Cyprus Part 2 of 3 - Lefkosia and Parasailing

We booked ourselves on an organized tour to Nicosia (also known as Lefkosia) - the largest city in Cyprus, and the occupied territory and the border crossing. We weren't terribly impressed with Nicosia, with the exception of the area that is being rehabilited. A beautiful little European town with uneven cobbles with art, jewelry, linen and junk nobody would want. Very nice.

There is plenty of visible evidence of the hostilities in Nicosia. There are bullet holes in the sides of many buildings, some with sections of buildings that have been completely distroyed. Other buildings are abandoned. But there are some beautiful buildings, statues, churches and mosques in Nicosia and parts of the city that are quite pleasant and pretty.

We had a lovely lunch in the restored area of the city (I had a chicken sandwich and chips - that's French fries to us Yanks) and yes,of course, some beer (the local brew is KEO). Gotta love beer on a hot day in Cyprus.

We did venture up to the top of the building which houses Debenham's (a favorite UK department store) to get a good view. You can see quite clearly all around, and you can see where the Turks have painted a large Turkish flag across a forested area.

Crossing the border is quite obvious, at least at this juncture, because you are suddenly surrounded by shops who make fake designer handbags, shoes, belts, clothing, etc. I wasn't tempted. Ok, once, but in Limassol, and I resisted :) We didn't spend too much time on the Turkish side (in Metehan), in part because of the heat and the time limitations we had with an organized tour.

It was a very hot day when we visited, but we did get some good pictures and had an educational and lovely time. The tour guide gave us a lengthy and detailed history of Cyprus, details about the hostilities with the Turks and more. I'm not going to spit it out here. If you're truly interested you should just Google Cyprus and/or Nicosia or Lefkosia and you can read for yourself. But it is interesting.

Given the cost of the tour and the structured nature of such a tour (having to wait for everyone in the group to move on, etc.) we decided to rent a car and explore the island for ourselves. That's the next entry.

But before we decided that, we took a day to sit by the pool and sea and chill. I played with that great DSi to try to train my brain. Keeps me quiet so Alex loves it :) Lots of sunscreen, hats, cover ups and umbrellas.

So I decided to try parasailing - amazing! I was a bit worried that being pulled up on the chute would give me that "stomach in your throat" feeling but it was not like that at all. I was gently let out on the line until I was quite far up and able to see all over the island and the best perspective on the sea which was just so, so blue and beautiful. It was only about twenty minutes, but it was truly breathtaking. I'd definitely like to do that again.