Ferry days are funny days. Maybe I’ll never get used to the idea of being driven across the sea in my own camper while I’m in the same camper and we behave as if it were a normal day at the campsite. Two hours ago, we had lunch in the harbour next to the ferry while we waited to be loaded, then a coffee break on the ship and now I’m sitting in the van on the upper deck writing the blog. There was even time for a little walk around the deck with Apollo (and armed with the camera)!
This time we set off much quicker (only an hour late), which is due to the fact that the ferry is only half-loaded. The air is quite fresh and only slightly thick with ship exhaust fumes and soot, and overall I’m sitting quite comfortably at the open window with a view of the sky over the Mediterranean. Svenja is sleeping on the bed, Apollo on the floor and I think everyone is happy that the whole boarding procedure went a lot more smoothly than we had feared and that we are sitting in the cool interior of the ship, swaying slightly (the sea is almost as smooth as glass) as we sail along.
The planned three weeks in Cyprus very quickly turned into five. Fortunately, we were able to change the ferry tickets easily, otherwise we would have really missed out on a lot. After the previous part of our trip in Turkey, we were a little fed up with the country, especially with the same old food (especially if you don’t eat meat), the mountains of trash anywhere we went, the obvious tourist rip-offs in many places and, in some cases, the people who made it clear to us more than once that we were not wanted.
In Cyprus we had something of a contrasting programme: incredibly nice and cosmopolitan people, excellent food and a good selection of pescetarian dishes and, compared to Turkey, very well-kept beaches. Other things were added to the quality of life: English-language menus everywhere (we never met anyone who didn’t speak English), Western hygiene standards, and yes, also the Western products in the supermarkets, which we did miss after several months abroad: things like oat milk, Italian coffee and maple syrup.
And there was one thing that massively increased the quality of this part of the trip in comparison, which Turkey really can’t do anything about: the weather. Whereas in Turkey we had to rely on campsites with rancid showers to somehow maintain our physical hygiene standards, in Cyprus we were able to jump into the sea almost every day and then simply wash the salt off our bodies with our outdoor shower. And anyway, it is simply more pleasant to live at 20 to 30 °C than at 5 to 15 °C.
Cyprus, this island that I hadn’t really had on my radar, and which we travelled to mainly because we couldn’t cross over to any of the Greek islands on the Aegean coast, really surprised me in a positive way. In addition to the amenities already mentioned, there was so much history and culture to discover: prehistoric and ancient, of course, but also modern history, just think of the island’s partition conflict, which is present everywhere and in people’s minds. And the nature is really simply impressive: the turquoise shimmering sea, diverse beaches, golden yellow grain fields, lush green hills, barren gorges and pine-covered mountain peaks: we were able to admire all of this in just one day.
The biodiversity was also truly unique and it certainly helped that we were here in spring, the best time to visit, when there was always something blooming somewhere. I was particularly impressed by the large number of insects, especially more butterflies than I have ever seen in one place before, as well as amphibians such as emerald shimmering lizards almost as long as my forearm and 1 metre long black snakes. And, of course, birds: birds of prey such as sea eagles, buzzards and falcons, all kinds of songbirds, some of which still don’t have enough at night, as well as owls.
And so this time, for me at least, the proverbial crying eye is a little bigger than the smiling one. But I’m also glad that we’re moving on now, because the adventure is slowly calling again. And we will probably really find that again in Turkey. Our plan is to cover a relatively short distance after arriving in order to take our time, especially in Cappadocia. From there, we will continue north-east towards the Black Sea coast, with Georgia as our final destination. On to the next part of the Great Journey!