During all those years when I was holidaying in Cyprus never once did I visit the place that I most wanted to go to – Kyrenia. In those days it was not possible to cross the border in Nicosia and travel from Greek Cyprus into Turkish Cyprus. Now the wall has opened up and at last I was able to make the trip.
I had hoped to bring news of a wonderful hour and half spent wandering the streets of this interesting town and of finding the old British cemetery which is marked on maps as “Ingliz Mezarligi”. The cemetery is a fifteen minute walk from the central square so an hour at leisure would have been heaps for me to visit. Alas, on this occasion, my plans were not achievable due mainly to the complete and utter disorganisation of the tour. As we drove into Kyrenia after leaving the ruins of Bela Pais (which had included a 25 minute queue to use the one ladies loo !) I spotted the cemetery on the outskirts of town. My excitement mounted and I was ready to jump off and speed away as soon as the coach came to a halt in the square. However, as the guide showed us our meeting point I was greeted with the news that we had only 30 minutes at leisure !!!! This was absolutely ridiculous and I was more than disappointed as I knew that there was no way for me to get to the cemetery.
Everything about the day was a disaster. The female Greek Cypriot guide was abrupt and unhelpful in the extreme. Time was wasted at both Bela Pais and at the restaurant. Lunch itself was a complete shambles. No proper arrangements were made for comfort stops during 9 hour day. In fact so many complaints were made about the excursion that P & O had to resort to refunding us 33% of the cost – but the refund in no way made up for the fact that I had been able to see so very little of the town I had gone to see !!
Lets pass over this and move on to Israel.
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