I had the chance to enjoy the hospitality of the Cyprus EU presidency in Lefkosia (or Nicosia as we usually call the capital of Cyprus) last weekend. It was also my last EU-related business trip, which actually made me a bit nostalgic. I have to say that even after so many goodbyes I’m still not good at it; on the contrary, every goodbye seems to remind me of all the past ones. My somewhat eccentric Romanian colleague told me about a fixed flow of energy coming from us and if we don’t let go of the past, this energy isn’t liberated for new things (maybe it was the sleep deprivation, sun and local wine but this actually sounded important at the moment...). Less metaphysically, I was wondering if we can have an ever-expanding interest in the outside world and thought of which comes first: finding a new focus of interest, which replaces the past, or letting go of the past, which gives place to new darlings.
In any case, I’m not going to write about escapes in the higher spheres of our understanding and the ghosts of the past, a little side step from my original story; that is, my sunny escape to Cyprus, a country that I wouldn’t have probably visited otherwise. The food was excellent and people extremely friendly, but I don’t think the island will appear on the list of my future travel destinations (but I could recommend it to sun worshippers). I have to say that I knew very little about the country beforehand. Even for such a geography-enthusiast as I am, I couldn’t even really locate it on a map. It’s really in the armpit of Turkey and Lebanon, almost 3000 km from Finland, hardly in Europe at all. So, as I already wrote in the post after my trip in Africa, I came back with many ideas richer. And a phone number of a minister's bodyguard - just in case...
Nicosia, the capital, didn’t give me a very positive impression: the buildings are mostly ugly, similar to those we know from news images from Beirut (which is only 250 km away). Around our hotel scarcely-clad girls waiting for male company occupied the bars. We tittered when we entered these places like innocent school kids and tried to find a cool way to retreat from the trap. Even though we were in the centre, it felt like in a suburb of a medium-size city. I didn’t get any good vibes that this is the place to be, it wasn’t cool, it wasn’t interesting, it wasn’t aesthetically pleasing; I should say that it was quite a boring city.
Crossing the border to the Turkish occupied side of the city (see photo above) felt like a tourist curiosity, even though during the trip I learnt more about its sombre reality. The history of the occupation (since 1974) and the clash between the Greek and the Turkish sides of the island continues to be a sensitive issue (why did I ask for a Turkish coffee at the bar???). The locals even talked about “Berlin wall in Nicosia”. It felt like the most unnecessary conflict in the world (obviously, I never understand the existence of any conflicts): fighting for an arid piece of land just to show off your power. I don’t know what’s the Turkish way of interpreting the conflict, but this is how I got the story, Turkey is unable to rest its case in its willingness to be a some sort of a super power while the Greek Cypriotes have been expelled to the other side leaving their homes behind. There are actually still UN troops in the country; for me, a UN car was a weird sight in an EU member state. You need a passport or an ID card to cross the border. But there's not much to see on the other side. During the prayer call the streets in the occupied side were completely empty. I felt like walking in Disneyworld’s set of a fake city after closing time (except for those piles of rubbish in the streets and homeless cats everywhere). To put it bluntly, it was as boring as the Greek side of the city.
The landscape of the country is almost a sad sight. Between Nicosia and Larnaca there are burnt hillsides and otherwise it looks like everything else has also been burnt during the last 20 years or so. However, I talked with an English guy who had been cycling around the island and he told me how wonderfully green it had been in the mountains. He lived in Dubai, so I don’t know if I can trust in his perception of a green landscape. It rained heavily during our stay (causing a leakage in my hotel room, that's how prepared they are for a strong shower) and while our host apologized for this unlucky weather, she also reminded us that the island had a huge shortage of fresh water after a dry summer. It basically never rains in the summer and the temperature usually exceeds +35ºC then.
I spent an extra day in Larnaca after our conference. It's a city of around 100 000 inhabitants and with a much nicer feeling, a true beach city. My short stay was a great way to receive a necessary dose of vitamin D for the grey, dark and cold autumn in Finland. It was warm enough to swim, but cool enough to avoid excessive sweating. Therefore, it was perfect time for a person like me who simply gets bored at the beach and hates that sticky salty water/sun lotion/sweat combination. A long morning at the beach was sufficient to get my stomach burnt as I later discovered at the airport. A bit more of that sun lotion could have been a healthy idea after all! All in all, it was truly wonderful to be able to dip into the sea in the end of October when the first snow had already arrived to Helsinki. By the way, it was very solemn to sunbath as the loud speakers on the beach boulevard were playing marching music and later there was a parade to celebrate the Cypriote national day…
In short, while Cyprus is not really a potential future travel destination for me, I enjoyed my time there and, in the context of growing euro-skepticism and intolerance against the bad management of finances in the Mediterranean countries, I have to say that it is wonderful to see people from all the member states to dance together Greek/Cypriot dances, sharing and enjoying their cultural habits and then feeling that something brings us more together than just basic humanity. We are all Europeans and we should be proud of the cultural variety and richness we can share. Europe would be a much poorer place without Cypriot food and Greek dances. And I would be much paler right now.
Our dance moves were maybe not as elaborated as in this video but this was certainly not because of lack of enthusiasm. I guess the locals took it as a compliment when the Austrian guy went to the dance floor to lead the dance. Oh dear, it was truly hilarious (until the moment I felt like throwing up the baklavas with any more dancing), but also quite emotional when the Greek and the Cypriotes did some real folk dancing together.
Hotel: Les Palmiers Hotel in central Larnaca is recommendable hotel with good views of the sea. Through booking.com my single room cost only 35 EUR (incl. breakfast). Otherwise the country wasn’t as cheap as I had imagined. Cappucino at the beach was 3 EUR, but sun bed only 2 EUR!
Reading: Elfriede Jelinek, The Piano Teacher.
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