Cyprus. Holidays

 

By mid-November, it was clear that we needed a change from this dark and grey autumn. Just something that includes nothing but the sun, pools, good food and books.

Say no more. I booked tickets to Cyprus and the already known 5 stars in Annabelle hotel.

When I started to check us in on Wednesday night, I learned that starting from Monday an arrival test is obligatory for everyone. Oh, lovely! Because what else would one expect from a vacation than two weeks in a quarantine hotel. Just in case I did a rapid test in the morning.

I would like to say that the flight was uneventful, but with cheap flights to sunny places, such things cannot be said. Most of the flight we could enjoy two kids (not from the same family), a five year old boy and a six year old girl running back and forth along the aisle, using the armrests to jump, using a smooth elbow kick, waking everyone up, who have managed to fall asleep and most of the time the dude (Kristo, if anyone cares) stuck his fingers into his nose, licked them thoroughly, and then patted all the armrests again.

After we got off the plane, the bus took us to the test payment lane, where the already well known Kristo, taught his mother how to skillfully skip the queue. We paid for the test, then the queued up for taking the test and after taking the test took the bus to the immigration queue. And in no time, an hour after landing, we were already in the taxi and headed for the hotel.

We ate a lot - the hotel buffet was absolutely great for breakfast and dinner, we went for walks and runs, once I even got in the pool, we watched the sunset from our balcony and the only night we decided to go to a Mediterranean restaurant instead of the usual buffet we were served a chicken that had died seven deaths.

We also went to Starbucks on the first night. After placing the drink order, it turned out that we were not in Starbucks at all, but in Coffee Island next door. In the actual Starbucks it turned out that by December 9th they had run out of fudge hot chocolate drink from the Christmas collection, and since the whole island has low stock on chocolate, this year it won't be available anymore. At least I got my mug.

Live the Rhythm of Riga. How we didn't go to Lidl.

I was excited about my breakfast since yesterday morning, because all I could think of was how good the oatmeal was. And the breakfast buffes rarely have something that I like and what wouldn't be croissant, pancake or something else good, but unhealthy. So I grabbed my coffee, a bowl and beelined straight to the hot meal area. The cehfs had decided to greet us on this lovely Monday morning with runny semolina porridge. I put the bowl back and very dispiritedly took some pancakes, a bit of potato salad and something that looked like savory carrot cake.

I googled some more and we went out once again to give another shot o finding the House of the Blackheads. And the Town Musicians of Bremen. And then the gallery, where Scott bought me the earrings yesterday, because he had decided that he might want the painting of a mosquito they had there. Didn't find the musicians. Once again when the Google Maps told me that here they are, all I could see was the church wall and a cat house. It didn't seem likely that the musicians would be hiding out there. But what we found was the House of the Blackheads. And the main square. We also found the gallery, which huge wooden doors were securely closed and locked. Scott called their number and apparently got someone out of the bed at 10am. But he did find out that the gallery will be opened 1pm today. I googled some more and found out that the town musicians are placed near the other wall of the church we were walking by earlier. We took some pictures of them, went back to the hote, packed out bags to stop by in Lidl and start our way to Sigulda after that.

I had previously looked at the map and found that Riga is nicely covered with Lidls and several of them on our way home. I had planned to stock up on grocieries big time. Where the first Lidl was supposed to be, there was a construction site. We kept on driving. Also next one turned out to be still work in progress. And once again I googled. Turned out that currently they are working on building 10 Lidls and in 2020 they are planned to be opened. At the moment we can go and shop in Rimi should we wish so. We drove to Sigulda. For two euros we could walk around in the ruins and enjoy the views of bare trees. The cable car doesn't run in the winter.

We decided to live on edge and be adventurous with the food. Instead of driving back to the town of Sigulda, we will see, what are the options on the road. For a while it seemed that there will only be a Circle K and a kebab joint. So... I googled. Turned out that if we would be ready to starve for 10 more minutes, in Ainaži there will be one of the noblest restaurants of the country outside of Riga. We parked and stepped in. There were two more tables occupied. And one of those, 6 Estonians just leaving. The waiter tried, very unsuccessfully to direct us to the darkest and furthest corner in the dining area and didn't seem pleased at all when we asked, if we could take the table at the window. We ordered oven baked baguettes with cheese and prosciutto, prawns with mango salsa, tomato soup (for me) and gulash soup (for Scott). Totally unplanned we got a great lunch instead of the hot dogs.

Cyprus. Vacation.

By the end of August it was clear that I need vacation. One that doesn't include running from one sightseeing object to the next or cleaning the home. Somewhere with hot weather, beach and direct flight form Tallinn. I bought tickets to Cyprus and booked a hotel as near to the beach as I could afford. An hour before leaving to the airport, the hotel called me and asked, if it's alright, if they accommodate me instead of the booked 3-star hotel in their 5-star hotel. Quick consultation with Google Maps assured that the new hotel is right on the beach, so I graciously agreed with the change.

On the plane I was sitting next to a lady and her daughter, where the lady kept twisting and turning on her seat to talk to the row behind us, where she had the rest of the family and to take pics of her daughter, while constantly leaning onto my seat to get better angles. Approximately every 10 minutes I had to push her away from my seat. And it was a 4+ hours flight... Soon also the people in front of us started to look back with wry faces, because the kid kept kicking the seat in front of her and hammered the tray table up and down.

In the hotel room there were fresh fruits, balcony, view of the pool, sea and breakfast area and since it was far over midnight, most importantly the bed waiting for me.

Next four days were pretty much all the same: bed - breakfast - pool - beach - Starbucks - pool - walk (I once went to town too, but it wasn't anything spectacular) - dinner - sunset. There were more pools in that hotel than most water parks in Estonia, also an infinity pool, waterfall and pool bar.

Apparently I'm an extremely dirty person, because my room was cleaned and bed made twice a day...

All four days it was 86+ degrees, sun and clear sky. And 10 minutes before I started towards airport, there was a storm totally out of nowhere, pouring rain and the wind took the awnings from the Chinese restaurant across the street.

In the airport I heard the announcement that the boarding to Tallinn had started. I looked at the screen and made my way to the gate. As the last one boarding I showed my passport and boarding pass and the pretty unfriendly employee asked me, where I was flying. Turned out that this gate wasn't for Tallinn, but for Moscow. It also turned out that although the boarding to Tallinn had started, the screen I looked at, didn't even have the Tallinn gate yet. Make your best guess, huh.