Baklava in Paradise

Travels around Lebanon

02.10.2010 - 17.10.2010 90 °F
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Sorry for going off the grid but limited time and spotty internet connections have prevented more updates. But rest assured, I'm having a fantastic time. My travel group is made of of an international contigent of 19 people. I'm the only Yank, but there are also a couple of Canadians, some Aussies, two Polish girls, and the rest are Brits.

Since leaving Beirut, we've visited and ancient coastal town of Sidon, the medieval palace of Beteddein (sp), the rare Ummayad side of Anjar, and the oldest winery in Lebanon. Everything we've seen has been just amazing. But by far, the most jaw dropping place I've ever seen is the anceint site of Baalbeck. There is simply nothing like it anywhere.

I'm currently in the town of Byblos, which I've just fallen in love with. It's filled with little alleys filled with shops and of course ruins. I've been doing my best to help the Lebanese economy. I even bought my first shisha pipe!

Tomorrow we are off to visit the famous Lebanese Cedars located in the mountains. I expect it will be amazing as well.

Well I'm off to enjoy another Almaza beer!

Posted by KDenzler 13.10.2010 08:48 Archived in Lebanon Tagged lebanon Comments (0)

Lebanon: Days 1 & 2

Beirut & Tyre

02.10.2010 - 17.10.2010 85 °F
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I arrived in Beirut late Thursday night. I'm staying in the Mozart Hotel. Yeah, I don't get the name either. Anyway, it's OK. Yesterday I took a taxi down to the ancient ruins of Tyre which is about 90 minutes south of Beirut. The poor driver had a heck of a time finding the ruins, but it was well worth the wait. I've always been fascinated in Tyre since I read about Alexander the Great's exploits here back in 332 BCE. He was so angry that the island city refusted to surrender to him that he spent 7 months building a causeway out to the island, all the time being attacked. When he finally got inside the city walls he either killed or enslaved the entire city. The causeway he built eventually silted up and now the island is attached to the mainland. Anyway, to finally stand there in person was amazing!

On the drive home we got hit with a storm of Biblical proprotions. When it rains here it means it!

Forutunately today the sun was back out and I did some exploring of Beirut. Even had coffee with someone from Reston this morning. Then spent the day wandering the cornice along the sea and the shopping area. Baby's got a new pair of shoes!!!

I'll be hitting the road with the group tomorrow, so probably no updates.

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Posted by KDenzler 09.10.2010 05:25 Archived in Lebanon Tagged lebanon Comments (0)

Cyprus - Day 4

Famagusta

02.10.2010 - 17.10.2010 90 °F
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Today Egon took me to the Famagusta section of Cyprus which is on the Turkish side. Our first stop was to visit the tomb of St. Barnabas who helped Paul bring Christianity to Cyprus. Next we went to Salamis which is an ancient Roman (and before that Greek) site. About 150,000 people lived there in ancient times so it is a huge site. Unfortunately it was only discovered in the mid 1960s and then archaeologists only had 10 years to dig before Turkey invaded. There haven't been any excavations since and probably won't be until the Cyprus mess is fixed. We then spent the afternoon wandering around old town Famagusta. The town contains ruins from the Ottoman invasion in the 1500s. Once of the cathedrals that dates to around 1200 was then converted into a mosque. This is also the town were the real-life Othello lived.

Sadly, this was my last day in Cyprus. My flight to Beirut leaves at 10pm tonight. Even though I had 4 days, I still only saw a small portion of the island. I highly recommend visiting here. The weather is perfect, there's tons to things to see and do, the food is amazing, and the people are beyond friend. It's definitely bucket-list worthly!

Posted by KDenzler 07.10.2010 08:42 Archived in Cyprus Tagged cyprus Comments (0)

Budget accommodation in Cyprus

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Cyprus - Day 3

Lefkosia

02.10.2010 - 17.10.2010 90 °F
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Well so much for all my research. As it turns out, Nicosia is not the captial of Cyprus. It's Lefkosia. Sure it's in the same location, but still. Apparently it was the various foreign rulers over the centuries that insistend on calling it Nicosia while the townspeople continued to call it by it's ancient name, Lefkosia. It's now officially known as Lefkosia, but maps and guides still refer to it as Nicosia.

Lefkosia is the only divided captial in the world. The southern part belongs to Greek Cyprus and the Northern part belongs to Turkish Cyprus. I walked through the border crossing on Ledra St. where they check your passport and then stamp a separate piece of paper. The UN troops sit right in the middle of the two borders.

I also got to check out the Archaeological museum which was small but had a nice collection of naked Greek gods on vases and in statues. There were a few items that were missing, but then I realized that they are probably in the exhibit currently in the Natural History Museum in DC. We also went to the Icon museum which had an interesting collection of icons of various religious figures. Surprisingly, they did not have the famous image of the Virgin Mary in the grilled cheese sandwich.

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Posted by KDenzler 06.10.2010 12:20 Archived in Cyprus Tagged cyprus Comments (0)

Cyprus - Day 2

Troodos Mountains

02.10.2010 - 17.10.2010 90 °F
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Had a fantastic day driving around the Troodos Mountains. The weather was perfect: sunny and cool. My guide, Egon, and I spend the day visiting the "painted churches" of Troodos. These are UNESCO protected churches scattered throughout the mountains. They date drom 1000-1500. They are these tiny little churches, but when you walk in, it's an explosion of color. They won't let you take pictures inside the churches, but I bought postcards at each one. We also visited a little mountain village where Egon knew one of the cafe owners. We had come "Cyprus" coffee and the most tasty cheese plate I think I've ever had.

Of course there was one mis-adventure. My favorite pair of travel shoes started to fall apart. Of course, it's the ONLY pair of shoes I brought. When I got back to Larnaca today I went in search of a solution. I couldn't find any shoe stores, but I did come across a little car repair shop. Since I only really need to glue the sole back one, I figured, who better to have rubber glue than a mechanic? I'm just smart like that. : ) And it almost worked! They were very sweet and tried to help. Unfortunately, the glue they had had solidified in the coffee can where it was kept. But, they taped up my show with some duct tape which seems to be working. As the saying goes, "tis better to be in Cyprus with a busted show, than in Virginia with a new shoe." Anyway, I found some glue in the local mini-mart that I'll try tonight At least I think it's glue. It's in Greek, so who knows.

Tomorrow we head to the capital city of Nicosia.

PS - Click on the "more photos" section to see photos.