Four near misses

 We are safely enjoying Paleochora and intend to continue to do so until our Schengen 90 days expire! Getting here was not quite the joyride we had hoped - but more of that later! Our obsessive news-grazing and our chats with old friends has led to the realisation that we have been lucky!

1. The horrific fire on Cyprus began as we left the island!

 

The previous post refers to the fires during the heatwave of our final week; but they were nothing compared to that declared the worst since 1974. Four Egyptian labourers lost their lives in this one as they abandoned their vehicle and ran in the wrong direction.

2. We also missed the fire in Kakodiki and the consequences!

Our taxi journey from the airport was at night so we didn't see much, but we did see a fire engine in a layby and this led to Giorgos telling us more about the fire that had happened a few days before. It was one of many on Crete during the heatwave, but the one that most affected Paleo with its damage to property, and resultant power cuts:- one of which was all day and evening on a "scorcher"!

3. We passed through Chania airport with ease!

After the Petri dish that was Paphos Airport, and a surprisingly full flight we got through Passport Control and received the necessary (gritted teeth!) stamp. We approached the health control point and were waved through without scanning of QR codes on either our Greek entry forms or our EU vaccination certificates. It was only in conversations over the next few days that we realised that we had been lucky not to be tested. Two British couples whom we have met here every year for a very long time (one of which is Sue and Brian Joicey) told us of their desperation to come despite the (then) rules that would catch them on return. Both had arrived on sparsely occupied flights from England and every passenger had been tested!

4. We are not on Fuerteventura! 

A lovely place we are proud to call "home", but the Covid data went "viral" almost as soon as we left!

It has been on Spanish Level 2 for a couple of weeks, and Tenerife is threatened with Level 4! There is no-one in the hospital with Covid and the number of deaths (13 in a population of 123 000) has not changed for months, but this is not good! As ever the blame is centring on our town of Corralejo and the young. Last night there was a gathering of around 300 in the Atlantico Centre and "goings-on" on Waikiki Beach!

Frustration, Folly, Fire and Fury as we hit the Forties (degrees C that is) !

We're having a heatwave! The yellow warnings for the island have kept coming for the past week, and everyone - locals included - is talking about it. Waiting staff, who are still required to wear masks when working, have been particularly frustrated!

 Last weekend for we non-workers was particularly worthy of note, starting with the frustration bit! We will be flying to Crete on Saturday and - with our shiny new EU vaccination certificates - there seemed no reason to wait in applying for our Passenger Location Forms (PLF) as required by Greece. We began on Thursday. We failed! Last year the technology had been new and the conditions different, but we had sailed through the application process and had no issues at either boarding in Madrid or landing in Athens. This time the site wanted passwords we hadn't got! We ran out of email addresses and had to open new ones, we cleared caches, turned ad-blockers and VPN on and off, restarted repeatedly and still by Saturday morning we had got nowhere and there was discord in the apartment! The bizarre way round this was to get Chloë to do it on her machine with an unused email address. We booked a time for WhatsApp and Bob took himself off to save his sanity with a beer and a read at the pub with the parrot that is a hot 15 minute walk away.

Ruth went for a swim and returned to sit in a wet swimsuit exchanging with Chloë. At one point she went from phone to laptop to look up a code and saw Bob's wallet sitting on the desk! Visions of him being forced to do the washing up prompted the still-wet Ruth to contact him and be persuaded to join him. The place was full of retired Brits - some of whom were complaining about other retired Brits! We had a great sandwich and some prosecco to celebrate that with the Greek bureaucracy now in action we could leave Cyprus!

We sat at a distance and it gave a full view - beyond the building sites - of the foothills of the mountains. There was a very large  and low cloud, which was slowly turning black from the earth upwards. The fire was the first and most serious of the week, and was attended by helicopters with dangling water tanks, Two houses were destroyed. 

That evening we went for an excellent Indian meal and then picked up a bus to take us to the harbour. It got stuck in an enormous tailback.  One factor was the re-routing of the bus station diversion and huge confusion over entrances and exits to the car park. Another seemed to be that the heat had brought out large numbers of locals for a super-volta.  Hordes of families straggled across the prom shouting at each other or on the phone, And not many masks about! We got into the backstreets as soon as possible avoiding illegally parked cars and headed for The Rose pub, where there was the promise of live music. "Whatever is it like in a normal summer?" was asked a few times!

Bliss and rapture! Greyrocks can't remember when we last saw rock being played by a band with drums! It might be eighteen months ago (Straight Ahead?) Here was The Real Thing and that is their name. Bulgarian and doing Clapton, B B King, Dire Straits and Pink Floyd. We sat at an airy table outside with a side view and good sound and loved it. Then around midnight they stopped playing mid-number! A Russian had marched in screaming about the noise, wanting an immediate end, and a heavy - but non-violent scene erupted. His partner sat on the other side of the road filming! The Bulgarians spoke some Russian and the fact that the music was due to finish in half an hour may have been conveyed! Somehow this was resolved and a few more numbers were played; but a nasty taste.... 

The rest of our time here has been less eventful, but there will be some sort of overview of the seven weeks here! This evening we start the summer in earnest as we fly to Chania! And the heatwave is forecast to abate!

Now that IS progress!

 As the news from the "culture war" zone  that is post-Brexit Britain gets worse, Greyrocks salutes its home: A little island that is part of Spain, that is a co-operative partner in the EU!

Not only has it made us welcome and given us the residency card that gives us a few more  rights to move around Europe, but it has really "done the business" for us in terms of Covid vaccinations. Spain was a keen proponent of an EU-wide document showing vaccination. Eventually members agreed that they would each work towards July 1st for a start date. As Greyrocks monitors the Canarian press daily we read that Spain would be ready much earlier. The time difference meant we we were a shade too early on release date, but returning later we logged on, used our digital signatures and received the certificates back by 10 am!  Apparently 10 000 others had got theirs by 2pm. Wow!

"... nice when it's finished!"

 1. Harbour Bus Station

Apparently it used to be like this!

The network of local buses in Paphos is a wondrous thing! It has been vital to Greyrocks and ought to have reduced the number of hire cars; but, of course, it hasn't! It is cheap (EUR1.5 per ride or EUR5 for a day ticket), Covid secure and reliable. The end of the line for most routes is the bus station at the harbour and little port, near to where a lot of the eating and drinking action takes place.  We have now learnt to get off at the stop before that, as our first journey caused us to refit our recently removed face masks to protect us from the dust! There has been major renovation and building work going on since March. The "bus station" has been operating without permanent buildings, suitable surface, delineation, information, seating, pedestrian crossings or shade, and the rest of road traffic is diverted through it because of the archaeological park works (see below) Changing buses has been less than pleasant. Especially dire have been a couple of occasions when night had fallen, and there was no lighting so one struggled between fences, up and down surfaces and round untrimmed foliage! To top it all our bus sneaked out without warning from behind another and we missed it! On Sunday we took the 603B and it stopped along the road beyond the terminus. There were to be three days of even worse disruption whilst resurfacing was taking place! It was completed on time, but with only half open, and then on Friday there it was: fully delineated, and with signs of further improvement. In the space of that day some seats and awnings arrived! The surrounding roads and pavements are still a mess, but hey!

2. That thing in the Archaeological Park

WTF?

Paphos was the European Capital of Culture in 2017. Kato Paphos- also the resort area - is dominated by its archaeological remains, which are impressive, and our visits there are the subject of a subsequent post. As our frequent bus trips with their long detours took us near various bits of the "park" we were intrigued by disjointed but similar iron structures. 

We speculated for days before Mr Google informed as that it was "The Kato Paphos Bridge". The rationale for this is shown in the current free (French) plan of the archaeological park! The North-South road is a key and very busy route that bisects the site. The bridge will link the two parts for paying visitors as a pedestrian path (not as once suggested a monorail!) During the works the road through is closed causing hold-ups and bus detours, and only the western section of the park is open. Greyrocks found this out when trying to make their visit.

We had thought we could get in at a gate halfway up, but No! We had already unknowingly experienced another effect of the closures, when we decided to take a stroll down memory lane by locating "The Handkerchief Tree", which featured in all our three previous visits *Xmas 89, 90 and 91). This is part of the St Solomon's Catacombs, and will be incorporated into the park "when the work is over", but is currently free and reasonably accessible. Our two photos and this Trip Advisor comment say it all! 

Where's your Hankie?"

   3. Apartment Blocks in "Universal"

We are now into our second week at the "economy" accommodation that follows the "luxury" half of the seven week stay! It is in a part of Paphos known strangely as "Universal". It is not near the sea, the bus service is hourly (with gaps") , shopping is limited to quite a lot of convenience stores, and we have only recently found a restaurant-bar within a ten minute walk. But we like it!!! It is definitely another instance of "work in progress", with dozens of building sites - mostly apartment blocks with glass-fronted balconies. We have not expressed an interest!

 

On the planet for as long as Keo beer!

A Good Year!

 Several buses in the Paphos fleet have a complete exterior side celebrating 70 years of dominance in the Cyprus market for this iconic brew! The precise same anniversary for Ruth happened during Greyrocks' ten-day extended stay in the Paphos hotel. We have now moved on to simpler accommodation, but "more on that later"! She joined the extensive band of those whose special dates could not be celebrated as anticipated because of the pandemic and restrictions. In Ruth's case add the effect of *************** Brexit!

There should have been a modest "do" in a South London garden. That became a restaurant meal for six in Bristol, and then to avoid self-isolation in England, and because of the 90-day rule it had to be in a non-Schengen country such as Cyprus, with just Greyrocks involved! We did our best! We began with Bucks Fizz on the balcony, then breakfast in the usual (good) buffet deviating from the previous 21 mornings by having omelettes cooked to order. 

We spent much of the day beside and in the pool, and Demis the barman offered us two beers on the house. We popped out to the British-themed restaurant down the prom and after the modest bacon sandwich we were brought with some ceremony a decorated warm brownie with ice cream to share! In the evening we dined at a local Italian, and afterwards went to our hotel bar hoping to find someone for whom to buy a round. Deserted! But the Romanian barman there gave Ruth a free traditional brandy sour! 

And now we are both septuagenarians.

Cyprus in a pitta shell - part 2!

 During our Christmas visits 1989-92 we stayed in a modest complex of apartments in a perfect position on Kato Paphos (that is the "lower" part of town near the small harbour) On our walks with the buggy we would marvel at the only big hotel - the Annabelle - which was at the start of a run of small beaches. This part of the coast of 1.7 km now houses 20 huge hotels with a very pleasant dog-free promenade between them and the sea.  Half of them are fully closed at the moment, and some clearly have very few guests. Just three companies between them own almost all. Some are 5* and some 4*, and there are some very elegant designs, novel features to the pools. and flash styles of sunbed on concrete or grass; but that is where guests will do their sunbathing, since the "beaches" - which are all public are "nothing to write home about"! Rocks, weed and tricky access are a deterrent - even where one's "native" hotel has installed bits of furniture (which is private) The serried ranks of the sunbeds at the big hotels is one of the reasons we feel lucky to be in the rather smaller place where we spent 23 nights. It is reviewed on booking.com The other is the distance from the social centre.

The quest for half-decent beaches continues, We found Rikko Beach and went on consecutive Sundays. It is the only place where we have wanted to enter the sea! A longer bus ride took us to Coral Bay, which was more promising in natural terms but had no facilities or furniture, and a lot of messy work going on in preparation. We had passed a very brash set of bars etc, so we moved on a bus stop or two, had a beer and a long chat with a waitress of British descent and took the bus back! More recently we tried Faros (lighthouse) Beach. An interesting area with the archeology, old lighthouse and coastal path - but the beach? It was a warm day and people were trying to get into the sea and coming straight out. We will struggle on from our new accommodation, We realised that during those three previous holidays on the island the weather was so bad, and the offspring so young that none of this mattered! We also recalled that this time we had seen some of what Larnaca has to offer and it looked "normal" seaside standard! We might have to go East next time: Agia Napa beckons!

What cannot be denied is that the weather has been glorious! On one day there was a spot of rain, and on about three or four there has been cloud cover worth noting. The wind is predominantly from the West, and can get a bit frisky, but Greyrocks spends most of the year in either Fuerteventura or SW Crete:- both renowned for wrecking people's holidays with fierce and continual wind! It was a relief to leave behind that evil North wind, and we conclude that Cyprus has a somewhat longer sunny season than Crete.

With the revised schedule we are just about halfway through our extended stay and still smiling!

Who is where and when?? We know why!

 Under Plan A today Greyrocks would be leaving Cyprus to fly to Bristol for the advised 46 days of UK stay, including  some visits to friends and family and our own bit of "staycation". Instead we are into Plan B and have extended our 4* sojourn to get us beyond Ruth's special birthday and into a period of more certainty about UK self-isolation rules. The prospect of "down-sizing" is a realistic one, as is flying direct to Crete for an earlier start to the 90 days. These are Plans C and D! 

"How does Cyprus shape up?" the reader - perhaps even the one in Halifax - may ask! The facts are as follows:

 It goes without saying that since our last visit (Christmas 1991) there have been some changes! And Greyrocks has spent increasing amounts of time per year in our other bases - including Goa - so the differences - both strengths and perceived weaknesses - are striking. Here is a selection:

 

The people and their attitudes to visitors are very similar to those in Crete, with perhaps more obvious piety in terms of Orthodox adherence!

Many of the seasonal workers are from Romania, as opposed to Albanian. It is interesting that there is now a staff shortage in hospitality as many folk went home for the three-week Easter lockdown and have not returned.

The number of Russian tourists (and those from former Soviet states) is stunning, and there are established businesses aimed directly at that market. Cyrillic script is as prevalent as in Goa or Rethymnon. (There are also quite a few investment-related notices in Chinese!)

When we first arrived there was talk of many cancellations by Israelis. This was during their home nation's worst aggression against the Palestinians, and we felt little sympathy. This week they seem to be back - and travelling in packs of spoilt millennials as well as families.

Brits form a tiny minority in the hotel where we are, and in Larnaca where we started. In fact we may be the only ones here with the exception of a handful of stranded helicopter pilots. The evidence of the colonial past and continuing presence of two sovereign RAF bases is substantial and rather freaky when much seems so Greek and familiar! Driving on the left in right-hand drive cars with number plates just like older ones in UK is an example. Meanwhile for this unique summer season there are vast numbers of pubs and eateries aimed at Brits which are closed or even up for sale. There are inward flights from England, and it seems some holiday-makers have come - particularly in the last few days. Mainly. though, English conversations heard are between resident retirees.  Sometimes this brings out the worst in Greyrocks and we speculate about their politics. In an act of defiance and solidarity with all the victims of struggles to throw off the British yoke of imperialism we took ourselves on a bus ride up the coast on Saturday to see the memorial to General Grivas and the museum featuring his caique. After a long viewing we wrote something apt in the Visitors' Book!

Staying as we are in quite a posh hotel (with a ban on delivery meals!) we have eaten out a lot. There is a breakfast buffet (no ban on such things in Cyprus!) which is extensive and well-run, but a total bear-pit at weekends. Almost every buffet we have ever come across has some warning about taking food away from it - or even a ban on bags. Not here so after a few days we twigged and it has furnished sandwich lunches as well when we stay on site! We have eaten in several Cypriot tavernas - including what claims to be the oldest and which we do remember form those early holidays! The differences between - say - Cretan cuisine and Cypriot are small, but there is great emphasis on mezes, and competition between tavernas over size and/or value. These are fixed sets of dishes, and reminiscent of the Canarian take on tapas. Neither suits us!

 We have found two very sophisticated Chinese restaurants, and been to two Italian ones. At one of these we only went in  for a pizza and bottle of wine but discovered it had lofty ideas and as well as the very good pizza we were given a plat of assorted amuses bouches.-, and a flash ice cream dessert! 

Our other discoveries may surprise those who know us or follow the blog! We have been a few times to a British restaurant! Not a greasy spoon but a light and airy all day place serving well cooked "national dishes". And then last night - following up a strong recommendation from the pilots we went to The Lodge - advertising itself as Southern African! It is on the doorstep and we have passed it a dozen times and stuck our woke noses in the air! How could we - with Ruth's anti-apartheid credentials?? We still don't know if the owners are celebrating the Rainbow Nation, or white émigrés. Is this "tongue in cheek"?

Anyway we went and it was excellent! See Trip Advisor comment in a few days!

 Worn down by a naughty mouse, dodgy internet connection and too much sun the sections on climate, beaches and development Ruth retires to publish and be damned!!