South Africa needs a few signs like this one, which are posted every 5 kms on the Cypriot motorways...!! It is unclear how the fine came to be €854 exactly...!! Not surprisingly, there is not a lot of litter on the roads...!!
Here is another one we could use down there, and every other African country for that matter...!! There should be another line which reads "Offenders will be flattened..."...!!
There are two ways to get to Larnaca from Limassol…
One is all along a two lane motorway, which takes about 40 minutes, and the other is along the coastal road, which takes a whole lot longer…
Especially seeing as there are many places to stop and eat at…!! Naturally, Willi preferred the longer route…
When we were in a hurry, we took the motorway, but this was most often not the case, as Willi is never in a hurry… Whenever I suggested he drive a little faster, his reply was always the same…
“Have you forgotten the story about the Tortoise and the Hare…?”
Yeah, Willi has an answer for everything… Some of them very amusing…
Like the time we were sitting at a restaurant on the boardwalk of Limassol… A gorgeous young woman walked past, wearing thigh-high boots and the shortest mini I had ever seen… Willi let out a low whistle, his eyes following her as she sauntered past, hips swaying…
“She’s far too young for you Willi…!! She’d wear you out in no time…!!” I said…
“Well…” he said, studying the end of the thick cigar he liked to smoke, “I’m not as good as I once was, but I’m as good once, as I ever was…!!”
On one of our trips back to Larnaca, we stopped at the Amathous Archeological Site… While Willi distracted the guard, I slipped into the site without paying and walked up the hill to where the vestiges of a once great city had been discovered…
Not much is left of the ancient city of Amathous, but it is still regarded as one of the most important archeological sites in Cyprus...
Amathous was an established settlement in 1050 B.C. and over the centuries after that, was in turn ruled by the Greeks, Phoenicians, Assyrians, Egyptians, and the Persians, before Uncle Alex the Great drove them away, and returned it to Greek rule…
Upon the death of Alexander, it reverted back to Egyptian rule, and then in 58 B.C., the Romans arrived…!! I can just see the townsfolk standing on the foreshore as the Roman Galleys sailed over the horizon…
“Oh hell, by Isis and Osiris…!! We’re going to have to learn a new language again…!!”
Yeah, Cyprus saw more than its fair share of owners over the years…!!
The city was destroyed by an earthquake in 78 A.D., and a new Temple of Aphrodite was built on the site… (They clearly loved the chick…!!) The temple became a church in the 5th century and a new Basilica was built on the Acropolis in the 7th century… And just as things were looking up and the world was a good place to be in, the Arabs popped across the Med in their dhows in circa 675 A.D., and destroyed the city…
The columns that supported the Basilica, built on the site of the original Acropolis...
After the Arabs had left to take on bigger and better opponents on the European mainland, the elders met for a local council meeting under the last remaining Olive tree, and after a long and heated discussion, their leader stood up, cleared his throat, and in a loud voice said,
“Bugger this for a joke…!! I’m packing up what’s left of my kit, and finding somewhere else to live…!!”
And that children, is how Amathous came to be abandoned…
Here endeth the lesson….!!
*****
I found Willi deep in conversation with the guard, explaining how Cuban cigars are made, and why they were better than the ones that the guard smoked… He looked up as I approached and tapped his stogie out on his boot-heel, then we bid the guard goodbye and made our way back to the car…
“Was it worth seeing…?” Willie asked…
“Actually, it was too damaged to be truly amazing…” I replied…
“Good thing you sneaked in without paying then…!! You hungry…? Let’s go down to Governor’s Beach and see what’s cooking over there…!!”
A lone fisherman sits out on the massive limestone rock that juts out into the sea at Governor's Beach...
There is not exactly a heck of a lot that you are allowed to do at Governors Beach it would seem...!!
We walked along the cliff top of Governors Beach, where a resort has been built… Apart from the restaurant, the place seemed deserted, but I guess come summer, this place is as popular as any other along the coast…
We watched a guy making repeated attempts to get his ski-boat onto his trailer, and after a half dozen attempts he finally got it safely hooked up and ready to winch…
Massive limestone rocks lined the beach below, and the sea was a striking blue against the bright white of the shore… We marveled at the beauty around us and for the umpteenth time agreed that Cyprus was a great destination…!!
On the way back to Larnaca, and far away from any built up area or village, Willi spotted an amazing metal sculpture standing outside a restaurant that had been closed for the season…
"Aliens" comes to Cyprus...!!
Willi dabbles in metal sculptures himself, and had manufactured a number which he has sold in the past… Neither of us could believe the detail of the one we were looking at, and spent a long time going over the various components that had been used to make the Alien…
"Give us a kiss, you beauty...!!" I closed my eyes and pictured Sigourney Weaver...!! Nearly crapped myself when I opened them again...!!
The juice bar where Maria gave Willi the gears...!!
The old road enters Larnaca from the south, close to the modern airport that services Cyprus… We stopped at a juice bar on the way, as Willi had built up a raging thirst since he last had something to drink a half hour before…
Maria, the friendly lady who served us, chatted away while Willi sipped his juice, and in no time at all, they were disagreeing about everything, from the war in Afghanistan, to George Bush’s reasons for invading Iraq…
Each time Maria made a telling point, I winked at her to egg her on, and eventually it became clear to Willi that he was on his own…!!
Maria held her own the entire time we were there, and I enjoyed watching her make Willi squirm…
“America should mind its own business and concentrate on its own problems…!!” I heard her say at one point…
“You go girl…!!” I shouted, “Give him stick…!! I’ve given up arguing with him…!!”
While they set about their verbal fencing, I looked at some of the unusual fruit that Maria used to mix her juices… Persimmon, Dragon Fruit and a few others I had never seen before…!! I resolved afterward to go back and take a few photos of them, which I will post on the site at a later date… I was too busy “stirring the pot” with Willi and Maria to think about my camera at the time…!!
With nets neatly packed into their baskets, this little boat was ready to leave the harbour in search of a good catch...
Eventually Willi gave up the struggle of getting his opinions across, and ended the conversation by saying,
“You have some weird ideas Lady…!! I don’t know where you get your information from, but some of it is just not right…!!”
Maria mumbled something about “you Americans don’t know everything…” as we left to walk to the car…!!
Arguing with Maria had given Willi an appetite, and just a few hundred metres further on, we stopped at a local fish restaurant, situated right on the wharf of the little fishing harbour…
While he settled into a meal of line-fish and chips, followed by a plate of fried squid, I walked along the jetty taking photos of the fishing boats that were preparing to go out that very night… Their captains and crew busied themselves sorting and repairing nets, while their wives carried shopping bags filled with supplies on board…
Saint Lazarus Church, Larnaca... In the knave on the left, a bride and her groom were having their photos taken... Another wedding stumbled upon...!!
The roads leading into the southern part of the city are a series of one-ways and dead ends, and we eventually found our way into the main street that leads to the boardwalk…
We decided to take a walk among the local folk who streamed down this busy road, and later found a bench where we sat watching the world go by…
Young guys in their sports cars cruised up and down the boulevard, music blaring from their speakers… A biker on a Ducati came tearing down the centre lane, wearing a pair of shorts and a t-shirt only… No helmet or any other form of protective gear…
Willi shook his head sadly, removed the cigar from his mouth, and in a loud voice that everybody within ten metres could hear, said,
“Look at that idiot…!! Young, dumb and full of cum…!!”
I had just taken a deep and satisfying drag on the cigarillo I was smoking, and his comment caused me to choke as I tried to laugh and exhale at the same time…!! After a long bout of sustained coughing, and with tears streaming down my cheeks, I asked him how on earth he had come up with that…
He just shrugged and said that it was an old cowboy saying, surprised that I had never heard it expressed before…
Found this T-shirt which I told Willi suited him perfectly...!!
We finally made it back to the hotel, but not before Willi had insisted we pop into Carrefour, the local supermarket, to get some supplies which he needed for “the pantry” back in his room…
“You don’t eat enough, that’s your problem…!! I don’t rightly know how come you’re still standing…!!” he said when I teased him again about the volume of food he worked through every day…
I wanted to ride the following day, to visit the eastern end of the island, and as he no longer had a bike to ride with, and had already visited that part of the coast, Willi opted to have a rest day…
“I might go back to that juice bar and argue some more with Maria…!!” he said as an afterthought…
“Good luck with that…!!” I said as he walked down the corridor to his room, his bulging shopping bags swinging at the end of both arms…
©GBWT 2010
I think that Willi has been good for you – put some balance in your life at just the right time. Hope you will keep in touch.
Just to set the record straight…..Willi enjoys eating 3 meals a day , or the facsimilie….and having the occasional Cyprus coffee.
Ronnie the Gypsy on the other hand prefers not to eat at all, or a least in public. Nor does he like to have tea or coffee….Rather he is on a “mission” to cover ground ; not that this is a bad idea at all, just somewhat of an inconvienience when two worlds collide….
Amen
Ron – you probably should eat a bit more regularly!x
No mention of this BMW Motorrad Cyprus secretary biker with his advice and offers? Shame on you 😉
I am glad you are having a good time here in our country!
Sorry you you couldn’t make it to the ride with the club seeing the hidden real side of Cyprus through the small villages and the narrow twisty roads!
Ah…my friend…!! I’ll be sure to give you an “honourable mention” in an upcoming post…!! Remember my posts are always a few days behind, posted on the date they actually occur…!! R.
Fine is €854 because it was transformed from Cypriot pounds before… Used to be 500 pounds and then with the currency change to Euro at a fixed rate 0.585274, it became €854, to the closest decimal…!!
Well that answers that question then…!! Thanks Ion…!!
No problem man, enjoy your trip and may you bring peace where your wheels cycle