WEEK 1 – A FREE DOUGHNUT AND €91 OF PEANUTS
Our first week in Cyprus (well 4 days really) was the perfect start!
Both Aaron and I had the first 4 days off work so we could settle in, and it’s been bliss. We arrived late on Wednesday night, collecting our car (a little automatic Nissan Note) at the airport from a guy that told us, this is how you start it, these are the lights and these are the indicators – good luck.! What more do you need when you’ve never driven an automatic before?! Turns out that driving an automatic isn’t rocket science but we still haven’t shaken that automatic lunge for the clutch. We were told it would be changed for a different car on Friday but that hasn’t materialised yet so we’ll see what happens next week.
We stayed at a cheap and cheerful hotel (no Four Seasons for us on this occasion) called Tsanotel and it was perfect! In an ideal location right by the beach, with a pool and breakfast included, it was a great place for us to chill out and enjoy the sun for a couple of days.
We did wander out and found our favourite cafe from last year, La Croissanterie, where we ordered another favourite, the Cypriot frappé! Essentially a Nescafé ice coffee with lots of coffee foam on top. Delicious. The lady there also gave us a free donut…I knew moving to Cyprus was a great idea.
In the evening, we went to a restaurant which we found online called Syrian Restaurant. It had great reviews and was a five-minute walk from the hotel so we gave it a go. The walk took us up and around the back streets and we wondered where the hell Google maps was taking us but at the end of the street, a huge middle east inspired building appeared with stone arches and columns. The inside was as impressive as the outside with an indoor and outdoor area, the outdoor area being tucked under a canopy of grape vines. The food was incredible, and a favourite of Aaron and I – Syrian and Lebanese meze. Heaps of salad, dips, skewered meats and breads – it was so much food we took some home to enjoy for lunch the next day, and enjoy we did. We will definitely return at some point.
The first two days were spent mooching around in the sun but we met our friends Alexia (Lex) and her fiancé Chris on Thursday evening at Molos, which is the beach front promenade by Limassol Old Town and the Marina. We went for a nice walk and stopped for a coffee/cider by the water to properly catch up – we hadn’t seen them since September the year before, so we were there until gone midnight. It was so good to see them and felt like no time had passed since our last visit. We’re so excited to be able to spend some time with them whilst we’re here!
First impressions of our new place were…mixed. The building itself is very old so the outside looks pretty rundown and shabby and also, on approach, we found a needle on the floor which was a nice welcome. I’m pretty sure the neighbours are engaging in some ‘elicit’ behaviour shall we say (I don’t think the black beamer showing up at 1am is delivering groceries…) but they are pleasant enough and keep themselves to themselves.
HOWEVER, the inside of the flat is pretty much newly renovated and it’s really cosy, clean and spacious. Spread over two floors with a spiral staircase, we have a lounge/diner/kitchen area downstairs with a decent table for us to work at and a big balcony with table and chairs which you can see the sea from (yay!). Upstairs is the bathroom and bedroom (with another huge balcony – yay!). Despite the somewhat sketchy exterior, I think we’ll be right at home here for the next month!
Moving into the apartment meant a trip to the supermarket and we were pleased that we were back on familiar ground. The nearest supermarket is Lidl, with the Cypriot supermarket, Alphamega being not far either. Lex & Chris told us that Alphamega is probably equivalent to shopping in Waitrose so we decided to do the majority of our shopping at Lidl. Despite opting for the cheaper supermarket, our weekly shop came to €160…and we only had 3 bags! Convinced that we’d had our pants pulled down (as the saying goes) we quickly checked the receipt and found that we had been charged for not 1, not 2 but 65 BAGS of salted peanuts and made our way back to the till. On seeing our measly three bags of shopping and realising that there’s no way that there were 65 bags of peanuts in there, in fact, (I’m not even convinced there’s that many bags in store) we got our €89 refund and made our way out.
For good measure, we checked Alphamega out too and despite being compared to Waitrose the majority of its products were from Tesco…it was literally like being in the UK, but with far yummier Cypriot baked goods (mouth-watering just thinking about it). Close to Alphamega is a store called Jumbo which is basically when Ikea met Wilkos – it’s massive but sells everything from kid’s toys, to gym equipment to barbeques. Naturally, we went in and bought a load of stuff we absolutely didn’t need for exercise we absolutely won’t do.
We’ve done a bit of a walk around the area to suss it out and have found our local sports bar. It serves good food and beer, and the roof rolls back too, so you can sit in the sun and watch the football – perfection! The only problem is that it’s a Liverpool bar, but they can’t get everything right!
The beach is literally a few minutes’ walk from the apartment too, and there is a beach path that runs all the way along the coast. We went for our first run one evening, and even though the sun was going down, it was still bloody warm. Along the path, is what Aaron and I call “Muscle Beach”. A small gym which has some basic but decent machines for a workout with the best view! We’ll use it at some point but on this occasion, we ran past eager to see more of the beach path and the bars that lined it!
On Friday, we were kindly invited to join Chris & Lex and their friends for a meal and had our first Taverna experience. We drove to a small village slightly outside of Limassol (although it only took us 10 minutes in the car to reach) and had the BEST meal. Lex ordered meze for the table and the dishes just kept on coming. Plenty of salad, halloumi, traditional Cypriot sausages, Sheftalia (ground pork mixed with onion, parsley, salt and pepper formed into ovals, like a thick but short sausage!) chicken and pork souvlaki (the softest skewered meats) and pasta dishes– it was a never ending flow of food and we loved every minute! It was really cool to be involved in a Friday night with the guys too – and fun to see how a typical chilled Friday is spent in Cyprus!
It was the best four days and despite going back to work on Monday, we’re really looking forward getting stuck in to our new normal!
I’ll update the blog every Monday and fill you in on what we’ve been up to so keep your eyes peeled!
Love,
Meg x
