Sunday December 25th Christmas Day in Cyprus! It was a bright sunny day so we thought we would take a drive up into the Troodos Mountains as I had been there before and found the scenery and views from the top spectacular. The road was very winding and the higher we got the visibility became quite poor, however we were determined to get to the top until we were stopped by a policeman who said the road ahead was very icy with snow and we could only go on if our car had chains!It was with disappointment that we had to take a road to return down but looking back we could see the snow in the distance and on the trees so we did indeed have a white Christmas if only for a few minutes. We followed the mountain road back to the coast and it wasn’t long before we were back in bright sunshine again.
We found some more secluded bays to investigate and also an ancient burial ground where coffins had been made in the rock. There was an old monastery on the top of a near-by hill but it was not accessible in the winter season.
By the time we got back to the hotel it was almost dark so Wendy set to and cooked our Christmas Dinner home-made beef-burghers and chips. I must say I thoroughly enjoyed the day so different to lunch and television at home.
Monday Boxing Day saw good weather again so we headed for the port of Limasol and drove along the sea front promenade which was very flat. We didn’t stay too long here as we thought as we were not too many miles away we would go to Nicosia as we had heard that one could access a part of Turkey from there.
Well the Border was well and truly hidden and not many of the locals could tell us how to find it however we did find a taxi-driver who was able to give us directions. Eventually we came to the border which was a little foreboding as there were big notices up that photography was forbidden and a sentry aloft with binoculars giving all the cars and passengers an once-over. We then had to get a pass to cross over which took 30 minutes and cost 10 Euros each.
It was a bit easier to get back into Cyprus we just had to show our passes again at the border.
I must say I am pleased we did it because I had no idea about the border even though I have been to Cyprus several times, it was quite an education. We were quite late getting back to Paphos as we had driven quite a few miles that day.
Once over we only had about half an hour as by this time night was approaching. As motorists in Cyprus drive on the same side as us and in Turkey they drive the right hand side In my ignorance I expected we would have to suddenly change to that side of the road until Wendy explained that in fact we were still on the Island of Cyprus and driving on the right doesn’t commence until you have crossed the sea to Turkey.
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