The Dominican Republic

We have been to Cyprus about 5 times now the longest stay was back in 2000 we stayed for 35 nights. After 35 nights you get a genuine feel about the place and observe the diversity of the people who work and live on the Island. You also drop the tourist part and operate like the locals  do ,using the  same lauderette and the same supermarket ,also  listening to all the gossip  as it is a small place what the Irish call the goldfishbowl , everyone knows everyone and his mother. 

The papers are in English and you can find lots of information such as where to  go towhen the kids are bored and it is raining . There is always the  pictures, also there is an adventure playing ground just like home from home for the young children. On a rainy day you have to be prepared for young children and entertain them indoors or stay in and get cabin fever choiceis yours!  Or alternativly you could ride on  the bus on the loop till the rain stops and find....... GO KARTS  which are brillaint fun and very fast ,orif you like a quiet peaceful day there is always the  Aqua Marine life see the aquatic  floating sea creatures of all desciptions  this is invariably  what we didif we got stuck for something to do . 

The first hotel Maraniki................. 

This was a small hotel needed demolishing if truth be told LOL.

There are some  Russian People who walk to work everyday and then clean the entire hotel single handed. We stayed in a small family hotel called the Maraniki , I could not recommend this hotel. I felt so sorry for the half dead young mother from Georgia that I cleaned the room and took off the bed linen for her and generally done most of the cleaning before she arrived.

We moved out of there  to  stay in The Land of The Kings  which was more family friendly ,also had a bonus  of  a large swimming pool ,also it lacked   the added extras such as mice  , and holes in the ceilings and no electricty at various times throughout the week. Something that I could not getover or  used to paying for for 5 weeks. I side tracked the Olympus repand packed up my case got in a taxi and headed of for a 3 minute journey to paradise. Heating hot water lovely apartment. At night time returning from Sid's Bar , we would duck down low as the bats would circle outside our apartment you could almost reach out and touch them they came so close  . It was fun rather than scary ............ 

It has moulded me into who I am today surviving and coping in a foriegn countries  single handed with a young child.  

To complete the holidayin 2000  We ended it with a 3 day cruise to Egypt which was a gruelling crossing in an electrical storm. We survived this journey and took a lot on board from this experience too. If I could get through this I could get through anything in life!!!!!!!

Moving on now to night time entertainment in Pathos  There is a famous bar called Sid's you go in for a pint & a sing and come out with a pair of spectacles as his son is an opitcian. So folks be prepared to get roped in for a new pair of specs if you want to be in with the New Crowd.

In Sid's Karaoke  Bar which  known for its fine singers/entertainers  , some of which were awesome I have to say none of your usual screemers you usually get on holiday ,or either we just went in on the right nights . Karaoke  no holiday would be complete without this , Christos was a bar person/ entertainer of Turkish nationality . This man was a jack of all trades singer,  pot man , Cypriot dancer  you name it he done it  .He  would often as not look for a light weight person  which at that time was you guess it us .   Myself, and also  my son who was 4 years old at the time to take part in his act.  It was frightening to say the least, however I did not like to offend him in anyway at all and when on holiday  you relax up a little & take part in the show.It has to be done.

The act was to pick the table up between his teeth with myself perched  on it or my son.I nearly freaked when I returned home and found this illustrated on TV , the act went wrong . 

Fortunately for us we were in good hands, or should I say teeth LOL.

I do love the island, to have returned so many times you have to like something about the place.  You can experience three seasons  in one day, you can go up in the Troodos Mountains which have snow on them it is certainly cold enough to wear winter coats ,   and then later on  you can travel  down to the beach,were you can enjoy   the sunshine  , at least 5 hours  a dayof sun  I think in the winter months.

I may upload photos of 2006 Queensbay New Year  Celebrations , I am  a blog virgin so please bear with me whilst I find my bearings for the first time. I have lots of holiday photos so I will christen this blog and go on holiday soon and then get up to scratchwith current stuff  . This can be my trail run for now .

Signing out for now

Lynda