Journey to Paphos

This weekend we booked a trip to Paphos, which is on the southwestern coast of Cyprus. It is the furthest point from Nicosia I think but it only takes a few hours to get there. We took a service taxi, so it took a little bit longer than it normally would to drive straight there because we stopped in Limassol and had to change taxis. The whole ride cost us each 20 Euros, so that wasn't too bad. We got to the hotel at around 6:30 on Friday evening, and we had to call the hotel worker to come to the hotel and let us in, because they don't work nights since it is off season! The hotel was very beautiful with a pool in the center. It sat up on a hill and it overlooked the ocean. We were at a point where we could see the water in two directions, because the coast is rounded kind of (I guess you could say!). We each had our own twin sized bed in the hotel room. Two beds were in the living room and two were in a separate bedroom. We even had a kitchen : ) We got all of that for 2 nights for a total of 20 Euros each! For such a nice hotel and location we all felt like that was a great deal! When we got there we were starving, so we walked to a Greek tavern that was located right next to our hotel. We originally went there just for the food, but it turned out that they have live music on Fridays. The music was a guy who sang all kinds of American songs that pretty much everyone likes, so it was great! Again, it's off season so the only food they served was lamb and "chips" which are actually french fries. That worked out fine though because it was absolutely delicious! I love lamb. We had ice cream for dessert and they put sparklers in all of our cups! The workers LOVED us. They always walked to our table and yelled "AMERICA!!!" and everyone cheered. Everyone else in the restaurant as older and there was a big group that came to Cyprus for vacation from Ireland. During one of the songs the singer (of course) picked me out and made me dance with one of the old Irish men. It was fun and everyone had a great time. Lauren got up and sang Mr. Jones, beacuse the singer didn't know all
of the words! After dinner the bartenders kept trying to convince us to stay, I guess in hopes that we would dance and liven the place up. We ended up dancing there until 2:3o a.m well after the singer was done. We learned how to Greek dance and all kinds of traditional stuff like that (haha). The workers there were having so much fun with us and didn't want us to leave. We were the very last ones to leave! The next day we got up and headed to the beach. It was absolutely beautiful! We layed out on a little beach and we even jumped into the water! It as cold but we swam for a little bit. We were so excited to be swimming and sunning on Valentines Day in FEBRUARY! We went to a restaurant nearby for lunch and got some pizza for a reasonable cost. Around 5 p.m. the sun started to set and it's absolutely beautiful. It sets right over the ocean. Later on Kelley and Dezi went to the store and got us some stuff to make for dinner since we had a kitchen in the hotel. We cooked some pasta and garlic bread and had some champagne for dinner since it was Valentines Day : ). That night we went out to a place called the Robin Hood Castle! It was very exciting because it actually looked like a castle. Again, they played all the same music that you'd hear at an American place. There was a little dancefloor and again, we went to dance! After that we headed to the karaoke place! Lauren and Martin sang "summer love" the Greece song and it was so funny. Kell and Dezi sang some songs too, I think N Sync was one of them. The next day we got up and had to check out of our hotel at 12. It was a little bit chilly on Sunday, so we couldnt really hang out on the beach. We went to the same restaurant again and I got a chicken sandwich. The food was pretty good there. Afterwards, we went into one of the resorts by the beach and it was SO incredibly nice. It was huge and it had a pool with a swim up bar and huge windows overlooking the water and the sunset. What a nice place to stay during the summer! (hint hint ; ). Later on we met Martin's mom and she was really nice. Finally Martin was ready to go and he drove us home. We stopped at McDonalds for dinner and I had a Big Mac : ) What a great weekend! Also, we took a cute little pics of our stuffed animals from our boys. We left them at home for the weekend but they were in good company!

Kyrenia and Larnaca

This weekend we traveled to Kyrenia which is in Northern Cyprus with GLS. We rode in a big charter bus across the border and had to stop at the U.N. buffer zone to show our passports. Since the Turkish Rebublic of Cyprus is not a real country, the process of getting in is pretty laid back. Our program coordinators collected our passports and showed them. We didn't even have to get out! We weren't allowed to take pictures in the buffer zone, but a bunch of people were taking them anyway, of the guys that patrol the area. Eventually, the soldiers ran on to the bus and made everyone delete their pictures! Finally we got to drive into the Turkish side of Cyprus and toward the Kyrenia mountains, where our first stop was at the St. Hillarian Castle. It was built all the way at the very top of the mountain sometime during the 11th century, and overlooks the town of Kyrenia and the Mediterranean Sea. It was so exciting to see a real castle! The ride to the top of the mountain in the bus was very scarey though, because the rodes were SO windy and there weren't any railings. Next we traveled down the mountains and toward the town to the Bellapais Abbey which is a 12th century monastery. The architecture and landscape is beautiful, and the water can be seen from the building. Unfortunately, it has not been in use since the Muslim Turks took over in 1974. The Catholic Church serves no purpose on this side of the island, so it is only used for the sake of tourists. We made one final stop at the harbor, where the Castle of Kyrenia sits along side of the Mediterranean Sea. The Castle was built in the 7th century to protect the town! It even used to have a moat!! The harbor is beautiful and we all agreed that it felt like a scene from Disney World but it was real! We ate lunch at a table outside that overlooks the sea. The food wasn't too grat and of course it was overpriced, but it was so cute that we didn't care. We had a great day.

On sunday we decided to go to the beach at Larnaca, even though it was a little bit overcast. We just wanted to see the beach, so Martin drove us there and we bought him dinner in return! It was a little bit less than an hour drive. It is very cute there with a street just for people to walk down (sort of like a boardwalk but nicer). We went in to a couple shops and I bought a little souvenir plate. All 4 of us were SO excited to see the beach and stick our feet in. The water was warm enough that we could get used to it after a couple minutes of walking around. People there probably thought that we were crazy, but we didn't care because we were so excited to feel the Mediterranean Sea. After that we ate at TGI Fridays, which was a little bit overpriced, but the food was pretty similar to home! I got a chicken strip BLT and it was great.

We also celebrated the birthday of one of the girls from our program this past weekend. Nearly 30 of the students from GLS went out to dinner in the old city, downtown Nicosia. Everyone ordered the Cyprus traditional Mezze, which is a multiple course meal with tons of food. They just keep bringing out more and more food and everyone shares a plate of whatever they bring. It usually starts out wiht salad, bread, olives, beats, and some dip. Then we were served a variety of meats, including lamb and pork. Then came the french fries (which they call chips). We also got chicken, rice, ravioli, houlumi cheese, and probably more food that I just can't remember! Haha. We did not go home hungry that night. We got all of that food for 15 Euros! We had a great time : )

Weekend Fun!

Friday night the we walked to Zorbas, which is a bakery down the street. They make all kinds of doughnuts cakes and great treats, and the best part is that it is a 24 hour bakery!. They also have some hot foods like ham and cheese, pizza, and chicken! We went there for dinner and got pizza. Afterwards the my roommates and I got dressed up and went out to Bling again. It is such a fun club with lots of dancing. Again, no one goes out before around 12:30, so it's a little bit hard to stay up so late, but we have fun. I guess that is just normal here. I hear that in Spain they don't go out until 1 and stay out until 6 a.m.!

On Saturday we decided that we were all very hungry for American food, so we headed to Bennigan's which is conveniently located about a 15 minute walk away. We were so excited when we got there to order some food like we are used to! We ordered mozzerella stix and nachos as appetizers and were only slightly disappointed when they brought out a teeny tiny plate, but we were still eager for our burgers. Unfortuntaely they were the worst burgers that any of us have ever eaten in our lives and they were so gross that we couldn't even finish them! Luckily the dessert saved the meal. I ordered a banana and cheesecake milkshake and it was absolutely fantastic and only 3 Euros! Even tho the food was not so great we still had a fun time going out together. There was a soccer game on and everyone was SO excited about it. We are planning on getting tickets to a "football" game sometime in the near future.

^That white flag with the "C" in the mountains is the Turkish flag.

On Sunday we decided to explore a little bit more of Nicosia. A group of us took a walk around the neighborhood. It is very beautiful here. All of the houses are gorgeous, and I don't think that they are houses that you'd see in an ordinary town in the U.S. I haven't found out exactly what these people do for a living yet but they must have a pretty decent income to live in these houses! We walked up a hill and we had a very good view of the Turkish side of Cyprus. They have a huge flag on the mountain that is easy to spot from the Greek side. I guess they really made their mark over there. Later on that night we hung around the apartment waiting for 1:30 a.m. to roll around so that we could watch the superbowl.

We headed to a bar that is located a few blocks away from our apartment to watch it. There were a bunch of Americans from our program there to watch. For some reason it seemed like everyone was routing for Arizona, but there were a bunch of us from Pittsburgh cheering for the Steelers! I stayed awake for the first half and for the halftime performance, but i headed home after that so I was in bed by around 3:30.

Today we discovered the roof of the apartment across the street! It's great. the stairs lead right up to it, and it is a fantastic place to lay out and get a tan. I will probably be spending many of my afternoons up there from now on. The locals think we are crazy. They still walk around with their hats, scarves, winter coats, and tall boots. We think they are insane for not enjoying this warm weather more. It's hard to believe that they think that 68 degrees and perfect sun is cold wintery weather. They should try moving to PA for a week!