Cyprus travelblog

We’re just back from Cyprus, where we….

1. Visited with our friend Charalambos Charalambous (hereafter, CC). Not just visited with, were thoroughly hosted by CC –

1. In numerous trips around the island to see Greek and Roman ruins, Aphrodite’s birthplace, the mountains, and the capital, Nicosea.
2. At his parents’ house for a wonderful dinner. Where Seth discovered the Mediterranean grandmother he never had – Charalambos’ mother couldn’t keep her hands off him, and Seth reciprocated by basking in the attention and even giving her a snuggle.
3. At a wonderful tavern in the mountains where we ate, and ate, and ate…. 

2. Managed to get some work in (CC and HCH)

3.  Visited the occupied side (North Cyprus to the Turkish) of Nicosea with Jon’s friend Cigdem, who flew in from Ankara to see us. We had lunch in the Büyük Han, a medieval hotel/dining establishment and then saw the Selimiye Mosque/Saint Sophie Cathedral – spectacular and fascinating (see left).

Incidentally, there was recently an interesting NYT story about a nearby town similarly divided:

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/01/world/europe/cyprus-varosha-reunification.html

4. Managed to survive 100-degree days with a lot of time in the pool:

On the left is the toddler daughter of a Russian Oligarch, who had a grand old time pushing Seth (in the red and white shirt) into the pool.

A few things we noticed:

CC’s mother fed us two dishes: a walnut dish, with walnuts similar to what you’d see in the US, and “Cypriot walnuts.” Which we’d call pecans. They’re considered native to the island – of interest to Jon, who’s from Pecan Central (Georgia). On the occupied side of Nicosea, Jon also spotted some peas that he also only sees in the south of the US, suggesting that there may be some Cyprus-Greece-Georgia connection.

Lots and lots and lots of Russians. Everywhere.

We also took our usual tour of the local grocery store. Of interest:

Aisle of Greek cheese.

Prawn cocktail potato chips.

Feta potato chips.

Coke (sigh.....)

Finally, Jon actually was in Cyprus on legitimate business -- a conference for educational psychologists. Here's a picture of Jon and his crew of doc students/former post-docs (and me) having a working meeting:

It took us a few days to recover from the intensity of the meeting, as you can probably tell.