Author: Nick

Where I got started long long ago

Cyprus Revisited

It’s difficult to write a blog on Cyprus from a traveler’s perspective given I grew up here, it’s also harder because things have changed so much since it was my home, I tend to focus on the changes rather than what it has to offer but I will do my best to paint a fair and true picture. There are some things about the island which despite having grown up here I am discovering for the first time, for example I never gave much thought to Cyprus’ history before as it lacked much of the heroics of Greek history whilst the food, the weather and the beaches were all taken for granted. Now armed with a bit more worldly knowledge and 43 extra years experience, plus a hint of bias and am ready to tell it all. So here is my full ‘Kardashian size’ exposé.
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Mountain tops and blue sea

Combine the two islands’ names and you get “Paxos”. That was to be the name of the blog until I googled Paxo and it turned out to be an English turkey stuffing, it’s also, believe it or not, another Greek island not far from Corfu. Option 2 was to scramble the letters, I then came up with Poxas, that was totally wrong too. No prizes for guessing where we are…
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Mon, Maria, Malene and Me in Greece revisited

It drizzled, blew cold winds and for a moment we wondered where summer had gone. We were in Aarhus, Malene’s home town which is half way up Jutland on Denmark’s mainland, we only had four days to catch up with Malene’s mum and friends Tine and Soeren and we are now heading back to Greece.

The meeting point was planned to be at Athens airport below the illuminated sign that says “Meeting Point” in the arrivals hall.

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Not quite the Iliad (but has better photos)

The story starts after Helen (of Troy) is kidnapped or runs off with cute loverboy Paris. The problem was that her husband king Menelaus of Sparta was brother to another king, king Agamemnon of Mycenae. Agamemnon was not at all cute, he was big, hot tempered, brash and somewhat of a bully, in a nutshell not the type of person you would want to upset and Agamemnon got very upset with what happened to his brother.

Agamemnon lived on the top of a hill and had lions above his front gate, if that tells you anything about him it should be: “Do not mess with me”. In the picture you see Malene, alias Helen of Troy, at the front gate the day we went to visit at their big castle of “Mycenae” located in the Peloponnese just outside Nafplion. Read more

Greek Odyssey on land

 

We left Athens in our hired car and started our two week voyage of Greece. We had planned our route a few days before using a mix of suggestions from the internet, places we had ear-marked in advance and filled in the gaps to keep distances to a maximum of 4 hours drive, which turn out to be 6 hours with stops, but that’s ok. With my trusted navigator by my side it took us forever to get out of Athens, we just could not get onto that motorway for the life of us.  Read more

Athens, should we blame it or credit it for Brexit?

Countless islands in the sea below with small villages dotted on each bay was the view  from my window seat looking down into the Aegean on route from Larnaca to Athens, it also helped keep my mind off the bumps and jerks our Airbus was going through. My mind wondered to the WW2 bombers being knocked around from exploding shells but am sure ours was nothing like as bad plus there were no Germans firing bombs at us, or were there?….. Read more

Welcome to little Britain

London is so familiar to both of us, Malene and I having spent a good few years living and working here, pretty much in the centre. But visiting is different from the daily drudge of getting up for work, it could be dark, it could be warm, it could be cold – depends on if the central heating is on, you have breakfast, then get the paper and the train for work. No not us, not this time. Sandra, Malene’s friend who we met up with in NY and who lives in London, kindly put us up for the few days we were there at her top floor apartment in Maida Vale and we got up at 10am most days. But we had stuff to do and as with TV game shows where people race about our tasks for London were not too different. Read more

The Big Beast

It can eat you up and spit you out just like that and you can scratch your head wondering what to do next. But the Big “B” is not as scary as one might think, it’s a big teddy bear with lots of honey jars and goodies. Go 50 meters in any direction and there is food and lots of it, all kinds of donuts, bagels, juicy sandwiches, restaurants and bars, fresh food supermarkets and of course coffee by the gallon.  This is……. Read more

A dose of Holbox

Warning: This blog contains material that could be detrimental to your mental health and overall well-being. View the photographs with caution and if you experience any symptoms of lightheadedness, malaise, speaking in tongues or an urge for an ice cold Mojito contact you travel agent immediately. Failing do to so could lead to hysteria, chronic incoherence and in extreme cases much worse. Read more