around. Then it said that the black circle around the pictures means that it was taken from a briefcase – crazy!

I walked a little ways further and went to a big square (right) that had the “White Library” which was a hole in a square with a piece of glass over it showing white, empty shelves. That was the spot where the Nazi’s burned the books in 1933 that did not fit with their philosophy! It was like standing on history. Then a few of us met up and went to a wine bar then to another German restaurant for a repeat of my dinner from the night before – more spätzle!!!!

Overall, I liked Berlin. There is still a stark difference between East and West though. The East is kind of dirty and rundown and just behind the times. Whereas West Berlin is very nice and looks like most other European cities, very strange! Berlin has about 30% of green parks in the city, and everyone utilizes it; it’s really nice. The history is very interesting, especially because it is so recent and well preserved. Everyone I talked to was very nice, oh and did I mention the food! I feel like there is still so much that I haven’t seen in Berlin yet…

Dresden

Tuesday, April 6 – Stopped in Dresden for a few hours. The city was completely destroyed near the end of WWII by allied aerial bombings. Much of the city was under construction and being rebuilt or renovated. It was really interesting to see some of the buildings (mostly churches) that they rebuilt or tried to salvage – they were all charcoal black! Or had ½ new renovations and ½ old charred materials – very interesting. We walked by the Fürstenzug (aka the procession of the princes), a big yellow mural painted on the wall (right). We saw the famous church, Neumarkt mit Frauenkirche, but could not go in because there was a service. I think it is so iconic because they rebuilt it as a sign of recovery and prosperity for the city after WWII.

We walked through a beautiful park and across the bridge to the new district, Neustadt (the old district where we were is Altsadt).

We walked down a cute little pedestrian walkway/street lined with trees and park benches and came across an interesting church, Drei Königs Kirch Turm. The bottom foundation was brand new white and cream stucco, but the top of the church with the steeple was charred and black. We went up to the top of the bell tower/steeple and overlooked the city – it was beautiful looking back over the river at the old buildings and churches!

I really enjoyed Dresden. It was a very small, slow-paced town with interesting buildings/churches that they salvaged as much as they could. I wish we would have had a tour guide to know the history and significance of what we were seeing…next time! :)

Prague

Still Easter Sunday, April 4 – Got to Prague just in time for dinner! We walked across the street to a traditional Czech restaurant and had the local beer and some sort of beef in a potato pancake, very interesting, it was like nothing I’ve ever tasted before. But the best part was that it was all so cheap!! A lovely change from over-priced Cyprus (apparently Cyprus is the most expensive country in the EU, at least for staple things like milk, bread, etc…awesome).

Monday, April 5 – Prague or Praha. We took the tram/trolley up to the historical quarters and began our 4 hour walking tour of the city! One of the most unique things about Prague is that Hitler wanted to retreat here after WWII, so he never bombed it. It is one of the only cities in Europe not to be destroyed, so everything is original! We walked to an old monastery (that brews its own beer to make money) and then to the edge of the hill/mountain to overlook the city – to was beautiful!! Peter, our guide, walked us by a house that had painted windows (right), apparently a couple hundred years ago they did tax breaks (or something like that) by the number of windows you had, so they painted extra windows on their house to get around it! Then we made it to the Prague Castle (entrance bottom left) – the largest ancient castle in the world! It was huge, and it even had a cathedral (St. George’s Cathedral) inside the castle area (bottom right).

We walked down what used to be the only street that connected the other side of Prague with the Charles Bridge and the Castle (above). It was an old, little cobblestone road with beautiful colorful houses. Most of the houses still had the old pictures above the door that used to be their address - an address would be Swan house on blah blah road, Prague. As we were walking down a road we ran into these men who whipped us with these straw stick things! Apparently it is a tradition in Slovakia and Czech that on Easter Sunday and Easter Monday, men carry these things around and hit the women on the back of their legs! It is supposed to give the women/girls good health for the next year. Our guide also said something about giving bourbon or whiskey or something to the men, but I didn’t catch all of it. Anyways, it was very strange…

Then we stopped at the Lennon wall – a wall that people filled with John Lennon-inspired graffiti speaking out against the communist rule. The government would paint over it all the time to cover it up and thwart the anti-communist ideas, but the next day it would be filled again. It was very interesting to see; it was completely covered with painting on top of paintings on top of writing. Right around the corner was a bridge that the railings were completely covered with pad-locks. It’s a recent tradition started in Russia or as far east as Korea where if two people think they will be together forever, they put a lock on the bridge railing to “lock-up” their relationship.

We finally made it to the Charles Bridge, the iconic, gothic-style bridge of Prague going over the Vltava River. It was very pretty and had tons of artists and musicians selling their work and playing for the visitors.

On the opposite side of the river we saw the astronomical clock that was built in 1410, but we had just missed the moving puppets and rooster call that goes on every hour on the hour. We walked through the Old Town Square that had a huge Easter market going on, through the Jewish Quarters, passed the Power Tower (where they used to store gun powder), and back to the Old Town Square to end our long tour. Then we were on our own.

Since we saw almost everything on our tour, we went and had some hot chocolate at a little café. But this wasn’t your typical hot chocolate…it was really rich and thick, I think I drank just straight up melted chocolate – delicious! Natalie and I then went to the other big square – Wenceslas Square (like the Christmas song? I was singing “Good King Wenceslas” the rest of the day). We tried a traditional Trdeo (or something like that) from the other Easter market; it was like churros, but in a hollow roll form with almond cinnamon sugar all over – nummy! Then we went into this huge, beautiful building at the end of the square, “Museum of Royal Bohemia” (right). We were so excited to learn about the history of the area and the people and see what it was all about and because we got in for free! Once we got in, we walked up the stairs…and there was a giant woolly mammoth head on the wall….then another one (I felt like I was back at home!)….then a giant stuffed tiger. What the heck was this? Later to find out it was a natural history museum, false advertising. So we made the best of it by posing by the mammoth head and the tiger.

For dinner we went back to the Old Town Square because our guide said that Wenceslas Square is one of the sketchiest places in all of Europe after dark because of prostitutes, drug deals, etc.). We had some mulled wine, traditional Czech goulash with dumplings, and a pancake with cream cheese, strawberries, kiwi, ice cream, and whipped cream!!! I love Prague more and more! :) We walked back to the hotel (our guide said never to take a taxi because they usually rip off foreigners hundreds of dollars!) and stopped by the river to see the Charles Bridge and the Prague Castle lit up at night – it was BEAUTIFUL!

I loved Prague!! The historical quarter, the old buildings, the river, the big squares – ahh I wish we could have stayed there longer! But no time for that, back on the bus in the morning!

Bratislava

Sunday, April 4 – Happy Easter! This was a first for me to celebrate Easter in 3 different countries! We left Austria and had a short bus drive to Bratislava, Slovakia. We had a short bus tour around the city and up on the hill overlooking the city. This was the most expensive place to live in Bratislava – from 1-7 million Euros! But the homes were not very nice; it was very surprising. We drove up to the castle (basically the center of what Bratislava has to offer) and overlooked the old part of the city and the Danube River. The castle was under construction, so we couldn’t go inside. On our walking tour, we went through the old part of the city. It was very small and slow paced with cute little squares and statues that all have stories behind them - the most famous is a man coming out of a manhole (below left). We passed the Old City Hall that had a cannon ball still stuck in the side of it from the Napoleonic Wars (below right)!

After our tour we went to the Easter market (below) and looked around at all of the food and the traditional Slovak Easter eggs – they are in every color and are decorated, very pretty. We had a quick lunch, although the customer service was terrible, and got back on the bus again…

Bratislava wasn’t on the top of my list, but it may have been because I had already seen so many amazing cities. It just really didn't have a lot to offer. Everything our tour guide said was about famous people who had visited there for a couple days. “This is a dedication to Mozart because he visited Bratislava for 13 days when he was 9!” and “This is a statue of Andy Warhol because he may have spoken a dialect of Slovak because his parents were Slovaks, but he never actually visited here.” I think I would have liked it a lot more if we had visited here first. It was a very nice quaint little city though.