Northern Cyprus 3rd - 11th March 2020

Northern Cyprus  3rd - 11th March 2020

On Tuesday 3rd March Bill and Val drove to the Ibis Hotel on the outskirts of Gatwick Airport, they stayed the night, left the car and took the shuttle bus to the North Terminal. From there they flew to Antalia, Turkey. Here they had to disembark, clear immigration and customs then reboard the plane for the onward trip to Ercan in Northern Cyprus. After having to clear immigration and customs again they transferred to their hotel in Famagusta arriving about half past midnight local time. They remained in this resort for three nights and whilst there visited Nicosia, the nearby St Barnabas monastery, the ruin city of Salmis, Dipkarpaz, St Andrew’s monastery, the Golden beach and a little village  of Komi Kebir on the Karpasir peninsular. They also visited the Agios Afksentious church.

On Saturday 7th March they checked out of the hotel  and boarded the coach and were taken to Famagusta where toured around the part of of the town that is war torn and behind wire. They then visited a mosque that was once a church. Following this they were driven to Minia Kilbride where many of the sights of Cyprus are displayed in miniature. They were then driven to the town of Kyrenia where the checked into the Altinkayz Holiday resort where they stayed for the remainder of their trip. Whilst they were in that part of Cyprus they were taken to a carpet warehouse, a jewellery factory and a leather clothing factory to what ends they will never know for besides being too expensive they were not the commodities they needed. They were then taken to Kyrenia itself where they walked around the castle and viewed the Ottoman shipwreck before walking down to the harbour.

The following two days they did their own things having decided not to go on the organised trips. The first day they went back into Kyrenia and walked around the town and the following day they remained in the resort.

The final day was long and complicated. They were up at 02:30 and transferred by coach to Ercan airport. Here they cleared a security check before even entering the building. They then checked in their luggage, went through immigration then cleared a second line of security before boarding the plane that took them back to Antalia. Here they disembarked went through immigration, collected their luggage cleared customs went to check in desk deposited their luggage, back through passport control and security again before boarding the same plane that brought them here.  Then set off for an over four hour flight back to Gatwick. 

Back in the UK their problems didn’t end. They retrieved their luggage and contacted the parking people telling them they were back and asking for their car to be delivered. On making their way to the car park they received a call stating the car had a puncture so we would be collected from the airport, taken to the car where the tyre would be changed by a member of their staff in our presence. They meant well but due to the type of suspension the Range Rover has they couldn’t do it. So Bill, being a member of the AA called for a very very nice man to come and change it. This was done but the spare was a “space saver” wheel which meant a slow steady ride home. They were home by 19:30 a vey long day.

Despite their travel experiences it was a good trip and they made some new friends with common interests so hopefully they will maintain contact.