Around The World Without Flying: The Mediterranean Sea, and Cyprus

Since we exited the Suez Canal at Port Said, we have been sailing across the Mediterranean Sea, and as I write this, are now on our way to Sicily, which we will reach tomorrow. This will be an additional stop only very recently included in our itinerary and will be my last day on the ship!

I have been intrigued by the different ‘moods’ of the Mediterranean we saw yesterday, our first day at sea after Cyprus. For most of the day, the sky was a clear blue and the water was quite calm, and a beautiful true blue colour, a welcome relief from the weeks of mists in Asia and the Middle East. But then suddenly we had a ‘white-out’, with the sky covered in low cloud and even the water looking white. You could not distinguish the horizon. I have never seen anything like that before; it was quite eerie and disorientating. But then the sky started to clear again. This made me think of the thousands upon thousands of desperate refugees who try to cross this very extensive sea in flimsy, unseaworthy boats, without possessing any navigational skills. How terrifying it would be for them if they were caught in a ‘white-out’ like that, not to mention storms, rough seas and all the other dangers.

On Friday we anchored in Limassol, the major port city of the Greek part of Cyprus, which is south of the dividing mountain range. The northern part is Turkish, and now the island is at peace with these arrangements after years of conflict between the two communities. In fact Cyprus has a fascinating past, with many civilisations having at one time conquered it, including the Saracens, the Genoese, the Egyptians, the Turks, Phoenicians from Lebanon, the Romans under Alexander the Great, the Byzantines and the Venetians, and even Richard the Lionheart, who married Berengaria from Cyprus before he did battle with Saladin. The Crusaders had used Cyprus as their stepping stone to the Holy Land. But when Richard left Cyprus to continue the Crusade he sold the island to the Knights Templar. (I am not quite sure of the correct sequence of all these occupations.)

Finally the island was bought by England in 1878 from the Turks, who had occupied it for the previous 300 years. Initially classified as a British Protectorate, it was made a Crown Colony in 1928 but then achieved independence in 1960 after the British forces had been harassed for years by Greek guerrilla fighters. However, Britain still has two sovereign bases here.

The third largest island in the Mediterranean, Cyprus is just 40 miles from the nearest southern point of Turkey, 60 miles from Syria to its east and 240 miles from Port Said, Egypt, to its south. So it is in a zone where there still is a lot of conflict.

And as if all these conflicts and the stress and suffering they brought were not enough, the island also has been racked by earthquakes over its history.

Cyprus is the Greek word for copper, which was discovered on the island about 2500 BC and one reason why so many civilisations and countries wanted to possess it, on top of its strategic location. But the island also is very fertile and our tour guide spoke with great pride about all the incredible range of fruits, vegetables and produce such as wines, nectars, syrups, honeys, nuts and carob that are exported from the Greek sector. It also is a popular tourist destination.

The tour on which I went was to a small village in the mountains called Omodos, just over an hour’s drive from Limassol. I was struck by the fact that the mountains are made from limestone, so the vegetation in the mountains wasn’t what you might call ‘lush’ and the scenery was not really picturesque. The sides of the hills were cut into narrow horizontal gardens with white rocky fences made from the limestone, so that every available space was used for growing food. On our drive we saw many olive trees, carob trees, vineyards, orange groves and market gardens, as well as cypress trees.

At this small and delightful village, we first sampled some local produce at a tavern, and then wandered through the village square, where some local hand-made lace, embroidery and jewellery were sold, as well as some delicious foods made from sesame seeds and nuts, and so forth, not to mention the usual touristy stuff. An hour was simply not enough time to enjoy that, so we left to go back to the ship very reluctantly. I would have loved to have lunch there but that was not to be. I would add that some of our group chose to spend most of that hour to see the local church and winery, or to have coffee and some local food at one of the several cafes. But I love handcrafts so spent my time browsing in the shops and tasting small samples offered at their bakery.

All in all, a lovely but not nearly long enough experience.