1) getting some Christmas cheer
2) walking in the mountains
3) taking a break from Israeli politics
...and instead sampling Cypriot politics. Nicosia is the only divided capital in Europe. Since 1974 Nicosia (and the island) has been divided by a green line that separates the "occupied" (Turkish) north from the south.
Christmas Cheer
When you live in a Jewish country where the largest minority is Muslim, Christmas isn't really on the calendar. The upside of this is that you are not constantly bombarded by Christmas advertising -- buy this for your mom, that for your dad, decorate your house with this bauble, listen to this music, etc. The downside is that December creeps up on you and it's hard to find any of the trappings of the holiday season. So, imagine my delight (and my travel buddy, Theresa's) when, on Friday morning, we found Christmas in downtown Nicosia: festive street lights, Christmas trees, and Christmas songs (even Anne Murray!). "Squees" of delight! |
| A Christmas Tree! |
Our delight was somewhat subdued when we looked more closely around downtown Nicosia, both inside and outside the Old City. The recession gripping the EU is evident here. Many storefronts are now empty with "to let" signs in them. This is true on the north, Turkish, side of town too. The economy is constricting here; the retailers are really feeling it.
Walking in the Mountains
Saturday we rented a car and headed up to the Troodos mountains. We took a winding secondary (actually it might be tertiary E908) road up into the hills through villages where not much looked to be going on. |
| The Roadmap of the Troodos Mtn Region |
 |
| The Kia I drove |
We stopped in one village for what we were told was "the best coffee in Cyprus". It was good coffee, not sure if it was the best the island had to offer, but it definitely was the best price to value coffee we had all weekend. Cypriot coffee is the sweetened, boiled variety that leaves a layer of sludge at the bottom of your cup; it's really similar to Turkish coffee or coffee you'd find in the Arabic world, although it didn't have any cardamom in it. Still, yum.
There are fantastic roadsigns in Cyprus:
 |
| Legacy of the Brits: "Mind" |
 |
| I'm not sure what to make of this one! |
And, frequently signs that say "CAUTION: Drive on the LEFT". Sadly I don't have one of those to share.
The walking-hiking in the mountains was fabulous on Sunday. We walked to the Kaledonia Falls that are nestled into a deciduous forest, then over the shoulder of another hill (does 1700m above sea level count as a mountain?) into a pine forest.
 |
| The Kaledonia Waterfall |
 |
| with a rainbow! |
This was something like going from Manning Park to Penticton in about 5 minutes on foot. Gratefully we had clear skies and some sun; much of the rest of the weekend it's been raining off and on. Our hike took us near the Troodos ski resort (this is really more of a bunny hill) and Cyprus's Mount Olympus (not Zeus's Mount Olympus - that's in Greece) on the Persephone trail.
 |
| Pine trees -- with cones that look like perched birds |
 |
| View south from our hike - Pano Platres village and the Med Sea beyond |
Climate change update: Locals reported that snow skiing in the Troodos mountains is not what it once was. Winters are warmer and sometimes there isn't enough snow to ski on. Apparently, Israelis used to come quite regularly (it's a 45 minute flight) to ski here; now they mostly come to have a civil marriage. (A complication of life in Israel: you may be Jewish enough to make aliyah (immigrate), but you may not be Jewish enough to be married by a rabbi.) Marriage tourism is a major industry in Cyprus.
Taking a break from Israeli politics
Okay, not really. Israeli politics aren't like Canadian politics which nobody outside of Canada follows so that when you leave Canada you can leave the politics mostly behind (if you wish). You can't really escape Israeli politics. Especially not on the weekend that Hamas celebrated its 25th anniversary with a massive rally in Gaza. But, it is nice to take a break from Jerusalem. And, even though I'm no more Cypriot than I am Israeli, and Cyprus is more European and less American than Israel, in a way there is something more familiar about Cyprus. In a way I feel like less of an outsider here. Maybe that's not all of Israel, maybe it's just Jerusalem.Last night we had dinner with Cypriot friends of Theresa's.
 |
| After dinner |
They told us elections are coming up in February and the biggest issue is the bailout that Cyprus is negotiating with the EU. When I asked our hosts what other issues were of relevance, e.g. health, education, environment? they said, "Has no one told you that Cyprus is an island of idiots? No one cares about anything more than having enough money to buy their daily coffee." Um, okay, I had noticed that you can pay 4 Euros for a coffee in town, but still... They went on to say that since joining the EU in 2004 life in Cyprus has changed tremendously. In some ways it is better for younger people, they've got much greater opportunity to participate in European life, to travel and accumulate wealth. The downside is that prices have gone way up and Cyprus has lost much of its culture. When I asked what characterized Cypriot culture, our hosts replied, "good question."[ed. note: so it's not only Canadians who struggle to define their culture.]
Back to Jerusalem tonight. I'll update this post with pictures as soon as I can.
Epilogue: The taxi driver (who works for Theresa's friend's company) drove me to the airport on Monday night. He took the long route through Larnaca, the busy beach town on the south coast. It was Monday night, but it was desperately quiet downtown. Open cafes were empty, or had one busy table. While we drove I asked Nassos about the occupation of Cyprus and its membership in the EU. He told me he's a Greek Cypriot that grew up in a village in the North that is now occupied. He said the Turks are changing everything in the North (I think he meant "Turkifying" everything) by changing town names and converting churches to mosques. He said that Turkish Cypriots and Greek Cypriots were getting along fine in their united Cyprus...but reported history says otherwise. Anyway, he said that part of the motivation of joining the EU was to remove the occupiers. So, far, nearly 9 years on, there's been no change. And, for now, this is what you need to cross the border:
 |
| North Cyprus Visa |
No comments:
Post a Comment