4th Day in Pervolia

This is the last morning session of the seminar. A group of students has taken it upon themselves to conduct an evaluation of this seminar / program, based on input from all participants. We discuss the outcome which was overall positive. Problematic were the lack of internet and some of the infrastructural arrangements (transport, food). But the students had the time to work on their thesis, to collect their thoughts, to find a new focus and determination. The evaluation goes until noon.

Then I am ready for a "cultural excursion". Early in the morning I had been at the bank in Kiti, to exchange my Cyprus pounds which I still had from 2 years ago. However they told me that the last day when they would accept them, was yesterday... now from 1.July on only selected bank branches would do an exchange of these Cyprus Pounds into Euros. So I will have to find a bank today or tomorrow... they mention a bank in Larnaca in the centre. But I had there been just 2 days ago, do not want to go there again.

Graham had recommended to go to the Troodos mountains. So that is what I do. But first I pay a visit to the Sultan Tekkesi Mosque which is right near the airport. Supposedly this is the 4th-most important sacred place for Muslems, after Mekka, Medina, and Jerusalem: a relative of Mohamed had died here and is buried.



Then on to the "Chapelle Royal", a medieval little church. The guide inside starts talking as soon as I enter, like a robot automat he points to all the fresque remains on the walls. They are indeed impressive, although not complete, with large gaps.



The further route leads through a dirt road into the mountains.



There is supposedly something interesting at Tamassos, but I follow the signs and just end up at a large reservoir lake... no further indications of any relevant object or sight there.



Driving further towards West, I decide that there is enough time to go into the Troodos area. There is a visitor centre up at 1700m elevation. It is not as hot here anymore, quite pleasant. Unfortunately the air is quite hazy, so one cannot see the coast from here. A guy from Romania offers rides on horses, and I decide to do this for 10 minutes. He walks ahead, leads the horse onto a short round trip.



Then down towards south, Limassol, back on the motorway to the bungalows. We all meet at 20:00 for a joint dinner in Pervolia.



The host from the restaurant Pyrgos recognises me - I must have made an impression when I ate there, coming from a bicycle tour, with my GPS and camera equipment...
This is our farewall dinner. Of course we have a Meze... the restaurant owner offers free wine. We also celebrate Reinhard's birthday (which is actually a day later, but who cares).

2nd Day in Pervolia

The morning seminar takes also place on Sunday. I realise that I have missed the evening session yesterday - for some reason I had thought there would not be one, but this is an "Intensive Program", so no free weekends are allowed. Again, the students present their abstracts and their concepts of their planned PhD thesis. Graham will leave today, so he gives his farewell remarks.

The morning seminar usually goes until 13:00. The start time has been set to 9:00, but due to the warm weather and the holiday atmosphere, this beginning slides a few minutes towards a later time. This time it gets a bit later, as there is much to be discussed.

I also have an opportunity now to use the printer in the office of the bungalow village, so I can get my voucher for the car rental.

Afterwards I use the time to catch up on my software for the MScape on my mobile phone.

I had reserved the car for 15:30, so that I would pay for exactly 3 full days when returning it to the airport. Now I take a taxi to the Larnaca airport. The car rental office is only reachable through the arrivals area, I have to pass a guarded entry where people come out from their planes.

CarHire3000 is only a broker; my car rental will actually be from AVIS. No problem there. But I have to pay the gasoline in advance, will be able to return the car empty. This is a bit annoying, as I will then have to plan exactly on how much gas to spend.

I mention the free upgrade to an A/C, which is noted nowhere on the voucher but which had been announced on the web page. Naturally, they agree that without an A/C, driving in this heat would be murder...

Now I finally have a car, and I enjoy the increased mobility. I first head to Larnaca, just to see what is there. In the city there are a few sights marked, and I follow the brown signs to the relevant points of interest. There is an archaeologigal dig, some ancient tombs under a church. I pass the Lazarus church where I had been a few months ago. While driving I see a glimps of a mosque, but the maze of one-way streets does not allow me to go there directly. Using GPS and instinct, I drive around a while in circles / spirals, until I finally approach the mosque from the other side. There is a relevant orthodox church nearby too.

Again, in the side streets there are many delapidated houses, ruins, broken. One can only imagine the stories of horror and dispair which must have happened in 1974 and before. Of course I only see the results here on the Greek side; I assume the same would be on the Turkish occupied side.

I try to find the ruis of Kition which are mentioned; the road signs are a bit misleading, often I miss a vital turn. But I finally find the site. Is closed, only open until 14:30. Maybe one of the next days...

I head now along the coastal road, further towards East. I want to reach the ultimate point in the South-East of this island. Passing a power plant. I do not go to Agia Napa, but pass it on the moterway. Then I reach Capo Creco. Large antennas from a British military installation. A large rock at the corner, a few 100m high. The road becomes now a dirt road, the main road would make a turn here towards north, to Famagusta. But I have no time anymore to explore further north.





Then I head back. Through Agia Napa. Now this is a real touristy town! Young crowds head for dinner, the primary mode of transportation appears to be quad bikes. Around Larnaca there is suddenly a stop-and-go traffic; it is all traffic which turns up north towards Nicosia. Today is the European Soccer Championship final game: Germany-Spain.

Before going home I head to the Internet cafe, to check emails and do some work. The game already starts when I leave. I watch the remaining game in my bungalow, with a desperate commentary in German from the ARD.

1st Day in Pervolia

In the morning we have again the seminar, in a conference room, air-conditioned. No internet, so no emails / surveys. The students begin to present their abstracts.

After lunch I check out the Faros hotel computer: there is a proprietary software which handles all interaction. It starts programs, but does not let the user save anything. There is a USB port in the wall, but as I plug in my memory stick, nothing happens. So no picture upload. And no printing - that is disabled too.

But I find out something else: I ask at the hotel check-in desk, if one could rent bicycles. Yes, one can. And I immediately rent one, for the rest of the day. Finally I am mobile again, without the need to pay for taxi rides. The hotel clerk drives me on a golf cart to the shed where the bicycles are. A blue 21 speed mountain bike, not too bad. I start riding right away, heading towards south-west. Maybe I can make it to Limassol? In the beginning it goes very smooth, wind appears to be from the back. I stop in Kiti, go into the internet cafe with the one computer. Save the car rental voucher onto my memory stick. Now I only will have to find a printer, maybe at the hotel. Then I can get my car on Sunday.

I continue to cycle. A few blocks away is a nice old Orthodox Church. Tourists come out of it, I take a few pictures, then head on towards south-west.

Now there appears to be a strong head wind, I only can go with about 12 km/h. The street is quite boring, a wide open plain, a few house ruins at the sides, fields. In the far distant to the right the Troodos mountains, on the left is the sea. The afternoon sun burns down quite strongly. I had put some UV protection onto myself, factor 25; should be sufficient. As I get more tired, I decide to take a swim. The coast is empty. Is not pleasant to lie at this beach, no sand is here, just stones. But the water is very pleasant, despine being warm it actually cools a bit, compared to being exposed to the burning sun.



After about 30 minutes I continue further along the coast. Make a pit stop at a beach establishment, have a few ice cold drinks. I am now sure that I cannot make it until Limassos. I head further inland, pass through Mazotos and head towards Alaminos, but halfway I return. Is too exhausting now. I am looking forward to something nice to eat now. Pass by at another nice church, more contemporary. But it appears that the Orthodox Church does not make any experiments: even newly built churches have the Byzanthine style. A pity - there are many nice contemporary catholic churches which convey a lot of spirituality through the architectural language of our times... the "old stuff" appears a bit stagnant, stuffy.



Pass again through Kiti, through the town centre of Pervolia. I stop at a restaurant, have a beer, village salad, calamari, and tsatsiki. Price just 15 Euro, and tastes great!

As I approach the Journalist Village, I decide to head on towards Larnaca towards north-east, just to see what is there. Make it up to the airport, then I turn back. Around 19:30 I return the bicycle at the hotel. I am quite tired now.

Transfer to Pervolia

The night before, just after midnight, I had reserved a car for the last three days of this stay, using the internet from the room. I just had done a very quick search for "car rental cyprus", and had come across the Carhire3000 site. I reserved a car, 3 days, 67 Euro all inclusive. With a free upgrade to an airconditioned vehicle. The confirmation email stated that I would need to print the voucher and present it at the counter... well, is not so easy done without a printer. I replied, explaining that I could not do that. It appeared that their office was in Manchester; I wrote done the phone number, just in case I would have to call them.

The morning seminar went well. The idea of using Survey Monkey for setting up a review of submitted abstract worked reasonably well. We discussed some of the abstracts, then closed the session.

It was again hot, and also getting more humid. As I was very thirsty, I walked for the last time to the Convenience Store to buy a few drinks, for the road and for the evening. Not sure how the options would be in Pervolia.

The bus arrived shortly before 16:00 near our dormitory at the University of Cyprus Campus. I had packed my stuff, but somehow was not able to fit everything into suitcase, computer bag, and photo bag; so in addition to these I had 3 plastic bags, with some drinks and towels. When we entered the bus, the driver was afraid that we would not be able to store everything in the bus - there was no luggage compartment. But we just piled everything onto the back seat row, and off we drove.

At about 17:00 we arrive in the "Journalist Village" in Pervolia. I wanted internet access - something that the bungalows would not provide. So I stay in the bus, together with a few others, to drive on to the Faros Hotel nearby where a few rooms had been reserved.

Beach near the Journalist Village

However, for me there was no room reserved there - instead there was only a bungalow flat in the "Journalist Village". And since that had been reserved, there was no way of bailing out of it. I almost considered just swallowing the double booking, until I got details about the internet access in the hotel: there was a phone dialup only, and the cost would be quite significant. So I decided to go back to the bungalow afterall. There was a PC in the hotel, 2 Euro for 15 minutes. There are also a few internet cafes in the town centre, so I gave up the idea of having internet in the room and settled for a few days without the web.



Christian and myself decide to take a taxi to Pervolia Centre, a few km west, to find out about internet access and to get some cash. The taxi trip costs 17 Euro. There is a cash machine in Kiti. The taxi driver asks a few kids around where the next internet cafe is. They point to a bar one block down the road. There are two PCs, coin operated, one coin machine is broken, so only one can use the PC at a time. 11 minutes cost 50 cents, appears to be reasonable. I am able to read a few emails and reply to the most important ones.



Slighty problemating with updating this blog is that blogger always adapts itself to the native language. So this means that I have to guess where to enter my blog entry (the previous entry was done through this).

At 20:00 there is a joint dinner at the restaurant "Enalia". Rudi Kaufmann from University of Nicosia joins us. We have a nice chat about students, PhD pursuits, and worldwide relocation.