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Mary's Travels
We arrived in Cyprus and met Celina's grandparents at the airport, which was very nice. It was so nice to be in a car and not a bus. The island used to be under the British, but it is now its own independent country. There have been tensions with Turkey- the north side of the island is occupied by the Turks, and only Turkey itself recognizes that part as Turkey, but the EU does stop itself there. Things are more calm with the current generation, but the island is still divided. Anyways, it was funny to be in a British car driving on the left side of the road. It took about an hour to get to their village from Paphos, where the airport is. They have a cute house, and they rent out the upstairs to guests, but let us stay for free because we're family :) they're very kind people. They let us settle in and relax until it was dinner time. Grandma made a delicious chicken dish and we had strawberries and cream for dessert. It was so nice to have a home cooked meal, and dishwashers are incredible. The next day we woke up to a lovely and filling English breakfast and then we headed out to a large ruins site in Paphos. It was really cool and very expansive. They were very skilled at mosaics, and they had more than I've ever seen in my life, just as floors. It was incredible craftsmanship. We met grandma and grandpa afterwards at a cafe, and we went to lunch where Celina and I split some salmon and a Greek salad. Yum. From there we went to Grandpa's favorite cheesecake shop, and it was delicious. We came back home and relaxed for a bit, and then went out to a traditional Cyprian dinner. Reid, Celina and I did a meze which is a 13 course meal of all traditional food. Wow was it a lot. There is not one Greek or Cypriote dish that I haven't tried. We came back home and crashed we were so full. Wonderful first day in Cyprus. The next day we ate another yummy English breakfast, and set off for Kykkos, a Greek Orthodox monetary in the mountains. It took two hours to get there (which were breathtaking through the mountains) but we made it and it was even more beautiful than the drive up. The monastery was quiet and had a gorgeous church inside. We weren't allowed to take pictures inside, but it was adorned heavily with gold and housed dozens upon dozens of relics. We took a look at the museum as well, filled with incredible mosaics, and then went off and got some lunch and bought some souvenirs. We drove up to the grave of a priest who lead the independence movement on the mountain. His statue was huge and it was extremely quiet and peaceful up there. We drove back down the mountain and came home for dinner- crockpot beef stew- yummy! I've missed crockpots... The next morning we woke up a bit early in order to catch a bus to Nikkos- a town half Greek, half Turk. That was really exciting- the Greek side was developed normally, we got a cafe there. Then we went through customs to the Turkish side. First we went through no man's land, very interesting, and you can still see the bullet holes from the fighting. Then we finally got through, no longer in the EU, and it was very different. The shops weren't main stores, they were small vendors and stands. We got lunch there and walked around the market a bit afterwards. Then we went to the main mosque... It used to be a Catholic church, but was converted to a mosque after the takeover. All the Catholic statues and art was destroyed, sad, but I know Catholics have done that elsewhere to other religions. It was just interesting to see it be done to the Catholics on such a grand scale. We got to go inside and look around, then headed out and did a bit of shopping before crossing back to the Greek side and we caught the bus and went back to Pafos. We are a delicious dinner there, then went home and slept well. The next morning we relaxed for a bit, then joined grandma and grandpa at a weekly Lenten soup discussion with their church, but we just made it for the soup part haha. Then we went a got cheesecake (yum!) and then drove through s deserted Turkish town near our house. When the fighting got bad, the people of the town fled to the Turkish side and left everything empty and eerie. It was very interesting. We ran into some farmers that took advantage of the free land, but that was really it. Then we came home to a home cooked beef stew which was delicious, then went to bed. The next day we went to church with grandma and grandpa, which was very similar to the Mass I'm used to. Then we went to brunch with the church community at an English style restaurant. We got pâté, a beef dish, and apple crumble for dessert. Then we rushed home, packed up our stuff, and headed to the airport. It was sad to say goodbye to our new family, but we were glad we were going back home and not to another country- we were pooped. We got back to Lille at 2am, couldn't find any taxis, so we walked back. It was long and we were tired, but we finally made it and survived. All in all it was a trip of a lifetime :)
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