Travelfood

My first trip outside Scandinavia was to Cyprus, when the whole high school class went to Ayia Napa to celebrate the end of the exams. After that trip I have not returned to Cyprus so I do not know whether the island would impress me now or not, but back then everything was new and exotic. Even travelling by flight was a great experience as was landing at Larnaca airport. The waves of the Mediterranean, the white-painted houses, the dry grass, all the drunk tourists – everything was new and great!

One day we rented motorcycles and drove to Limassol and the mountains. Even today I am grateful that I did not have to drive on the serpentine roads but sat instead behind a braver friend from school. The Troodos mountains in the center of the country are by far the most beautiful offering by Cyprus. There are no traces of tourists up there but instead mountain villages that are as sleepy as they have been for centuries.

We also made an excursion to the capital, Nicosia, which surprisingly is a divided city just as Berlin used to be. A divided city is something unique in a situation that might change, so it might be an idea to travel there to experience the atmosphere. In practice it means that there is a steady wall going through the city and there are soldiers guarding the wall, maybe not as strict as they did in Berlin, but still. I have no idea what Cyprus is like in the Turkish parts of the island, or if the Cypriots are different in the north than in the independent south. In fact, we did not get to know much about the Cypriots at all since we stayed in a tourist village among other tourists.

Cypriot food is in practice the same as Greek food. We tasted mezé appetizers like dolmades (minced meat in wine leaf) and fish in vinegar oil. We also had portions of souvlaki, kleftiko (lamb) and moussaka.

Cyprus, Europe, food, travel, travel experiences