The first thing that stands out at Larnaca Airport is the left-hand traffic.

To explain this, I want to shed light on the historical background leading up to the Cyprus conflict.

During the conquest of Cyprus in 1570 by the Ottomans, the commander LALA MUSTAFA PASHA advanced as far as Nicosia,

leaving the previous rulers, the Venetians, with no choice but to acknowledge the loss.

For the Christians, it meant converting or giving up all future prospects.

In 1878, the British arrived and took control of the island as a protectorate. In return, they promised the Ottomans support in the Russo-Turkish War.

In 1925, after annexation, Cyprus became a crown colony of Great Britain.

Turkey acknowledged the annexation and formally renounced Cyprus.

The Greek Cypriots increasingly expressed the desire for union (ENOSIS) with Greece, which was rejected by the British with a point toward Turkey.

The Archbishop MAKARIOS, not only the spiritual but also the political leader of the Greek Cypriots, intensified the pressure and founded the EOKA (National Organization of Cypriot Fighters), a terrorist unit. The Turkish Cypriots, in their desperation, turned to Great Britain in vain and founded TMT, the counterpart to the EOKA.

This inflamed atmosphere produced individuals like NICO SAMPSON, 'The Turk Killer.'

The London Agreement of 1959 stated that there should be no union; if it occurred, the other party had the right to intervene.

In 1964, the USA attempted to mediate, as two NATO countries stood against each other, unsuccessfully.

The Archbishop MAKARIOS turned away from the thought of union (EONIS) to achieve independence from Great Britain. After the coup in 1974 against MAKARIOS, who managed to flee to London, the Turks felt compelled to intervene according to the London Agreement. Since then, Cyprus has been divided. The northern part is recognized by Turkey and is controlled by mainland Turkish soldiers.

The southern part was recognized and admitted to the EU in 2004.

Between the two NATO countries lies a buffer zone, referred to as the green line in Nicosia, otherwise as the demarcation line.

Turkey is sending many immigrants to Northern Cyprus so that they can be smuggled to Southern Cyprus and thereby into the European Union.

This obviously strains the already tense relationship between the two countries.

However, the Cypriots have collectively managed to mark their free-ranging dogs, neuter them, and thus counteract indiscriminate breeding. They hold back with cats, which I can understand quite well given the Cypriot beauties.

The city of Paphos, formerly the capital for 600 years, showcases treasures from past times through excavations that began in 1977.

The House of Dionysus and the House of Aion were once magnificent town villas in the 5th century AD. The preserved floor mosaics depict various scenes from mythology. For example, the legendary monster Scylla or in the House of Aion, the scene of the newborn Dionysus with Lada, Apollo, and Marsyas.

What also impressed me greatly was the dance of the Dervishes.

The dance goes back to the 12th century and was initiated by Rumi, an Islamic mystic. The choreography has hardly changed; it is essentially a service to God. The love for God is free from the narrowness of the prayer niche.

Mustafa Kemal Atatürk banned this order of the dancing Dervishes because it contradicted his vision of a modern Turkey. Here in Cyprus, the order of the dancing Sufis still exists. They maintain cultural centers and educational institutions and are involved in mosque construction.

The history of the city of Varosia is also very interesting. After independence from Great Britain, the city developed into a glamorous place. Esteemed figures such as Gina Lollobrigida, Anthony Quinn, and Sophia Loren resided here.

Almost 60% of the total revenue from the tourism industry was generated by Varosia. 24 theaters, cinemas, up to 3000 small shops, and 45 hotel facilities – a dream.

Nature is steadily reclaiming ground; metal is rusting, windows are breaking... overall, the lost places exude a very oppressive atmosphere.

My conclusion: Cyprus is rich in history, ideal for nature lovers who want to hike in the Troodos Mountains, with Islamic and Greek culture close together; the food is simply royal, featuring self-made warm Halloumi, spoon sweets, Loukoumades, and Cypriot coffee and Brandy sour.

Cyprus is not an ordinary island; it has character and is absolutely worth seeing.

A big thank you goes to our tour guide Ulli Bosl, who with great warmth, extensive knowledge, and organizational skill brought the island closer to us.

First we visited the site of the Aphrodite Sanctuary of Palaipaphos, Cyprus' most important sanctuary in ancient times. There was a huge complex here with an Aphrodite temple and priests' residential buildings that dated back to the 12th century BC. dates back and attracted travelers from all over the Eastern Mediterranean. Unfortunately, apart from a few foundation walls, nothing remains of the sanctuary. In the 4th century AD the cult was abandoned, power and influence then rested with kings, crusaders and the Christian church. They also abolished the custom of temple prostitution, in which every woman once in her life gave herself up to a stranger in exchange for money - in later times there was the ius primae noctis (right of the prince or liege to the first night, which was certainly much more pleasant for the princes). of the bride).

Aphrodite is, next to George Michael, probably the most famous personality in Cyprus. She is the goddess of love and beauty. According to legend, she was born from the foam of the sea near Paphos - hence the Aphrodite sanctuary nearby. The Aphrodite Rock now marks the place where, according to legend, she emerged from the sea. However, in the photo you don't see Aphrodite, but me. ;-)

Aphrodite's lineage is portrayed differently depending on the author and myth. Hesiod reports that Kronos, at the request of his mother Gaia, cut off the genitals of his father Uranus and threw them into the sea, where Aphrodite was created by mixing blood, sperm and sea. After she was admitted to Olympus, she became the adopted daughter of Zeus. According to Homer, she is the daughter of Zeus and Dione.

She is married to Hephaestus, the god of fire and blacksmithing, to whom she is not faithful. She has a corresponding number of children, including Eros (with Ares), Priapus (with Dionysus), Hermaphroditos (with Hermes) and the hero of the Trojan War, Aeneas (with the Trojan Anchises). She is said to have started the Trojan War when she, along with Hera and Athena, asked the Trojan king's son Paris to decide which of them was the most beautiful, which resulted in the rape of Helen.

We continued through British territory to the sanctuary of Apollo Hylates (the vote on the reunification of Cyprus was probably rejected primarily because the Turkish and Greek parts were supposed to be merged, but a British part was then supposed to belong to Great Britain). Originally, a male fertility deity was worshiped at this place, who was initially nameless and later called Hylates. During the Hellenistic era, this deity was identified with Apollo, who was given the nickname Hylates. The sanctuary dates back to the late Bronze Age (1650-1050 BC). It achieved its greatest fame in Roman times, when it was one of the three most important places of worship in Cyprus. Today, the remains of the temple, the baths, colonnades, etc. can still be seen, so that we were able to imagine the complex much better than the Aphrodite sanctuary.

Next stop: the archaeological zone of Kourion. Kourion was one of the most important city-kingdoms of Cyprus. There is to see: old stones, mosaics and a theater. I admit that my interest in this has waned significantly.

The day ended with a visit to the aforementioned Aphrodite Rock (also called Petra tou Romiou) and a swim at the place where Aphrodite emerged from the sea. According to various legends, if you swim around the rock three times, you will be rewarded with eternal youth, beauty, happiness, fertility and/or true love. This was not possible because it was low tide and half of the rock was on land. Would a bath next to the rock have the same effect? It was definitely refreshing.

First stop today: the Royal Tombs of Paphos. UNESCO World Heritage Site and the most important cities in Cyprus from the Hellenistic period. Contrary to the name, there were no kings buried in these burial chambers carved into the soft rock, but rich Romans and Hellenes. It's a huge necropolis, but honestly: Salamis was more interesting, and compared to Petra (Jordan) the tombs are very simple.

However, understanding the facility is also made difficult by the tour guide Xenon's strange German. He speaks of houses with rooms in which people lived and slept. When asked, he said that they only did that after her death... At least, in addition to the fact that many tourists were in bathing suits - which didn't look nice on everyone - it was an entertaining aspect.

The archaeological zone of Paphos is all the more impressive with its mosaics from Greek and Roman times. The mosaics were in several layers on top of each other and mostly date from the 3rd/4th century. Century AD They depict scenes from Greek mythology, for example the sea monster Scylla, the legend of Pyramus and Thisbe (which is very reminiscent of Romeo and Juliet: they are not allowed to love each other because they come from different backgrounds, and due to a misinterpretation they both end up committing suicide Suicide.) or of Theseus (Minotaur, the bull and Ariadne with her thread).

The tour guide has a few exciting interpretations, the accuracy of which I cannot say, but which definitely make you think. According to him, the Greeks were the first to depict the gods like humans and not, for example, with an animal head or body. And among them the gods were bad; they robbed, murdered and raped, while the people were good.

There are other historical sites spread across the city of Paphos, for example the early Christian basilica Chrysopolitissa with the Paul's Column (Saul's bump... the shape can give you non-Christian ideas), where the Apostle Paul was supposedly tied to The Roman governor had him given 40 lashes for spreading Christianity.

But it's hot, and your attention span is slowly approaching zero. Accordingly, the next mosaics, the quarry (there is a legend about a king's daughter and a giant) and the underground church of Agía Solomonís are ticked off with no motivation.

There was no program today, so I spent the morning swimming and reading and walked to nearby Polis for lunch with a fellow traveler.

The approach of simply running at random didn't work. It's already low season and some restaurants don't open until 5 p.m. Cypriots also seem to like pizza surprisingly, but we were both hungry for fish. A Google and TripAdvisor search led us to a nice fish restaurant in the town center. The daily menu included an 18-piece fish mezze menu for two people, so we didn't have to think twice about it. We sat there for a very, very long time and thoroughly enjoyed the delicious food - it just kept coming.

When we got back to the hotel after a quick stop at the supermarket, it was almost time for dinner again. That turned out to be very spartan, because we really weren't hungry anymore or not yet.

It was great to be out and about again without a fixed program and a large group. And maybe I've even found a travel partner for future trips. Japan and Antarctica are already being discussed as possible shared destinations. 😃

We left Northern Cyprus and there are still a lot of question marks about this country, which is actually not a country. Wikipedia describes the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus as a de facto regime. The state is not recognized by any other country except Turkey, even though 50,000 Russians now live there and there is a Russian embassy (The enormous boom in real estate transactions makes it increasingly illusory that the Greek Cypriots will at some point get their former homes back.). The north is also not part of the Republic of Cyprus, although its residents have both the passport of the Republic of Northern Cyprus and that of the south. Nor is Northern Cyprus part of Turkey, despite the 42,000 Turkish soldiers (out of 300-400,000 inhabitants).

Travel guides, the Internet and our tour guides (one from the Greek part, one from the Turkish part) tell different stories about the background of the division. This much seems clear:

• The roots of the division lie in the struggle for independence against Great Britain. After 800 years of foreign rule, this independence was achieved on paper in August 1960 through a treaty between Great Britain, Greece and Turkey. In fact, the influence of the three powers is still noticeable at every turn.
• The three protective powers Turkey, Greece and Great Britain played and continue to play an important role. What is striking, for example, is that I have already seen an enormous number of Greek flags in the southern part, but have not once consciously noticed the Cypriot flag.
• The division has no religious or cultural reasons, but political ones.
• The division is deliberately cemented by the protecting powers, for example by suppressing the Cypriot dialect and instead imposing Greek or Turkish as the language.
• Cypriots don't like to talk about this part of their history. There seems to be censorship and control.

What happened: after independence in 1960, there were tensions, unrest and attacks between Turkish and Greek Cypriots. The bloody Christmas of 1963 is infamous, when Greek Cypriot police officers carried out a massacre of Turkish Cypriot civilians. Afterwards, the two ethnic groups were largely separated and the capital was divided. The so-called Green Line still represents the border today. Dilapidated dead ends in Nicosia lead to a buffer zone, partly guarded by soldiers, behind which is 10 meters of no-man's land. The Green Line takes its name from the green pen with which the commander of the British troops drew a line on a map between the residential areas of the Turkish and Greek Cypriots, thus defining the buffer zone that was supposed to keep the two ethnic groups apart.

At that time, Cypriot President Makarios still advocated the goal of enosis, unity with Greece. This changed when there was a military coup in Greece in 1967. In 1974, officers of the Cypriot National Guard, supported by the Greek military junts, staged a coup against Makarios' government. This in turn provoked Turkey, which - citing its right to intervene as a guarantor power - invaded with 45,000 soldiers and occupied 37% of the island.

Speaking of Turkish Cypriots: according to our travel guide from the Republic of Cyprus, conversions from Christianity to Islam occurred, mostly for tax reasons. The Cypriots who converted to Islam were first referred to as Ottomans and then, since the 1960s, as Turks.

A little later our hike started. 13 km, 500 meters altitude, a fairytale pine forest and magnificent views towards the coast and hinterland.

Since this was the last day in Northern Cyprus, we had to say goodbye to our driver Dragon (a shame) and our bus (luckily). Tomorrow we go through Nicosia to the Republic of Cyprus. With that we leave the Dome Hotel, where I felt very comfortable. Finally, I quickly hopped into the sea again at dusk today. It has quite a few waves now, and with it the wonderful noise that I love to sleep to so well.

Outside the city on the coast, things get bizarre. Varósha, a suburb of Famagusta inhabited by non-Muslims, became a sophisticated mass tourism destination in the 1960s and 1970s. It was home to around 40,000 residents as well as numerous luxury hotels and apartments. In 1973 the town generated over 50% of the island's tourism income. Celebrities like Sofia Loren vacationed there.

When the Turkish military occupied it in 1974, the place was declared a restricted military area. And he still is today. Part of the complex has now been opened for tours, otherwise only Turkish and UN soldiers have access. The result is that the place is still uninhabited and completely dilapidated today.

Overall, I find it oppressive how often we come across consequences of the 1974 war and the division of the country on our journey. The presence of Turkish and UN military personnel is enormous, and we repeatedly drive past barracks and restricted military areas. Apparently normal for the residents now, but very unusual for us. After the majority of Greek Cypriots voted against reunification in the 2004 referendum, no one seems to have a really good idea for solving the Cyprus question. After all, the nine border crossings have been open since 2003.

The landscape often appears quite desolate. With 320 sunny days a year, water is naturally a problem. This is imported in the north via pipelines from Turkey. In terms of agriculture we mainly see olive and pomegranate trees. Most everyday items come from Turkey or England and are correspondingly expensive. The prices are roughly at the German level. How anyone makes ends meet on a Northern Cypriot income is a mystery to me.

Excavations began in 1890 and ended with the war in 1974. To date, only about 4% of the city has been excavated. These include, above all, the theater (smart-ass alert: it is only an amphitheater if it is round or oval; semicircular facilities are called theaters.) and the high school (originally not a school, but a sports facility. The term high school is derived from the Greek word gymnos - naked - because people trained naked. Literally translated, “Gymnasium” means naked place.) with its colonnades and thermal baths.

Balnea, vina, venus (baths, wine, love) was what it was called in Roman times and make up life. And you could swim very comfortably here. The Salamis high school had underfloor heating, the principles of which had been adopted from ancient Persia and Greece. The huge complex was roofed and richly lined with marble. The latter had the unpleasant side effect of making it quite cold in winter. Therefore, the seats on the latrines were allowed to be warmed up by slaves.

Incidentally, the latrines, which could accommodate up to 44 people, were the place where deals were concluded. The saying pecunia non olet (money doesn't stink) also comes from them. There was criticism when the Emperor Vespasian introduced a latrine tax. But he held the money he had collected in front of his critics and let them smell it - there was apparently nothing wrong with the tax.

First we visited the Monastery of St. Barnabas. Barnabas was one of the apostles of early Christianity and the national saint of Cyprus. The monastery named after him and his tomb are located near Famagusta.

The monastery is now an icon exhibition. On the one hand, icons were intended to convey the biblical stories to believers, some of whom could not read. On the other hand, the idea was that by looking at the icons one would develop feelings of love for the saints. It's hard for me to imagine the latter, given the old men looking sad, but as we all know, tastes differ.

Some saints have quite interesting stories. For example, if you are faced with an important decision, you can visit the image of Christ Pantocrator. If he smiles at you, it means “yes”. By the way, he smiled at me.

Then there is St. Mamas, the patron saint of tax evaders. According to a legend, he had to go to the governor because of non-payment of a tax. On the way there he observed a lion attacking a lamb. He saved the lamb and rode into the city on the lion with him in his arms. He was then granted tax exemption by the governor for the rest of his life.

The harbor of Kyrenia looks beautiful in the afternoon or evening light (which is unfortunately quite early, as the sun has long since disappeared behind the mountains at 4:30 p.m.).

We were invited by the Finnish owner of a house to look at the ground floor. It was a former olive mill that had been lovingly renovated and restored. And what is this likeable older lady doing who lives in a wonderful house on the sunny island of Cyprus? She is flying back to Finland in two weeks.

It's great how the Cypriots take care of dogs and cats. There are many initiatives that care for stray cats and dogs and many people who adopt animals. You can tell that too. There are homeless cats and dogs running around everywhere, looking very well-groomed and well-fed and extremely relaxed and peaceful.

At first it doesn't look good at all. The Turkish army is currently conducting a military exercise, which would mean that we are not allowed to enter the area. Normality in Northern Cyprus occupied by Turkey. But we're lucky: it's just a running exercise and not a shooting exercise.

We hike on barely recognizable paths through beautiful pine forests, surrounded by the spicy scent of pine and cistus. A bit of history along the way: Southern Cypriots hid from the Turkish army in the stone-enclosed hole for several days without food or water until they were able to escape to the south. We are very excited to find out more about the background and the consequences of the division of the island that can still be felt today in Nicosia.

Towards the end we explore the ruins of an Armenian monastery. We find remains of floor mosaics and an overgrown monastery garden with citrus trees. The mattresses in the buildings are probably not left behind by monks, but by instinct-driven teenagers.

We visited Bellapais. The abbey there dates back to the 14th century and dates back to the Crusaders, for whom Cyprus was an important stopover on the way to Jerusalem. Accordingly, the abbey bears the coat of arms of the kings of Cyprus as well as that of Jerusalem and the Lusignan family. The Lusignans were a western French noble family that took part in the Crusades and at times provided the king of Jerusalem. When the then King of Jerusalem, Guido of Lusignan, was captured by the Arabs and was no longer allowed to return to Jerusalem after his release, Richard the Lionheart sold him the rights to the recently conquered Kingdom of Cyprus. He had previously sold Cyprus to the Knights Templar, but they could not afford the purchase price and therefore had to withdraw from the purchase agreement.

Omnipresent in Cyprus is the pomegranate, which is currently in season. A hit visually and taste-wise, and it should be healthy to boot. Splendid!

First goal: where can I get a local SIM card? Our local guide is so nice and accompanies me (It's a young woman - how do you make “local guide” grammatically feminine?). Ultimately unsuccessful, but I'm very surprised at her tight, cropped, off-the-shoulder top. And out of respect for the culture, despite the heat, I dutifully put on long trousers and a T-shirt with sleeves.

Let's move on to buying water. To do this I have to work my way past a gigantic selection of alcohol and chocolate. The mainland Turks are hoarding in quantities like I last saw with toilet paper at the beginning of the Corona pandemic. The shops and the shopping baskets are packed (and no one but me is buying water).

There are exchange offices for Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. I suspect this, combined with the many casinos, is a symptom of the fact that Cyprus is the Mecca of money laundering.

Otherwise there are countless cell phone shops, lots of tempting restaurants and cafés (what a shame that I don't have a travel buddy to help me escape here), quite a lot of empty space and very run-down buildings. Also flags on top of flags, always nice in pairs: the Cypriot one on the right, the Turkish one on the left.

On the landing approach I was surprised that there were no colors other than beige and brown. A first look at the travel guide provides the explanation: The island enjoys 300 days of sunshine a year. So I say goodbye to my fantasy of lying on a meadow for four hours and look for a quiet bench in the bus parking lot.

... another one opens.

We are writing the final chapter of our little blog today, but if you'd like, you are more than welcome to follow our new Instagram account wir.sind.die.barks and leave some love.
In the past few weeks, our minds have been restless and ultimately, we took the leap to create a new account focused on the topics of family, freedom, and finances. Up until now, we only used Instagram privately and on a small scale, but that's about to change. The first Reel is already up and no, I'm not as tiny as it looks 🤣

We appreciate your loyalty and look forward to everyone who continues to accompany us on our journey.

THANK YOU!

Mackenzie Beach 🏖, we love it here, we feel comfortable here. For us, it's the perfect beach, because it has pretty much everything except peace, seclusion, romance, or silence. 😉 With kids, you have completely different priorities.

We drive here about ten minutes by car. Outside the season, you can park for free, otherwise you pay a moderate €2.50. We usually settle near the playground, very easy to find, because Mackenzie Beach is only one kilometer long.

Two sunbeds and an umbrella cost the same as everywhere on the island (as regulated by the government) €7.50. We rarely take advantage of this offer, we prefer to come with a picnic blanket and foldable beach chairs. We don't have shade, but right next to the playground, in front of one of the cafes, we always find a shady spot.

Mackenzie has public toilets, changing rooms, and showers (including foot showers or for toddlers 😅). We use them gladly, at least the kids don't have to shower again at home.

In addition to sun ☀️, beach 🏝, and sea 🌊, Mackenzie Beach also offers a great gastronomic landscape. There are true delicacies, for example at Rebuke; for the kids, there are Food Park City with an attached playground and the cafe South Coast with an indoor playground unbeatable.

All in all, a worry-free beach, clean, exciting, and always worth a visit!

According to the Cypriot proverb 'Learn a craft, even if you don't have to. And when you get hungry, practice it.', small workshops for locals and tourists have been taking place all over the island since the beginning of the month until the end of the year, aimed at teaching participants certain craft skills. Last week, I spontaneously took a day off and drove alone to the small village of Kato Drys to participate in a workshop where I made a doll. It was a wonderful experience, not so much the crafting itself, but I was the only participant and the English of the instructor was about as good as my barely existing Greek skills. 😜 So we communicated for an hour and a half with many gestures and lots of laughter until my little doll was finished. Kyriaki was so lovely, provided me with coffee and also tried to give me cookies and crackers with processed cheese slices 😳, which I politely declined. She runs a small gallery in Kato Drys where she paints and crafts.

Afterwards, I strolled through the village, which is really beautiful, and visited the Bee and Embroidery Museum. I also stocked up on local honey at the museum. 😋

The only restaurant in the village seems to have been recently demolished, so I had to go to Lefkara for lunch, where I was very well fed with Tavas, a traditional clay pot dish in the area, in which meat, rice, onions, tomatoes, thin potato slices, and spices are cooked together in the pot.

Full and happy from this wonderful trip, I started my journey back home.

If you are visiting the beautiful Mediterranean island for the first time, you should definitely visit a classic tavern to try the traditional meze or dishes like kleftiko and stifado. But today, I would like to introduce a different place, the Art Cafe 1900.

This ensemble of a bar on the ground floor and a restaurant on the upper floor is located in the heart of Larnaca, opposite the central post office. In addition to 90 beers 🍻 from around the world and over 140 different whiskies 🥃, you can enjoy traditional Cypriot cuisine in an incredibly exciting ambiance, and as the icing on the cake, you will be greeted by Marios and Maria, incredibly charming hosts.

As soon as you enter the small house, you don't know which direction to look first. Everywhere there is art, kitsch, trinkets, or memories. You immediately feel comfortable. When you arrive at the restaurant upstairs, it continues in the same way, and we were glad to be seated at a free table. Alone, we would probably have gotten lost in the colorful confusion.

Compared to the drink menu, the food menu is rather limited. In addition to the usual dishes, there are also 1-2 daily specials and soups that Maria explains to every newcomer in detail. Vegetarians will find something here, but there are certainly better places in Larnaca for plant-based food. Typical for the cuisine at Art Cafe are hearty dishes with thick sauces, served with potatoes, rice, and vegetables.

Anyway, we enjoyed our meal and couldn't resist having baklava with ice cream for dessert. Of course, accompanied by a Cyprus coffee sketo ☕️ (without sugar and without milk). In between, we explored the other dining rooms and immersed ourselves deep in this enchanting interior. The line between cult and kitsch is narrow, but this house is clearly classified on the warm and cult side. Experience it for yourself and come by! We will definitely plan our next visit so that we can stop by the bar on the ground floor after dinner.

Before I get into how we spent Green Monday (which fell on March 7th this year) in Cyprus, I have to go back a little further, to February 24th. This day is also known as Tsiknopempti, which literally means 'Thursday of the smoke of grilled meat'. It is not a public holiday, but families and friends gather to indulge in the love of meat 🥩 🍖. In many places, the grill is fired up, and while the carnivores celebrate and feast, vegetarians and vegans definitely hide in their homes. It's a last hurrah before the Green Monday or Clean Monday or Ash Monday marks the beginning of the 50-day fasting period until Easter. On this day and throughout the fasting period, Greek Orthodox Christians completely abstain from meat, eggs, and dairy products. Instead, plenty of vegetables are served. Seafood 🦐🦑🐙 is also allowed, and one thing is indispensable: lagana, the fasting bread, not unlike flatbread.

Additionally, colorful kites 🪁 are often flown with and for children on Green Monday. We also saw some kites on this day.

Since we emigrated without extended family, we joined forces with two other families and booked 10 spots for the Green Monday buffet at one of Cyprus' many farms. We were at the farm Agroktima Agios Georgios, which we had already visited when it was closed. This time, it was the full package: a festival tent, fasting food, live music - it was beautiful. The children had plenty of space and opportunities to let off steam on the playground, and before dinner, we even paid a visit to the donkeys.

Eating with 5 toddlers at the table is not really relaxing, but it worked out much better than expected. Henry and Jona were by far the pickiest eaters at the table. 🙈 Or maybe they wanted to really fast. I don't think they tried more than bread, potatoes, cucumber, apple, and nuts. On the other hand, the almost 5-year-old twin girls from our neighbors eat pretty much anything you put in front of them - I hope we'll get there too.

One particularly exciting thing, because it was completely new to me, was making Cyprus Coffee ☕️ on hot sand. It's super quick because the sand heats up quickly and stays hot for a long time, making it perfect for such festivities where everyone prepares coffee for themselves and their table neighbors. Learned something new again!

It has become quiet on our blog. This is mainly because we have settled in after three quarters of a year and don't experience too many exciting things anymore. Nevertheless, I have been asked more and more often when there will be another blog entry. After thinking about it for a while, I have considered whether and how things can continue here. The good news: It continues! What you have to live with: More insights into our everyday life! 😉

Last weekend we went to Nicosia, the capital of Cyprus, more specifically to the suburb of Strovolos. Our destination: The Extreme Park, supposedly a playground for children! On site, we got a bit disappointed: The outdoor area, which we would have liked to visit the most, is still closed until May. Oh well, for the Cypriots, 18°C outside temperature is the depths of winter. 🤦‍♀️ So we had to settle for the two indoor levels. We headed for the underwater world and luckily the kids were immediately excited. Shoes off and into the hustle and bustle. They weren't seen for a long time after that. 😅

The underwater world is really nicely designed and even crawling children have something to discover. Besides a large pirate ship, a football field, and a 'ball pit' without balls, but with huge Lego bricks, the highlight is probably the 'climbing frame' with all sorts of extras that I can't list in detail because I would have had to venture into this huge box. I only know that the kids had a blast here for three hours and already said on the way to the car that they want to come again tomorrow. 😆

The gastronomic offer is focused on fast food. It didn't look bad, but we stuck to coffee and water.

And I only quickly looked at level 2 and then decided that we would rather stay one floor below. There was another climbing frame, a black light mini golf course, soft paintball, and a small bowling alley. It looked good, but it's probably more suitable for older children.

We will definitely come back, but only when the outdoor area with the trampoline system is also open.

Hello!

I know, the whole world is learning Greek right now, but for us it goes far beyond Alpha (Α,α), Delta (Δ,δ), and Omicron (Ο,ο)! And here's a smarty-pants comment on how to pronounce Delta, which is THELTA (the 'th' like in 'think' in English). 😜

Once a week, we hit the books for two hours and it feels really good. At first, you may feel overwhelmed by so much new input, but here too, it's worth sticking with it.

The Greek alphabet is quite challenging. It only has 24 letters, but besides 2 'o's, it has a whole 5 'i's (I guess the Greeks could just do with one 🤣). In addition, there are several letter combinations - all in all, more complex than the German ABC. However, the definite articles are not as arbitrary as in German. By simply looking at the word ending, you can easily determine the gender of a noun (of course there are exceptions - logically).

We don't have high expectations of ourselves. In general, we want to be able to engage in small talk and somehow keep up with the children who are also learning Greek. Although the two of them can only count confidently up to 10 (and we can count up to 100 🤫), in six months they will surely surpass us.

One tricky aspect is the fact that our language teacher is Belarusian and we are learning Greek in English, although her English is not as advanced as her Greek. The teaching material is also partly Greek-Russian, which sometimes raises a lot of questions for us 🤔. To support ourselves, we have also obtained a Greek-Greek A1 textbook, we learn with the Duolingo and Mondly learning apps, and occasionally watch the great YouTube videos from GriechischohneGrenzen.

Wow, what a week! So exciting, varied, thrilling, emotional, alcoholic, brilliant, controversial, lively, complex, refreshing, delicious, colorful, entertaining, fantastic, nostalgic... oh, where does it end?!

The best friend came from Norway and stayed with us for a whole week. We had many plans in advance and I have to praise us because we planned as it is appropriate for our age (*cough*) and the accompanying condition and actually realized most of it. We were:

* at the Camel Park

* at the Spa (oh, that was good)

* extracting salt from the Salt Lake (I made an awesome body scrub out of it)

* in Lefkara (there will be a separate blog post about it, because this picturesque village impressed me sustainably)

* at an olive plantation

* in Larnaca (of course), specifically: at the fort, at the city beaches Finikoudes, Mackenzie and Dhekelia, and at the pottery Emira Pottery

* at the botanical garden

* in the (!) sea

* watching flamingos at Lake Oroklini

* in the Byzantine church Panagia Angeloktisti in Kiti

* at the Golden Donkey Farm

* in the small fishing village Zygi

* in Kellia (why didn't I list this place in the blog article about the farms?)

* and, of course, in cafés, restaurants, and (souvenir) shops.

I'm only reporting a little bit about places that haven't been mentioned in the blog yet. First, there are the Salt Lakes of Larnaca, which have various legends. I like this one the best: On his escape from Bethany, St. Lazarus passed through Larnaca, where there used to be a large vineyard. He asked the owner of the vineyard for some wine to quench his thirst, but she refused, claiming that there was no wine here and that the basket she carried with her contained only salt, not grapes. St. Lazarus was angry about this audacious lie and as a punishment, he turned the vineyard into salt lakes.

Of course, there is also a scientific theory about the formation of the lakes, but it is nowhere near as entertaining.

Visiting the Salt Lake reminded me of the frozen Alster a few years ago, only this time I stood on the ice... uh, sand, in shorts and sandals. By the way, as soon as the lakes fill up with water in winter, you can also find flamingos here. However, we were able to see them in Lake Oroklini.

Our visit to Terra Oliva, the olive plantation, was spontaneous. We were the only guests (of course, it's off-season) and the owner took exclusive time for us, explained something about her grove and her products, and then invited us to taste various olive oils, olives, tapenades, and sweets with olives. We also stocked up on some things, even though we already suspected that the prices here are overpriced. But the lady was so nice (sales genius) and really provided us with something. I would recommend a visit here to anyone who wants to experience a piece of Cypriot culture, but keep your money together.

We visited Cyherbia, the botanical garden, in the middle of the week, just to take a breath, slow down a bit, and it actually turned out to be the best destination for that. First, we strolled through the main facility, which is built like the island of Cyprus, and as you walk from city to city, you pass the typical trees, bushes, and flowers of the island. Many things are labeled, so you don't have to be a botany professional or have your smartphone constantly ready for checking. Visitors are expressly encouraged to pick plants, but in as small amounts as possible, just for smelling them.

Then we went through the labyrinth and, miraculously, we found the exit without taking big detours and without orienting ourselves from above.

The third and final tour led through the herb garden, where there was once again plenty to explore and sniff. Finally, we were served iced tea in the café (included in the entrance fee) and browsed through the shop for a while.

In Zygi, there was a beautiful little fishermen's harbor and the most expensive fish we have ever had, which didn't impress us much in terms of taste. However, the octopus was even more delicious!

And now? By now, we have recovered from this fantastic week. Recovered is a good word because even though Ulli's visit was so wonderful, all the driving was pretty exhausting. And in the afternoons, the kids naturally demanded the same attention as always. Now we're facing the next challenges: 3rd birthday and Christmas! We already have some Christmas decorations, even though the Cypriots don't know what to do with the Advent season. Besides, it's supposed to go up to 26°C again next week - the Christmas mood doesn't really come up. But hey, thanks to LIDL, we already have a Dresdner Christstollen and a kit for a gingerbread house. Fortunately, the living room is big enough for a tree, and we will make the tree ornaments out of salt dough ourselves in the coming weeks (at least that's the plan). At this point, I would like to wish everyone who has read this far a lovely and contemplative pre-Christmas season!

The pictures really speak for themselves, but since I immediately fell in love with the small village of Lefkara, it's worth taking the time to write a few lines about our visit there.

When visiting Lefkara for the first time, you will come across the different names Pano Lefkara and Kato Lefkara. Pano means 'the upper' and Kato consequently means 'the lower', because due to its special location at the foot of the Troodos mountains, Lefkara is divided into two parts.

Lefkara is world famous for its handmade lace and delicate silverwork. It is even said that Leonardo da Vinci once visited the village and acquired an embroidered cloth.

And this is what our day looked like:

* an authentic Cypriot breakfast at Stafilaris (the best of its kind so far and an incredibly beautiful atmosphere - you couldn't have a better breakfast)

* a visit to the Museum of Traditional Embroidery and Silverwork (a must for the first trip to Lefkara, admission is free)

* a tour of the Timios Stavros Church (you can do it, but you don't have to)

* a stroll through the many small, but beautiful streets of Lefkara

Attention: There is a risk of being chatted up and 'seduced' to buy their goods by the embroidery ladies (as I would like to affectionately call them). During our visit in the off season, it was bearable, but I can imagine that in summer, when hordes of tourists come here, they will be fighting for every buyer.

So far, Lefkara is the most beautiful spot in Cyprus for me, so green, so full of flowers and blossoms, so idyllic, so picturesque. And luckily only a half hour drive away...

Recently, I dedicated our visit to the Riverland Bio Farm in a blog post (https://www.vacationio.com/course-southeast/visit-bio-farm), and now we are talking about family trips and farms again. Sustainable tourism has been subsidized by the government in Cyprus for some time now, so there are small parks and farms all over the island that can be visited anytime or on certain days/at certain times. Admission is often not even required. This suits us very well, because animals are wonderful for children, being outdoors is great anyway, and there are usually playgrounds on the farms as well. Here is a little overview of our discoveries in recent weeks:

The Antelia Bee Park (https://www.facebook.com/Antelia-Bee-Park-272849124552907) recently opened and unfortunately we were a bit early with our visit. We could take a short walk and the boys could have fun on the new playground. We could also enjoy a frappé, but that's about it.

As the name suggests, everything revolves around bees. A small museum is supposed to show the entire process from pollination to honey production. In addition to honey, there are also other products such as wax and propolis available for purchase, and so on.

Not far from the Antelia Bee Park is the Achna Lake Donkey and Animal Farm (https://www.facebook.com/Achna-Lake-Donkey-Park-135487873310382/), a beautiful and well-maintained facility that is home to many donkeys, as well as other animals such as pot-bellied pigs, goats, and ostriches. There is a restaurant from where you have a great view of the Achna Reservoir. A small playground completes the visit. We were treated incredibly friendly here. Since it is already off-season, the shop was closed and the cleaning lady did not bring water bottles that we would have liked to buy. She kindly brought us water and lemonade in carafes, which we enjoyed in the shade of a tall tree.

Then we made a short stop at the Agroktima Agios Georgios (https://www.facebook.com/Agroktima-Agios-Georgios-1695741924047010/) farm. Short because it was not apparent online that the restaurant was completely closed and the only worker we saw was not inclined to stop working, namely to use his leaf blower on the really nice, shady playground. So we just took a short stroll around the premises and looked at the small animals. We didn't find the donkeys.

The Golden Donkey Farm (https://www.facebook.com/goldendonkeys/), which is also located in Skarinou like Agroktima Agios Georgios, is no longer a secret tip. A small entrance fee is required here. The main attraction is the donkeys, but there are also other animals to see. There is a restaurant and two small playgrounds. The shop offers really nice souvenirs to buy, such as beauty products or chocolate with donkey milk. I really like the museum, which is spread throughout the entire property. It shows the rural life of the past, the tools used, and the daily life of the rural population.

At the Petrides Farm (https://www.facebook.com/petridesfarmpark), animals play a role, but play and fun are clearly the focus. In addition to two huge playgrounds, you can go karting here, play Gelly Ball (like paintball, but with softer balls), there are several sports fields for football and basketball, and recently on Family Day, even the little ones could ride inflatable boats in a large pool. There are many seating areas distributed throughout the entire premises, food and drinks of course, so you can easily spend a whole day here. And of course, there are animals to see here as well.

We think it's great how much Cyprus thinks of the children. At the same time, it is benefiting the animals on the island, as few farms could probably survive without also benefiting from tourism.

by Timo

First things first: Schnitzelcoma is probably called Kleftiko-coma here! 😉

Right on Finikoudes Beach there is a very traditional tavern, with a correspondingly manageable menu, where food is cooked like at home with mom. It is amazing and really nice to find something like this right on the tourist promenade. We have been there for lunch twice now and have had to order Kleftiko each time. This is a popular Cypriot dish of Greek origin with a long history.

The Klefts were freedom fighters during the time of Ottoman rule. They preferentially stole cattle from their opponents and cooked the meat in pits to avoid drawing attention with rising smoke. Today the dish is prepared in the traditional white clay ovens, which can be found everywhere here. The tavern has two of these massive ovens.

On each of our visits, there were surprisingly many locals, which is a good sign as everyone knows. The first time we ordered a big salad and a portion of Kleftiko to share, which was a good idea. When it was served, we were surprised by the simplicity. There was a big piece of meat and a few large potatoes on the plate. That's it! No decoration, hardly any sauce. The taste was wonderful and something like this is probably only achieved through hours of cooking. The meat could be easily cut with a spoon and the potatoes were cooked in the meat juice. Add the salad and some bread, delightful! After the first visit, I was a little comatose, which may have been due to the over 30°C and the large beer.

The taste had convinced us so much that we recently went there a second time and made the mistake of ordering two main courses plus Pilaf (a rice or bulgur side dish). The second dish was a Stifado, a type of stew or goulash, so again a lot of meat, but this time with sauce and plenty of onions. It was also delicious, slightly sour and with a wonderfully seasoned cinnamon note.

After this tavern excursion, I was completely comatose for the rest of the day. I think we skipped dinner. Next time, there will be a lighter dish for lunch.

What's new?:

We were able to test the doctors in Cyprus 🥼 and were pleasantly surprised. Many of them speak or understand German because they studied there. Appointments are usually made promptly, and the pediatrician even has weekend hours. 🤗 Lab results can be viewed online, as the Cypriots are ahead in terms of digitization.

We have finally gotten rid of the last pacifier 💪 The pacifier fairy took it for a little baby and left a car as a gift. 😉

In addition to soccer ⚽️, tennis 🎾, and children's dance 👯‍♀️, the children now also have yoga 🧘 and boxing 🥊 at the daycare center, pictures will be available next time. We also have a weekly swimming course with us parents, which we really enjoy. 🏊‍♀️

Last Friday, Independence Day was celebrated in Cyprus (the end of being a British colony), and we took advantage of the day off to visit the Riverland Organic Farm (https://riverlandbiofarm.com) with a friend's family. We started our visit with a classic breakfast 🫓 🍅 🥒 🧀 🥚 supplemented with snacks we brought along. The children could play extensively and then we visited the many small and large animals. We even got to watch the goats 🐐 being milked. The children had the most fun feeding the sheep.

In the early afternoon, we left (by then the farm was bustling) and the children slept the entire way back thanks to many hours of fresh air. Wonderful! 🤗