Last year was pretty easy when it came to finding out how to spend my winter. I just set the AirBnB app to filter on cheap houses all to myself and boom, plenty showed up. This year it was slim pickings. I have been storing up my credit card earned frequent flyer miles over the years because of covid and the general annoyance of flying anymore so I have just enough for a good long leg cramping flight. I looked around to see the furthest I could get with the least amount of miles. I ended up with a good deal to Cyprus. Not a country I know much about other than there were some troubles in the 70’s. I went on to learn absolutely nothing beyond that. Opting to let ignorance guide my stay. An added bonus was that it would also be off season so I was expecting fewer crowds and a cheap stay.
Departure morning, I dropped off the car, walked the mile to the commuter train. Bought a ticket for the train out of the vending machine and received nothing back. No ticket, no change and especially not my initial investment. Instead of giving Dallas Transit any more of my money I decided to just risk it and ride without a ticket. Its a big fine too. As with most of the trains and buses now, no one is checking and I made it without a problem.
As soon as I got to the check-in counter. I realized that the cheap coat I had bought as a throw away in case it was a warm winter was still in the car. Just as well. I might have tossed it anyway after the warm weather I have had so far. I had a few hours to kill so just roamed the airport. I ate at McDonald’s to give my arteries a litte top off before any healthy Mediterranean food flushed out the years of cholesterol I have been saving up.
I did some duty free price checking. I think it’s a bit of a scam but never actually did the research. I’ll report my findings after I get some more data.
The rest of the flights were just sleepless boredom and hours of terminal wandering that I don’t care to relive here.
It was late when my plane landed at Cyprus’ main airport in Larnaca. Passport control was easy and I found myself on the sidewalk in no time. I ended up sharing a cab into town with an English couple. They knew as little of the town as I did. The taxi drivers borrowed our phones to use our Google maps to get to our respective places for 20 Euro for each stop. A lot for a 5 mile ride I think.
I got let off last in front of some undistinguished stucco’d concrete buildings, climbed to the 4th floor of 2 of them before the third one was the charm. Found my bed and used it.
After 36 hours of travel, I was happy to just sit for a bit. My accommodation was kind of shared housing. Separate sleeping rooms but shared kitchen and bath. I think there was one other person there but I never saw him/her. I had no real food since McDonalds in Dallas and the Chicken-ish pasta somewhere over New Foundland so I was starving. There was no place for sitting there either so off I went. My place was a bit outside of the resort zone and had to walk a ways to get some breakfast. Ended up at McDonalds which I was very happy about. A couple egg McMuffins and an Americano coffee (no drip here) and I was off. I ended up just walking and walking. The resort part of Larnaca drops off pretty quickly a few streets from the beach. A ton of auto repair and sundrie shops. The sun had baked the stucco of the concrete block buildings so it looked a little rough around the edges.
The beachfront party places probably thumps in the summer but now was just a quiet buzz of people hoping for a few more days of sun before heading into their bleak winter months. Lots of older English folks it seemed.
link to my Larnaca photos on google
Nicosia or Lefcosia. I havent figured out what the deal is with two names yet. I have always known it as Nicosia so will stick with that. I remember Nicosia being in the news when I was a kid because of a brutal Civil War. They have patched things up a bit. Mostly by putting up a wall. I crossed over to the turkish side with just a passport inspection, walked around a bit but nothing really to see. The cyprus side of the wall is just a big-ish city with a lot of coffee shops and the requisite pedestrian shopping area so not much going on there either. I don’t know if its the roads, tires, bad engines or all three but it is loud with road noise. My AirBnB was nice but impossibly loud for sleeping. There was also the duchebag motorcycle rider running up and down the street after midnight each night.
link to my Nicosia photos on Google
Yerevan Armenia is the biggest city in Armenia by far. I can say this from experience because I walked a good bit of it in my short few days there. I cant say its a pretty city really. Mostly everything is big and gray in the way of the 1960’s soviet architecture. There are lots of parks and outdoor art that helps to cut the harshness. Since the russians left power, if not spirit, a few more modern looking buildings stand out. It was a hard place to relax in. A good bit of traffic to dodge. Not as much honking as I was expecting with the way they drive. The really gard part is the language. It has no relation to the latin based alphabet of the west. Except for its use of the letter u. A good bit of its alphabet is mostly u spun in different directions with little windings hanging off it to make different letters.
I did break down and pay for a day long driving tour around the sites outside of town. I think it was worth the $150. It was so much a tour as a look-see. The driver only spoke Russian.
I did find a coat for the rest of the trip. More expensive than the one keeping my car warm in Texas but I use it everyday now. Here are some pics from Yerevan….
link to my Yerevan Armenia photos on google
Armenia is a land locked country with neighbor issues. Sevan, Armenia is a lake side resort town about 40 miles out of Yerevan. It an easy place to get to without the pesky border issues. It is their big summer get away and the tourist brochures advertise it as a paradise. I like visiting resort towns in their off season. Besides the fact that I am cheap, its just the locals without all the people you went on vacation to get away from. I am going to give it a few points for it being way off season, windy and cold but I didn’t get it. I guess it would be pretty sweet if I was taking a break from the gulag but I don’t see why people would leave the comforts of home for it.
link to my Sevan, Armenia photos on google
As this post is a little More than a long winded photo album and not much more interesting than a google search, I figured I woud leave you with a little humor. I first read this 50 or so years ago on a typed out on a piece of paper that got passed around extended family members. It came to mind while walking through an Armenian Mall where the restroom was identified by the words W.C. on the door. Some days I cant remember my phone number but this got stored away for future retrieval. Strange what brain cells 40 years of beer drinking wont kill.
link to external site with fun little story
It has been a battle with my fat fingers and limited internet access to but these blogs together so to save time and my allotted websited storage, With a few exceptions, I’ll be using my google drive for photos and put links on my IG-ish page my IG-ish page as I go.
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