Sunday 7th November 2010

The end of September saw us in the Mediterranean on the island of Cyprus my first visit to this destination. It was a long flight out 4 hours and an even longer one back nearly 5 hours with an hour’s delay both ways which meant for a long journey on a Monarch flight which was far from comfortable. The outward journey was further hampered by a whinging pair of idiots sat right behind us who did nothing but complain from start to finish of the outward flight. Its one of the few times being deaf was an advantage; I just switched my hearing aid off!!!!

We left on a cool day 18 degrees and arrived in 30 degrees, what a difference, unlike Malta, Cyprus has high humidity 85+ on most days were there. We landed early evening and I must say the handling of the disabled at both ends was brilliant; the only delays we experienced was to wait until the people got off the plane but we were then fast tracked through customs and arrived outside before most of the passengers that had gotten off before us.

We were quickly taken to the transfer coach and some 30 minutes later we were outside our hotel. I was not prepared for the number of people there were staying at the hotel, I was only use to smaller more intimate hotels from past experience, but the hotel staff were friendly and helpful even if some of the guest had a face like a smacked ass!!!! I thought the idea of holidays was to enjoy and relax???? Some of the guests had clearly not embellished this concept.

What can I say about the hotel, our room was clean and tidy and spacious as was the rest of the site (it was a hotel and an apartment complex, so it was fairly big) The hotel was “tired” very much in need of repair and a few licks of paint but what the hell we were only using the hotel to have breakfast and sleep as we are people who like to explore the country were are visiting and not lay around the pool day after day like some of the guests. The pool was clean and fresh and a joy to go into after a dusty hot day out exploring, we made use of the pool a number of times during our stay but we never stayed long, 10 minutes in the pool, 20 minutes lying in the sun then up to our room for a shower and planning our evenings out.

Most of the restaurants were good if a little on the expensive side, I guess you pay for what you get but the food was good and for the most part delivered promptly. They do not believe in small dishes and most meals I could not finish. The meals on the 2 boat trips we went on were something else, the crew was fantastic and really looked after you. I am not a good swimmer but they were swimming around me all the time whilst I was in the sea and when I had to go down to the toilet one very kind lad helped me back and forth despite the rocking of the boat especially on the evening fireworks trip on the last night.

I don’t know if I was suffering a little jet lag but I did take a few days to recover from the journey and had my experience of disability hate, especially from the bus drivers who were ranging from rude to damn right obnoxious and I spent a lot of my time during the second day crying my eyes out at the way I was treated by one driver in particular. I had a word with the concierge at the hotel, it seems that the Cypriot people do not tolerate there disabled and tend to shut them away so nobody sees them, this was something I was not prepared for. In the two weeks of my holiday I only saw one local with a walking stick but there were many on holiday who were disabled. Once I understood this I gave as much as I got and managed to get through the holiday with few more tears. I must say that I may have been vulnerable being so tired from the 4 hour plus flight.

Cyprus is steeped in history and we went on as many trips as we could afford and thoroughly enjoyed the experiences we had. The one striking thing was the churches and monasteries, they were all gorgeous and so well preserved and so ornate. They looked as if they had been built recently not hundreds of years ago.

Would I go again…. Oh yes…. But not to the same hotel, not because it was bad but we never go back to the same place. I was not as friendly as Malta or Kos which remain my favourite places I have visited so far.