Northern Cyprus...........

……..the more we travel the less we know and we are constantly amazed at the incongruity that we encounter……..for example ‘traffic signs’…….sure we understand that cars may travel at 80 km, trucks and trailers 75 km, BUT if your car catches on fire do you HAVE to do 65??????????
The other thing I find bewildering is that women in a Muslim country have to cover up completely BUT yesterday as we sat outside a church that is now converted to a mosque, a beautiful young women with long blond hair one would die for, a glorious tanned figure one would die again for, dressed in very short shorts and tank top was ushered into the mosque by the blokes as if she was the Queen Mother….now I can’t afford to be ageist, sexist or green eyed….but…………
Today we visited the ruins of an ancient Persian Palace set high on a hill overlooking the village of Vouni. Although all that remains is basically the floor plan, it is not hard to imagine how it was. The astonishing thing is all of the bedrooms had ensuite’s with running water and loo’s – this was built in 500 BC!!!
I wonder what our ancestor’s toilet arrangements where at that time?????
We stopped at the newly opened Fragata Fish restaurant just out of Kayalar and we were most impressed by the garden adjacent to the restaurant. It was explained to us that they serve fish caught locally with vegetables from their garden. The gardener became our ‘new best friend’ and after our delicious meal gave us a guided tour of his garden and talked to us non-stop for half an hour in Turkish……..the weird thing is we ‘got’ most of it. We really wish you were here..xxxxxx

Northern Cyprus...........

We're currently in Northern Cyprus and while it’s been very full on…the food, the people and the general ambience of the place has rendered us so relaxed I’m not sure we’ll make it to the airport to go back to Britain!!!!

The day before yesterday we climbed to the peak of an old crusader castle perched on a mountain top looking as though it had been glued there. The castle of St Hilarion. Apparently, this particular castle was the inspiration for Walt Disney’s - Snow White castle. It was an amazing climb, it just kept going up and up and up and each step of the way the views were amazing.

Yesterday we drove for about 9 hours up the peninsula to Zafir Bumu and back. The villages are like mazes and once in, it’s a mission to get out! Rod has a passion for Turkish coffee and so it’s always an excuse to partake and ask for directions. However, this is mainly a Muslim country and so I sneak around trying to look inconspicuous! The roads are being reconstructed to the point that you need to guess whether or not the part you're on is the old road, the new road under construction or just a piece of what looks like road but in fact is just that. a piece that looks like road! A really good technique in that situation is following a truck. At least he's going somewhere that probably has a name. Therein lies another problem, everywhere has at least two names, one Turkish, one Greek and one they put on a map. Not the same name on every map!. We didn't really get lost a great deal, it was more that occasionally we got found!
We saw wild donkeys, drank from the spring of the Apostle Andreas (St Andrew) and ate swordfish and salad beside the Mediterranean which is outrageously, unbelievably blue.

The people are funny, warm, superbly helpful and friendly until they get behind the wheel of a car. Then they become pathological. Exaggerating slightly but, in general they aren’t nice drivers and aren’t that helpful about allowing you to merge or change lanes.

Another factor of life here is the military. They are everywhere, especially in the colossal monuments to themselves which probably took half the national economy to build. The last conflict here was in 1974 resulting in the Turks annexing the North and the Greeks the South. The UN army also has a presence as there are onging land ownership dispute. As a result all building work has ceased.
There are incomplete shells of buildings everywhere and a very poor economy.
Historically the island has seen so many invasions and empires come and go along with renowned leaders, teachers, philosophers, kings and emperors, it's hard to get your head around the fact that it's not a massive land. It's something approximately the size of the North Island. What has been important is the strategic value of Cyprus' situation ….location …. location….location…………..really wish you were here xxxxxx

Spring in England………

…….is still a wondrous affair. After the barrenness of winter the rapid, verdant growth always comes as a surprise and the beauty of it is breathtaking. It’s particularly wonderful to have family visiting from NZ and the pleasure of showing them around the local sites and pubs makes it even more special for us.
Our local “the Duck” is a great place for a pint at the end of the day. Something we only do when we have visitors to give us the excuse. Like most pubs in England, it is really dog and child friendly and so Molly and Pippa had a righteous old time while we sampled our pints. It’s lovely to be able to sit and enjoying these things al fresco instead of huddling in front of a roaring fire.
Avebury is a very ancient stone circle, a World Heritage site, not as well known as Stonehenge, but rather more accessible. It is one of our favourite places to take visitors. Yesterday was May Day and this weekend is also a Bank Holiday weekend. We arrived at Avebury and found the pagans were camping there. Pagans from all over gather there to booze at the local pubs and then proceed to parade around the site in obscure rituals, arriving back at the pub to meet up with long lost ‘pagan friends’ have some refreshment, then undertake more rituals amongst the stones. It was colourful and interesting……some pagans looked rather more “pagan” than others, some decidedly dodgy! The group in the photograph were honouring some goddess and were quite pretty. We thought it prudent to leave before the ‘after dark’ rituals began!!
We decided to have our picnic on one of the many white chalk horses that dot the hillsides around the Wiltshire area, but a family of real horses decided to join us! Not being absolutely certain that their big fluffy hoofs were friendly we decided to have our picnic on the other side of the fences, much to Molly’s chagrin. She vociferously demanded a “ride on the little one”.
Thanks to the abatement of the Icelandic eruptions we are now on our way to Cyprus. Delayed gratification makes it all the more appreciated………..wish you were here xxxxx

Spring.....

……….each year in England, we see why Spring has inspired poets, storytellers and musicians through the ages. Just when you are beginning to think winter will never end, the colourful riot bursts forth.
We have 4 gardeners and they plant bulbs in their spare time, so our estate has spring bulbs popping up in every conceivable space and yesterday I picked armfuls of daffodils for our cottage. But the sides of the road are where it’s at! How did the incredible profusion of flowers come to be there? Bulbs are a bit big for birds to randomly sow……………
The Cotswolds are full of old quarries that have become lakes as the water table has risen. We walked around one this afternoon and were struck by the connectedness that Brits have with their animals and the indigenous fauna, including fish. Fishermen spend hours in this country fishing, but the thing that is hard to comprehend, coming from a ‘huntin…shootin…. fishin and eatin’ dynasty, is “what is the thing about spending hours fishing, just to throw it back immediately?” We got talking to one of these young guys (and there were at least three or four of them in their own possie around the lake) and he camps at the lake most weekends and through the week if he can. He catches a fish (perhaps the same one!)…., checks it for any injuries, applies ointment if needed, then throws it back! The kit enabling all this to take place is impressive and I daresay expensive……..methinks it could lead to some very decent sort of ‘fishermen tales’………xxxxx

A race against time……

……..in the last few days we have finally worked out the transport system and have been using it as an easy way to get around (much easier than “da passeggio” – walking). It is very cheap, you buy a ticket from a newsstand for 1€, validate it on the bus or metro and then you have 75 minutes travel. The trick is, if you are a tourista, managing to get to where you want to be in the allocated time can be rather challenging………we love it….it makes us feel like we are in the “Great Race”.
We decided to visit the catacombs; this entailed a bus, the metro and a bus…..no probs, except it was off our maps of Rome. On the last leg we met a really lovely young Kiwi woman who has been living here for 20 months. We talked and talked all the way to the catacombs where we got off having promised to keep in touch ………..The thing was we had forgotten to lay our trail of crumbs and on the return trip to Rome didn’t recognise any of the landmarks. But we kept our cool, even managing to guide a young German couple to the Metro………..
Tomorrow evening we fly out and so there is a race against time to cram in as much “dolce vita” as possible in 24hours………………wish you were here, it would make it perfecto………xxxxxxx

When in Rome........

……….having knocked off all the major tourista attractions, we decided to just wander and soak up the ambience (of which there is plenty). I think we have started to develop a more ‘seasoned look’ as beggers and street vendors no longer hassle us (except for the odd leather jacket scam trickster!). AND we have even been asked for directions on several occasions – which is most amusing – what is even more amusing is that Rod has been able to oblige!!!!!
This trip we finally remembered to bring the compass Sarah gave us and it has been brilliant. We can highly recommend using a compass…..’cause it’s STILL different on this side of the world!
We have a rule which goes like this……only eat in places where the locals eat…...and only eat in restaurants that have a lot of people eating there. Today we decided we couldn’t leave Rome without eating pizza. We found a very ‘local’ pizzaria run by a family, packed with Romans……we proceeded to order pizza and the very ancient owner became most indignant……..his response went something like this …….”no, no, no, not for lunch………..you eat pizza for dinner…..!!!!!” We looked puzzled and he scowled and said “I’ll bring you something”……….he ended up being ‘our new best friend’……we ate pasta (of course!), drank the house red and his wife came out of the kitchen and brought me the most divine crème caramel I have ever tasted. None of us spoke the others language, BUT the thing we can confirm is “when in Rome”……………….xxx

Day Two……..

…….Nothing prepared us for Rome……it is a large modern city that is in effect a 3,000-year-old museum. Around every corner you find ancient monuments, art treasures and timeless architecture. Nothing, it appears has been “knocked down and rebuilt”. Ancient columns, watchtowers and porticoes survive, enhancing modern ‘add ons’. Truly a testament to superb design and recycling.
The cobble streets are very narrow with no footpaths and one tends to forget that you are sharing the street with cars and scooters………..definately a no stilleto zone!!
Thank-goodness we are here for 8 days, but even so we are only scratching the surface of this rich, breathtaking, mind blowing phenomenon……wish you were here…..xxxxxx