The Not-So-Secret Love Affair

It has been ages since I’ve written last time, it has been the most stressful month of my life so far. I had to spend four weeks wrapping up my life in Baku and being eager to leave didn’t help. As my friend Demet said, the first week you’ll recover from your holiday in Cyprus, the second and third you’ll get into the swing of things and the fourth one will fly by because you’d be getting ready to leave. The first two weeks went according to my friend’s prediction, but last two weeks were very stressful and only seeing my girlfriends, consuming lots of good wine and sharing lots of jokes and laughter (all of the above normally go hand-in-hand) kept me through those dreadful last weeks. Thank you, Janet, Marianne and Andrea!!! I will definitely remember the last days we spent in Baku together! Those were the days!

I was sad saying good bye to a few people, some of them stayed in Baku, some left a while ago, but I am grateful for all of you – Ayan, Leyla, both Saidas – you know who you are, and many other friends I’ve made at work – I will not embarrass each and every one of them here!

I had a proper send off, kept the job, thank heavens for that, as you all know your friend is not very happy when not working, so all is right with the world.

So the situation in the paradise is the following: moved into the new apartment overlooking the sea, in the town on Kyrenia, spare bedroom and bathroom, especially for friends who’d like to visit, a seven-minute walk to the supermarket and a good half hour walk to the harbor (the most charming harbor you’ll ever see!).

I did the walk this morning and it took me 2 hours both ways, but I did make a few stops - at the bakery that our friend runs downtown, and then at the harbor to admire the peaceful morning and observe how the sailors hurry to their ships and wake them up from the night’s slumber, merchants opening up their shops to invite the first visitors, fishermen putting their first bait on the hooks… The salty smell of the sea, the golden rays of sun, everything screams ‘Good morning! I am in love with you!’ And I say it back. Yes, I am in love, and this is the love affair I cannot hide – you have to come and see for yourselves!

Greetings from the island of love,

Your Tanka Lou

A day out in Kyrenia

One day I decided to take a break from the beach and to go to Kyrenia and explore the harbour and the castle.

The weather was 43C in the shadow, so staying in the castle with its thick walls and hardly any windows was a good choice. I did feel a bit freaked out being in the dungeons by myself, it seems like all of a sudden you are transferred to the medieval times. It was a Peace and Freedom Day in North Cyprus so all the buildings were nicely decorated, there was a parade of the military ships, which I could observe from the top of the castle.

My favourite part of the tour that day was a Shipwreck Museum. It is situated in the castle and you can see a 2300-year-old ship that was found about a mile away from Kyrenia in the 60’s. It is believed that the ship was 80 years old when it sank partially from old age and from a pirate attack. The lead tablet the pirates hammered to the side of the boat was supposed to evoke the black magic and their crime would never be discovered. Little did they know!

The ship carried over 400 wine amphorae and 9000 almonds that were perfectly preserved. Hmm, wine and almonds, those pirates knew what they were doing chasing after such a party boat!

I had lunch in the harbour and was slightly disappointed by the food I got, the mezes were meagre and pricey, I still enjoyed my lunch as you can’t beat the view and having my Kindle and just chilling by the sea side and watching the boats is great fun, but I wouldn’t recommend you to eat there. Later I found out that the harbour is not good for food, which is a shame as it is a fantastic spot, too bad they can’t bring the quality up and make the prices a bit lower.

Dinner was a whole different affair. We went to a restaurant highly recommended by Trip Advisor, called The Kyrenia Tavern. It is run by an older couple, in their 70’s and probably their son, (our guess). There is no menu, you show up, better if you book in advance, the place is highly favoured by the tourists, and then they bring out the mezes, main course and dessert. I had chicken casserole which was good and Yakup had lamb that was cooked for five hours in the oven and was very soft and mouth watering. The whole night was an interesting experience because you are at someone’s garden and it feels cosy and comfortable, and you get a taste of home-made Cypriot cooking. The couple that run the place are incredibly cute and it was a pleasure watching them work together. The host was dressed up in a nice shirt and a tie and he was the waiter. It was almost embarrassing to have an older person serve you food, but I guess this is their income, so we had to get used to it.

It was a delicious ending of the day in the beautiful Kyrenia and I can’t wait to discover more hidden gems of this medieval town.

Greetings from the Island of Love,

your Tanka Lou

Drinking in the Past

It takes my breath away every time I travel in Turkey or North Cyprus. Everywhere you look there is history, every stone you see has been stepped on by a famous foot at one century or another, every time you look at the olive trees you think of those who have benefited from the fruit of these Mediterranean beauties, the same trees that provide generously for the mezes (starters in Turkish cuisine) and olive oil for our kitchens, may have sheltered a prophet or a disciple.
Our car rumbled on the dirt road of Karpaz Peninsula in Cyprus, we were approaching St Andrew’s monastery. There were tourists roaming about, Christians who came to pay respects and pray to the Saint and those who just came to pick up some fresh water from the stream near the monastery.
We know from the New Testament that Andrew was a brother of Simon Peter and that they were both fishermen by trade. They became the followers of Jesus after he called them to be the fishers of men. In the gospel Andrew is referred to as one of the disciples more closely attached to Jesus, Eusebius of Caesarea, c. 263–339 AD, scholar and a historian quotes Origen as saying Andrew preached in Asia Minor and in Scythia, along the Black Sea as far as the Volga and Kyiv. Hence he became a patron Saint of Ukraine, Romania and Russia.

In Kyiv there is a beautiful St Andrew’s Cathedral on top of the hill also named after the famous Saint. If you ever comet o Kyiv, the Cathedral should be definitely on the list of things to see.

The ancient monastery in Northern Cyprus is simple, there is no intricacy or pompousness of architecture of more modern churches. It is a very basic and rustic building, definitely beaten by time and in need of serious repairs and maintenance. The church is lovely, the icons are there and you can light candles and make a wish and pray for your loved ones. But it breaks your heart that it is not maintained as it should.

Crystal clear water is still streaming from the ground where St Andrew found it upon his arrival with the boat crew who were going blind from thirst. The story has it that Andrew prayed to God for water and beautiful crystal clear stream appeared from under the rocks. If you saw the scenery you’d be amazed at how in this extremely hot and arid land such beautiful stream could appear.

We partook from a stream along with other people and filled some water bottles to take home with us. The water tasted sweet and it made us feel connected to the days bygone but still not forgotten.



Greetings from the Island of Love,

Your Tanka Lou

At Land’s End

North Cyprus is amazing in many ways – stunning views make you speechless, ancient buildings leave you in awe before thousands of years of history. It makes you realize how we are all interconnected in this world.

Last weekend was great, we went to Karpaz, which is where the land ends and after that there is only the sea… It is mind-boggling for those who grew up on the continent that the land can ever finish.

We stayed the night at the Malibu hotel by the sea and at 6:30 the next morning we were walking on the beach and had a good 1.5-hour swim before breakfast. The water was pleasant and the sun was gentle. After breakfast we headed to Dipkarpaz nature reserve, where we saw many wild donkeys wondering in the vast fields or resting under the silver-leaved olive trees.

As we drove along the coast, as far as you looked there were kilometers of white sandy beaches, changing into precipices with white foamy waves licking the rocks. On the other side of the road - olive gardens and golden fields, framed by intense blue of the skies completed the view. Breathtaking!

We ended up spending most of our time on the Golden Beach, there were nice waves so we enjoyed riding them for a few hours. I’ve enjoyed the sun and the sea a bit too much – ended up getting a sun burn. But there is nothing that plain Turkish yoghurt can’t cure! If you apply it to the burnt areas, in my case was at least 50% of the body, you’ll find it absorbs fast and helps to relieve the burning.

A visit to St Andrew’s monastery was another highlight of the trip, but I will keep the juicy details for the next post.

Greetings from the Island of Love,

Your Tanka Lou

Intoxicating hospitality

I have started coming to Turkey in 2003 and since the day I set foot on the Turkish soil I knew I was in for it for good. They captivate you with their warm welcome, with their amazing food and their enveloping kindness. They entice you with their warm smiles and easy-going attitude; you never want to leave that place. They create this comfort zone for you and make you feel all warm and fuzzy. What is it? I have no idea, but whenever the plane touches down in Turkey or now in North Cyprus too I feel I am coming home.
So I came to Cyprus for the first time, keeping in mind my experience in Turkey and I was not mistaken – the Cypriots turned out to be as nice and friendly as the Turks. I am a nightmare of a map reader, and even that doesn’t describe the absence of any sense of direction on my part. Since my husband works six days a week, I have to get out into the wild Cypriot world on my own, so I took a bus from Nicosia to Kyrenia and from there to the beach.
As I climbed in on the bus I was eager to pay the driver, to what he said ‘no problem, you can pay later’ in English. As I sat down nervously, clinging on to my beach bag as if looking for some comfort, the bus driver invited me to sit closer to him, which I politely declined. I knew I had to get off at the last stop, but I had no idea what it would look like. After that I’d have to walk around the corner and take another bus to the beach.
As we approached the final stop, everyone was getting off the bus and I was just sitting there, waiting to see some bus station, so the driver asked me where I was going next and instead of letting me walk around the corner he just drove me there.
I was very impressed by this simple act of kindness, as it is hard to imagine a bus driver driving an extra meter for you in Ukraine, let alone if he needs to get off his course. But surprises didn’t end there. I got on another bus to take me to the beach, a bit more relaxed now, still hanging on to my straw beach bag (but not so desperately now, I made it to point B after all), and again, the bus driver instead of just dropping me off on the highway, where I’d just need to walk 100 meters to the beach, he drove me all the way there. I know it doesn’t take much to drive those extra few hundred meters, but yet I have never experienced that kind of treatment anywhere in the world.
On my journey back to Baku via Istanbul airport as I enjoyed a vanilla frapuccino at my beloved Starbucks, I had a few hours to kill, so I got thirsty and wanted to buy a bottle of water for 2.5 TL, which is a bit more than 1 Euro. I had Euro coins which they wouldn’t accept, and I only had 1 TL. Other option was credit card. After I got all my change out of the wallet, the guy at the counter took 1 TL from my hand and told me to take the water. Again I tried to persuade him to take the 2 Euro coin from me, but he said they weren’t allowed to take foreign coins, just paper money. So he gave me the water for less than half the price and it wasn’t some market stand, it was in a cafe. Again flabbergasted and all welled up inside from this simple but yet incredible expression of kindness on Turks’ side – I looked for a tip box, there was none, I looked for a donation box, again no luck. When it was time to go I came to the counter and wished them in Turkish an easy day of work ‘Kolay gelsin’ and thanked them again. I am flying via Istanbul again next Friday, no doubt, I will be at Starbucks, but all the credit goes to the overwhelming benevolence of the Turkish people.

Greetings from the Island of Love,

Tanka Lou

The first arrival

The first arrival at Ercan airport was a very long-awaited event for me as I haven't seen my husband for 2.5 months, so I hardly paid attention to the things around me. But we did make it for dinner to the Kyrenia Harbor under the stars by the sea. Kyrenia Castle walls looked a lot more impressive than I had imagined them. Day one was better than I thought it would be.

I've spent only 3 days on the island and my feelings were gradually changing from being mixed and nervous to being relaxed and open to everything new around me. I must admit I was a bit disappointed at first because there wasn't that 'wow' feeling like I had when I first arrived in Kemer, on the Mediterranean coast of Turkey, but I should know better and stop comparing places.

On Monday I ventured out from our apartment in Nicosia to the beach in Kyrenia on my own. I had to change a bus in Kyrenia and go another 10 mins by 'dolmush' to the beach. Dolmush is a Turkish version of marshrutka, or a mini bus that travels quickly between the towns. Dolmush literally means to be stuffed with something, but in reality there are no standing places in the dolmushes, so it is all civilized.

The driver spoke excellent English and in general people were very friendly. You don't expect to see a bus full of local people and tourists happily chatting and listening to each other's stories. We had a Greek, British, Italian, Cypriot, Turkish and humble me, the Ukrainian on the same bus.

I tell you a few conclusions I came to that day -

1) don't be afraid to venture out into the unknown;

2) regular people don't have a problem with each other - politicians do;

3)screw all the politics and be ready to go out in the world and listen to people's stories.

Greetings from the Island of Love,

your Tanka Lou