At long last I have decided to start keeping my news blog updated again with the days of my life ;)! All my exciting news of eating, sleeping and working ;).
It's been a very long time since my last post. This whole year has actually really gone so fast for me, we're already in September! I've had a really great summer here. Some highlights of my summer include spending time with friends, my towns folk week festival which was great, braais (barbecues) on the beach, swimming in the sea (yes I swam in the cold sea), kayaking, running, walking and of course laughing ;)! I can't write about everything I've done in the last few months but overall I can say that I really enjoyed this summer. The weather has been crazy this summer though, our river even flooded in my town and we've had the waves crashing over on to the sea front. I got splashed by a huge wave when I was filming the waves and that provided some entertainment for the couple watching me.
My most recent news as I've sure most of you have seen already, I went for a week holiday in Cyprus. It was very quickly planned and organised, all in a day! It was the best holiday, I had such an incredible time there. While I was there I must say it's the only other country besides Zimbabwe where I felt at home, it is actually half my home. It was nice to be able to speak some Greek again and read all the Greek writing everywhere. My camera broke on the plane just before I landed (haha on my France trip last year my camera memory card failed - I do great with cameras) but I borrowed one and used my phone and I have hundreds of photos.
I stayed with friends and arrived on Wednesday the 29th in the late evening and that night straight from the airport they took me to Larnaca and we ate souvlaki by the sea. My first full day there I spent the day in Larnaca at the beach. I played a racket game with a ball and bats and it's a very popular game in Cyprus and lots of fun. The sea was so warm, it was like swimming in a bath. The Uk sea is like swimming in ice water. We ate at a nice restaurant by the beach and I decided to eat raw fish and that was not my favourite haha. It was a full moon that night.
The next day on Friday I packed and we went to Protaras and stayed in a holiday flat. In Protaras they have that beautiful turquoise blue water. We swam when we arrived in the late afternoon and it was another full moon that night - blue moon. They had two full moons in a row and that only happens every few years. I went out to dinner on the main street in Protaras and we all had souvlaki. In the evening we went to Larnaca and we had a night out there at a beach bar, same place I had lunch on my first day.
On Saturday we spent the whole day on the beach in Protaras swimming and we hired a boat and went on a boat along the coast. We stopped the boat for a while in a very beautiful part and all jumped in the sea. In the evening we had dinner at a Greek restuarant and I had Kleftiko (Greek Lamb) and after dinner we went to a hotel that has a cliff bar where you can overlook Protaras from high up but there was a private function so we couldn't get to that section right on the edge but we could see some of it.
On Sunday we also spent the day on another part of the beach in Protaras. It was the beach right near the hotel where I stayed in with my family when I was a kid. In the late afternoon I walked to the hotel and took pictures of it, I have few memories from there. I remember jumping off the deck in to the water with my sister and my dad. My sister and I were swimming with our tubes while my dad tread water. At Fig Tree beach which is what the beach is called, there was a rock in the middle which my friend and I swam to and I touched the rock - I made a point of touching it haha. In the evening we went to a Greek restuarant and the cutest kitten was watching us eat. There are cats everywhere in Cyprus, everywhere! I took this photo of him/ her :
On Monday on our last morning there we went to Ayia Napa and spent the morning on Nissi beach. Ayia Nppa also has stunning turquoise water and I think I liked that beach the most. It was very shallow but as you swim further and further from the shore eventually you get to deep water where you can have a very nice swim.
Here's a pic of Ayia Napa:
Monday afternoon they drove me to Limmasol to visit friends there and in the evening we walked along the sea front and explored the 5 star hotels. Such massive beautiful hotels! We ate pizza on the sea front listened to the sea. It was a nice calm soft sound of the sea that you can just listen to forever.
On Tuesday I went around Nicosia and visited a Monastery which was awesome. After the Monastery they took me to a church that's built in a cave - it was amazing! In the evening I met up with friends from Zim at a fantastic coffee place.
On Wednesday I went to the city centre in the old part of Nicosia. Nicosia is the only capitol in the world that's split in to two. Right in the middle of the city centre there's a border and the other side is the Turkish side of Cyprus and you need your passport to cross over. Before the airport I visited a family friend and then they took me to the airport and it was time to say goodbye. I think I brought back half of Cyprus with me ;).
I had such a wonderful time there. I can't even begin to describe how much this trip meant to me. I loved spending time with everyone I know there. I had such a great time and lots of laughs with them :)! I will definitely go back there :). I missed it when I got back. I felt like I had been in a different world. It really was like being in Paradise.
I arrived back on Thursday the 5th of September and started work on Friday the 6th. When I arrived back I was surprised that it was so sunny and warm here and spent the afternoon on the beach in shorts and a t-shirt just like I was in Cyprus every day.
I've been working very hard since I got back but also spending time with friends and going out and all sorts. I had a great time with friends last night at a birthday party. Tomorrow is my half day - I work until lunchtime on Wednesday and then I am off until Friday :).
I do have more plans to travel in the next few months so watch this space :).
I am off to bed now so I shall love and leave you for now,
Until I write again,
Nicola
PS - lots of photos of my trip on my facebook!
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