On one of our first days after arriving, we spent a morning hiking across the neighboring valley to the ancient olive orchard on the other side. The olive trees in the orchard are supposedly hundreds of years old. There's also supposed to be some old ruins as well as a cave somewhere in that direction. And, about three hours walk away across the nature preserve, is a beach.
In the background of the third picture you can see the university buildings
perched on top of the hill. Our house is the one directly above
the frog's head, I think.
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Our first evening in Cyprus, one of our neighbors offered to show us where the local stores were. After we were in the car and had driven around the nearby village, she commented, 'You know what? We should go to the beach! Let me just pick up our groceries and then we can all go.' We protested that we were currently filling the back of her car so she had no place to put groceries, so she decided 'OK. I'll go shopping later. It's time to go to the beach now!' We ended up
begging off since it was late and we were jetlagged. But that is an indication
of how central a role the beaches play in Cypriot recreational life. We ended up
going to this beach near Girne with her the next day.
This one is a bit commercialized for a Cypriot
beach (and crowded), but it is easy to do.
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Girne (Greek: Kyrenia) is one of the three big cities in North Cyprus. It is about 50 km away and has the nearest churches; so it is the big city which we are most experienced with. It has a really pretty waterfront which I'll get some pictures of after it is a bit cooler. This is the view of the harbor from the old castle, which we explored recently.
Our cellphone is pretty crappy by US standards, but it does have something built in
that I've never
seen in a US phone -- a flashlight! (The keys are also labeled in Thai.)
I felt very James Bond while exploring this castle,
because I got to use my cell-phone-cum-flashlight to explore some of the inner tunnels.
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It's fun to go to the beach, but sometimes it is nicer not to have to worry about all that sand and salt. We've made extensive use of the university pool, which is just a short walk from our house. As well as the big lap pool, there is also a shallow kids pool which is exactly the right depth for BS. I don't really understand why the university has a kid pool, but I'm not going to complain.
In the background of this picture you can see the climbing wall:
another strange thing which I will not complain about.
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We've engaged a Turkish daycare in the nearby town of Guzelyurt for the kids. There are English language schools around, but it's important for me that the frog learns Turkish: That way he can be my translater. I think Mary Ann has some other reason to want him to learn Turkish, too. After checking out the three daycares in town, we settled on this one. I liked all of the vines and plants growing around their play area (pictured). The teachers were also very affectionate and caring towards the kids. |
On Saturdays the nearby town has its farmers' market. The market is
ridiculously large, especially considering the size of the town. It
is probably one of the biggest markets I've been to. The fruit is
amazing. And there's just stalls and stalls of it.
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The local town has a small "zoo" in the back of one of its parks. It's not much of a zoo -- even by Lafayette standards. The zoo houses some squirrels, chickens, goats, a peacock, a kangaroo, and two emus. It also has a bird house containing some parrots and pigeons. What the heck kind of zoo has squirrels and pigeons???
Although... actually, the squirrels were pretty fun to watch. They
went berserk when we came near, running all over the walls and roof
of their cage. They even came over to nibble on BS' fingertips,
eliciting squeals of delight.
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