Nice things in Nicosia...

Up early and Mum, Eileen, Janice and I were ready and assembled at the Bus Station at just after 7.30am!!! That is assembled with a throng of others (male and female) who were going on the coach trip which Maureen Barton had organised.  

The plan was to visit Marks and Spencer, Ledra Street, cross the border and go over to the Turkish side and then finish off at Ikea.

I had learned my lesson from my trip to Limassol last week and had checked out the weather forecast for Nicosia and had dressed accordingly so I would not melt as I had done the previous Tuesday.

The coach trip was very uneventful - in fact quite pleasant and it was only a matter of time before we could see the hallowed ground of St Michael!!!  I didn't really want anything from M&S and know that the pound/euro conversion is disgusting so that the price of goods there is grossly inflated but it is always nice to have a look around.  I had thought I would miss shopping much more than I do but a day out like this is a real treat and even if I had bought nothing it wouldn't have mattered.

Clothes were, as expected, astronomically priced, but we were pleasantly surprised by the prices of the gifts, food and jewellery.  There was also a 20% promotion on gifts and I brought some beautiful glass dropper ornaments for the Christmas tree for just 40 cents a pack!!!  

I also managed to get a pack to 'make your own crackers' which I was really excited about as on several occasions I have made crackers for Christmas (until the airlines got very fussy about taking them on aircraft).  This was a real bargain reduced to just €2 - I just needed some little gifts for the insides and I had the rest of the day to try and find something!!

Nicosia is a very much more cosmopolitan city than Paphos - it would have been lovely to see what the Christmas decorations were like in and around the city but if the ones in the shops were anything to go by they would have been quite stunning.  This was the centrepiece in M&S and with the piped Christmas music I began to feel really festive!

On returning to the coach I realised that I had dropped the case to my Blackberry which is a real bugger as I like to keep the handset protected.  I had enough time to run in and tell one of the assistants what had happened and he took my phone number saying that he would take a look.  I didn't hold my breath and was very cross with myself.

Here you can see the rear-end of our party on a mission marching down Ledra Street towards the Green Line.  Mum, Janice and I did the route slow time taking in some of the lovely shops en-route.  We nearly bought a lot of things but held off.  We did however earmark a branch of Bamboo where we were going to have our lunch - I know that Mum really likes the lemon chicken and the portions are large enough to share!!

We had just arrived at the point where we needed to find out our passports when I had a phone call from M&S to say they had located my Blackberry cover.  Unfortunately they couldn't send it to the Paphos Branch because they are concessions and not out and out M&S branches.  They said that it had to be collected - deep joy!!  I decided to take my life into my hands and text Galadia my lovely neighbour and ask her if she would pick it up for me.  I knew that she would be very cross that I had been to Nicosia and not arranged to see her but as it was an organised trip I knew I just wouldn't have the time to do that.  She agreed to pick it up but not before I was severely censured for not having contacted her and arranged to meet.

Nicosia is the only divided Capital City in the world and as you pass through no-man's land between the Greek Cypriot checkpoint and the Turkish Cypriot checkpoint there are people protesting about the situation living in tents much as they are doing outside St Paul's in London.

It is a tricky old situation which doesn't seem any nearer resolution and not something you discuss as an ex-pat over here because you could end up really offending someone - all I can say is it is a shame whatever the rights and the wrongs but it does leave tourists with quite a fascinating experience.  Directly as you pass through to the 'other side' it looks quite modern land there are interesting shops and street cafe's.  If you are planning on going they take Turkish Lira, Euros and even Sterling - in fact I think they will take just about any currency they can.

Within a street or so it starts to get very old and much more traditional (Hello Janice!!!).  There are some very interesting artisan shops but the mainstay of the shops seems to be counterfeit goods - mainly sports gear and handbags.  I saw a black handbag that I thought was lovely - not because it purported to be Dolce and Gabbana (or would that be Dulce and Gabbano???) but because it was a really nice bag but I wasn't prepared to pay the €30 he was asking because I am a cheapskate and John would say I have enough handbags already!!!  Just as well as one lady on our trip had the two she had purchased as Christmas presents confiscated as she passed through the Cypriot checkpoint - apparently now that they are in the EU they don't tolerate copy goods (REALLY!!!).

We found the most fantastic place to have coffee.  You can see Mum somewhere near the middle of the picture with her back to me.  This courtyard was in full sun and we really enjoyed spending a leisurely half and hour or so chatting with a coffee.  There were little shops located in the archways on both the ground and the first floors and a number of our party were in there having lunch which they said was fantastic.  Mum nearly had a coronary when the bill came for coffee until she realised it was in lira rather than euros!!!  Janice and I left Mum enjoying the sun whilst we investigated the shops on the first floor - if you had been looking for handmade jewellery you would have had a field day!

After a lovely walk round and an even lovelier lunch in Bamboo where we shared lemon chicken and beef in black bean sauce with egg fried rice we got back onto the coach and made our way to Ikea.  The complex which includes Ikea is fantastic and personally I would have liked to have spent longer there but I can always go back again.  None of us wanted anything large like furniture but the market place goods are always good value and I managed to get a standard lamp with spotlight which is ideal for the corner of the bedroom.  On a Tuesday, apparently, coffee is free in Ikea so we took full advantage and Janice and I went wild in the aisles having TWO cappuccinos with extra sprinkles!!!

Everyone assembled in good time for the coach home and Ray was ready and waiting for us at the coach park so I did a quick turn round and made my way back to Droushia where John had battened down the hatches and had tea waiting - what a love he is!!