Capturing Moments: War Tactics, Old City, Rhodes

Rhodes is full of history and war; inside the old city are remnants of that time….

and now a closer look……

Capturing Moments: Old City, Rhodes

(Someone’s thirsty)

Capturing Moments: Beach Umbrella Series, Rhodes

(in tribute to my afternoon at the beach)

Sunshine, Touring, and too many pictures to choose from…

I had such a great day today, opposite of my rainy one yesterday! The sun came out and now I see why people love Rhodes so much…its amazing here!  

I woke up early, and after breakfast headed to the Old City.  My hotel is amazingly located close to the Old City and the beach, perfect!  The Old City is a lot like that of Jerusalem except for a few things.  Its clean, quiet, organized, and you can actually breathe in fresh air.  There are still the same tourist shops everywhere, but they aren’t attacking you as you walk by.  (ok, it sounds like I hate the Old City in J-lem, but I don’t…honestly.  It’s just a refreshing break here, thats all.)

Then as I was walking along the pier I came across a 30 min. boat trip around the sea. The cool thing is that the bottom of the boat was glass, so we could see beneath us as we went along.  I decided to give it a try, and even though I didn’t see anything spectacular, it was fun!  

I also headed to the beach to check it out (tomorrow I will attempt to sun-bathe, depending on the weather) and alas…found a Starbucks on the way  

I took a million pictures and I have soooo many favorites already that I don’t know which one to post first! (Shame) I will start with this one, but don’t worry….there’s many to come!

 

Rain, Gloom, and Bathroom Dilemma

Its been rain and gloom since I arrived yesterday, needless to say I’ve been spending most of my time in my room…

I’ve traveled a lot over the years, so I know there are many different ways of living; but please help me out here.  How am I supposed to take a shower here….

 without drenching everything here…

 

 

 

 

 Its a complicated issue, and requires  much skill in the showering arena.

 

 

 

The good news is that its supposed to clear up tomorrow, so  I can actually get out and explore the island.  After all, I have Colossus to find…..

Off to Rhodes

I am leaving to go to the airport for my trip to Rhodes.  Please pray for travel safety and grace with the airport security (oh, and good weather).  I really don’t want to go through the interrogation like last time, its such a huge process!  Hopefully, I will have internet access at some point there, so I will try to update my blog as much as possible.  Up, up and away…..

Update: I made it safely and arrived to stormy, rainy weather.  No problems at the airport with security at all  Thanks for all your prayers. More to come later.

Capturing Moments: Nicosia

This is a street in Nicosia that runs between the Greece and Turkey border.  I took it cuz of the message on the wall, pretty ironic considering the circumstances surrounding the area.

Mediterranean Monday: Cyprus

Since I’m here in Cyprus until tomorrow, I thought I would write about it for my Med. Monday topic.  Technically, it is a Mediterranean Country, so it fits in nicely.  

From Tel Aviv to Larnaca, it is only a 50 minute flight.  Cyprus is a small island right off the coast of Israel, and it is a popular destination for Israeli’s to go on holiday. When my nephew found out I was going to Cyprus he asked me, “What will you do there for  5 days on an island?”  He’s been watching too much Survivor!

I few into Larnaca, on the south-east coast of the country, but actually stayed in Nicosia, which is the capitol.  Nicosia is located in the middle of the country, about a 30 minute drive from the airport.  

There are many differences from Tel Aviv, one being that pretty much everyone speaks English.  I didn’t have to worry about the language barrier at all.  In Tel Aviv people walk everywhere, compared to Nicosia where no one really walks.  Many times I was the only one walking, which I didn’t mind at all.  Cyprus uses the Euro, which makes everything so expensive (and I thought living in TA was expensive!) My daily trip to Starbucks (yes, I did find one there) cost me about 5 Euros for a grande, which is more than a grande in the states cost.  Sometimes its just worth it though!

One thing that is similar is the night life.  Cypriots are night owls, as are Israeli’s.  It must be a Mediterranean thing, cuz restaurants don’t even open till 8pm here.  

The interesting thing about Cyprus is that 30% is Turkey’s land and 70% is Greece’s.  It might not sound like a lot, but for a country of only about 700,000 it ends up being a large area.  The Turkish border runs right into Nicosia, so I got to go and check it out for myself.  Not going into a whole political speel, but its not exactly a wanted situation (on both sides)

Overall, it was a nice 5 days…short but sweet.  I got some rest, got to see some sights, and meet some new people. Thanks to my friend, Demus, I even stayed at his house for free!  What a blessing that is.  Next time I come to Cyprus though, I will go to Paphos and check out all the historical sites…but thats another visa trip!

P.S.  I heard today that ‘supposedly’ the ancient city of gold, Atlantis, is located under the island of Cyprus and scientists/archeologists are discovering parts of it as we speak……but thats just the word on the street here

It’s all Greek to me!

This morning I attended a church here in Nicosia.  The service was all in Greek of course, but luckily I had a translator (thanks, Penny!). As we sang some hymns, I thought about how many different services I have attended all over and in how many different languages.  It was a pretty cool thought, one that made me want to learn Greek so bad.  I know I am focusing on Hebrew right now, but every time I go somewhere with a new language I always wish I spoke that one as well.  I can’t fathom how easy communication must have been pre-Babel times.  But from someone who loves languages I often think…now where is the challenge in that?!?  

One language??? Come on!  I guess God knew what He was doing, if nothing other than stimulating the brains of people like me

Cyprus…here I come

In a few days I have to leave and head across the Sea to Cyprus.  I wasn’t too thrilled about this concept, but its starting to grow on me.  Now that I have my ticket and a place to stay, I’m actually looking forward to experiencing life on the island.  I have to stay at least 5 days before I can try to return, so I googled things to do in Cyprus.  I was pleasantly surprised to see all the options I have in front of me, and hopefully I will be able to take advantage of some of them.

Please keep me in your prayers during my time away.  Not only while I am in Cyprus, but also with returning late next Monday night… I’m a bit nervous and anxious about re-entering the country.  Please pray for mercies and grace with customs and immigration officers at the airport, in both leaving and returning.  

Cyprus updates coming soon