Bagel Belly Blog

Down to earth, back from Cyprus

I've just about caught up after the two weeks I was away. It took me all this week to catch my breath and get back up to speed on everything.

Cyprus was an experience. Not exactly a holiday, per se - two weeks with the whole family is a challenge! But certainly it was great to change gear, and even though it's hard work I do love being with my family. It's only really hard work because I have a comparatively quiet personal life. Switching to the total immersion in all the noise and chaos that families can bring is a bit of a shock.

In the two weeks we were there, we managed to pack a fair few things in. I was surprised - even though it was my second trip to Cyprus, I didn't feel like anything was repetitive. There were some obvious highlights - driving, diving, boating, chilling by the pool. A few disappointments - occasional blustery weather, a tourist attraction that shut 5 minutes before we got there after a long drive, and generally average food in restaurants. In all, we hit a good mix of relaxing and cultural experiences, with hundreds of photos (some of which are public on flickr under Cyprus 2005, some of the rest will appear here no doubt) and lots of good memories.

Early on we got to do my favourite holiday excursion: crazy-ass driving up insane mountains and off-roading down gravel tracks with precipitous edges. Since I don't own a car, I rarely get to drive in the UK. So combine the opportunity to drive with adrenaline-fuelled dangerous roads and staggering views, and I'm in heaven! (Even if the rest of the family were in pain from going 30+mph over endless pot-holes.) We drove up and down through the Troodos Mountains, along roads that hugged the edges and sometimes even went along the crests of the mountains. I have to say I was impressed by the Nissan Terrano, which coped with 7 passengers and tough terrain with aplomb.

I also got to go diving again (last time was in Cyprus, too). I enjoyed it far more this time, as I was more relaxed and more prepared for the whole experience. This was a full open water diver course, meaning I now need to do a 5-day course any time in the next year with PADI. The only slightly nerve-wracking part of it was that instead of wading into the sea we had to step off the back of the boat. Thankfully the waters of the blue lagoon couldn't have been more enticing. In fact, they were so nice that we hired a boat and went back there two days later, where we swam and snorkeled for quite some time.

We also spent time looking around Paphos, sampling traditional cuisine (not as good as the food in Corfu), visiting the historical sites around Paphos and at Kourion, and more importantly relaxing beside the pool. I managed to read the entire back-catalog of Dan Brown novels while I was away, as well as catch up on a lot of technical reading I'd been planning to do. It's amazing how many hours there are in the day when you don't have to filter spam!

I think it's safe to say I've seen enough of Cyprus now and I'd like to go visit some other parts of the world. Over the next year I'm hoping to make more progress on my list of unusual places to visit. But for now, while the rain beats against the window, I'm going to look over the photos and remind myself of what it feels like to have the sun on your back as you swim through beautiful clear blue seas.