Five years ago, Bryan (a friend from the UK who annually holidays here) and I decided to try the Mr John Tour famous in Protaras. Mr John is a refugee from the North, who has for the past eight years personally run a daily coach trip upon which he recounts his own childhood experiences, the invasion, and life since the country became divided. The tour visits several of the viewpoints into the occupied area, followed by crossing the border into the occupied territory, for further guided touring by coach and on foot. That day, when we reached the border, Bryan discovered he’d left his passport back in the hotel so couldn’t continue, but insisted I stay on board and experience the rest of the trip. It was fascinating; Mr John proved an excellent, knowledgeable and entertaining host, albeit inevitably one-sided. Most memorable was a walk along a beach where tourists splashed in the sea and took selfies on their sunloungers with a backdrop of bombed out hotels with dangling signs and cranes, abandoned mid-action decades earlier.
Covid and football injuries prevented Bryan returning until May this year, when we decided to try the tour again. This time he missed the beginning due to a mix-up with pick up times, but we chased the tour bus in my car and leapt on just in time to cross the border. Mr John told us that a Turkish Cypriot guide would be joining us, but that he was a very friendly person and we shouldn’t be afraid. Thus we met the most entertaining and intriguing double act I’ve ever seen. The two bounced off each other, each telling us of their own experiences of a war and showing us such tragic and abandoned sites, including the newly ‘opened’ parts of Varosha that I’d not seen five years ago – bizarrely created as some kind of tourist attraction as a ‘ghost town’. Whilst presented almost as a comedy, Mr John and Mr Ahmet explained that, without the humour they would not be able to face such tragic evidence daily. The work that must have gone on to create the script and route for this tour, which changes regularly as new areas are opened, is mind-boggling, and I can only assume they must have put it together whilst not allowed to run the trip during covid, as the tour runs every single day. I recommend everyone visiting Cyprus should experience the tour.
In May, Cyprus was just reaching the end of covid restrictions. I found Protaras much more relaxed than Paphos regarding mask-wearing and safe-pass checking, and was surprised to find the majority of tourists were from Poland. Now we are almost into July, I understand there are many more British arrivals, and now they face no restrictions or checks at all apart from mask wearing for the journey. Hotels are rapidly filling up.
Regular readers may recall that some Paphos based friends and I stayed overnight in the Troodos Mountain village of Treis Elies in the winter, to try dog-sledding (cancelled due to the ‘wrong kind of snow’). We loved the holiday house we stayed in so much, we returned for the bank holiday weekend in June to experience it in summer. We happened to arrive on the day of the village’s first ever Cherry Festival! This involved a street market of local handicrafts and delicacies, and, of course, many cherries! These were being given away free as well as tiny pots of delicious traxanas, cubes of local halloumi and feta, and sold alongside cherry cookies and other delights. A cookery demonstration took place in the village square, later on giving way to live music. A trio played into the wee small hours, which included one talented chap who, as well as singing sublimely, played various instruments, among them a small silver recorder or whistle, and what appeared to be a knuckle-duster of bells which he seemed to play against a thermos flask.
The mountain villages are a fabulous way to escape the heat in summer, and many hold festivals. Look out for the Apple Festival in Kiperounda in October, and the famous Limassol Wine Festival planned for late August/early September. Above all, have fun exploring!
Mr John tour: www.ghosttownfamagustabymrjohn.com
Limassol Wine Festival: www.carnifest.com/limassol-wine-festival-2022
Jezebel: www.groovejetmedia.com
