Today we arrived in Lamassol, Cyprus. We picked up our pilot about 8 am and he brought us into port at 9 am.
This was a late change made by HAL. We couldn’t find any third party excursions available so we went with a HAL organized excursion. Lots of benefits with using HAL but also a few downsides. Cost is a factor and clientele is another. Most HAL excursions are double what one can get through a third party. The benefit of the additional cost is that HAL takes care of any delays in the tour. The ship will wait. No waiting on third party tours. The clientele on a HAL excursion tends to be older and less mobile folks. These folks are also experts at complaining. We knew this when we booked this tour.
The tour was a bus ride to Nicosia. Nicosia is a major city in Cyprus but has been divided since 1964. Turkey controls one half and Greece the other. Our guide shared his feeling that the Greeks and Turks do not hate each other. They treat others as equals. All of the problems with the division are with the governments of both nations. The government creates division where there is none. I couldn’t help but think of how things are back home. The government tells us who to like and who to hate. As I learned on the World Cruise, people are more alike than different. As English becomes the universal language of communication, it is easier than ever to discover this. People in Greece or Cyprus roll their eyes at the same governmental interference that we do.
Our guide was very good and very knowledgeable. It was difficult to process so much information on the bus ride. We did stop in the city for about an hour. Enough time to grab some lunch at a local restaurant. We came across a little place and ordered some local fare. I had lentils with rice and Terri had chicken and potatoes. We shared our orders and enjoyed the unique flavors. I detected some cinnamon in the lentils. Unusual but very good. There was enough food for 4 of us. We ate what we could and asked for the check. I handed my credit card over but the waiter said they do not take credit. Cash only. I had only 5 euro on me and needed 15. I asked about an ATM and he saw that I had US dollars. He said that he would take them. I looked up the exchange rate, gave him USD, thanked him and we left.
Besides a CC that has no foreign transaction fee, I use a debit card that has no ATM fee and allows one to get local currency.
What remains of an aqueduct and the statue of liberty in the town square.
We traveled up to the Khirokitia archeological site. Remains of a civilization were uncovered in the 1930s. The settlement here was from the neolithic period of the stone age. Interesting to see and learn about. Difficult to get pictures that convey any sense of what the eyes see.
Remnants of living quarters above and a reconstruction of what they originally looked like.
Another hot day. 100 degrees mid afternoon.
Our bus dropped us back at the ship about 3:30 and we went up to the Lido for dinner about 5.
After dinner we played a few more hands of euchre with the Daleys and enjoyed the beautiful evening.
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