Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Island in the Sun










So again I have to apologize for the pictures in the last blog. For some reason it's super difficult for me to upload and organize them so I just got super lazy and left them the way they loaded.

Anyway, yesterday morning we arrived back in Nicosia from our 4 day spring break trip to Ayia Napa. WHAT A FABULOUS PLACE. Kell, Dez, Lauren, Noora, Emma and I got to our hotel, Panas Tourist Village, Friday afternoon. Kell, Dez, Lauren and I shared an apartment-style room with 2 bedrooms, a living room and a kitchen. Oh and there was a TV too, which was kind of nice because sometimes there were shows on in English (mostly euronews and Planet Earth). We traveled from our place to Nissi Beach (the best beach in Cyprus) to see our Spanish and French friends who rented a car and were there for the day. After hanging out with them as the sun set, we realized we were mega hungry and decided to try out the all-you-can-eat deal at Pizza Hut. We got never-ending orders of ham and mushroom (the "classic"), vegetarian, and plain pizza. It turned out to be a not so good idea because we all felt hella sick afterwards. We headed to a nearby kiosk to pick up some drinks and things for later, which included the ingredients needed to make sangria. We all headed back to our apt and Noora made the sangria and we taught her and Emma how to play Kings. After one game we played a bit of pool and decided to head out and see what was going on downtown.

We walked along the beach for a little bit and followed lights that looked like they belonged to some sort of carnival. We arrived at a park that could've been taken straight from the Jersey shore. After talking to some of the guys that worked the rides, some of the girls decided to attempt the sling-shot ride at an extremely discounted price (normally 20 euros per person, they rode 10 euros for two people). They were strapped into a ball and flung into the air in between two huge poles. They were video taped the whole time they were strapped in the ball and then we got the DVD fo free :) After wandering around the carnival some more we headed back to the hotel to sleep and get rested for our first real day at the beach.

The next morning we all woke around 10:30 and headed to Nissi. We spent the day romping around in the water and sleeping in the sand and it was phenomenal. That afternoon we stopped at another kiosk and ran into some guy selling tickets for the Cocoa Bikini Bar-apparently there was a BBQ dinner and open bar until 1 am all for 45 euros. Well that was way too much for us and we told him that we were students and unfortunately couldn't afford it, so he dropped the price to 25 euros a person and told us not to tell anyone. Of course we bought the tickets.

That night we headed to the bar around 9 for dinner along with a ton of other students. Not many places were open in town yet because the season hadn't really started, so everyone staying in Ayia Napa could probably have been found in three different places. While the place seemed a little awkward, we arrived to FANTASTIC music. The DJ played 2 Blink songs in a row and THEN Mr. Brightside, and I nearly died. We played a bit of pool and danced around, and met two guys from LA who were on vacation from teaching English in Prague. They were mega nice and mega funny. We all tried to take advantage of the "open bar", but they had a limited selection of drinks. After the bar closed around 1, we headed to the Castle Club-one of the biggest clubs in Ayia Napa (we got a free entrance pass at the Bikini Bar). It was super cool-it was a legit castle inside and out, and it reminded me of going to Medieval Times. We hungout with our new American friends there all night until close at 4:30. We left and introduced them to Zorba's (of course-there was one right down the street). We stayed out until the sun came up and went to sleep around 8 am.

We woke up around 12 the next day (or the same day, I guess) to head back to the beach. Again we stayed there all day, swimming and sleeping. We played it safe (and cheap) and made some pasta in our room that night, and then Emma and Noora came over, all ready to go out. Noora got some coupons to Senior Frog's Bar. They offered free transportation to the bar from our hotel, and had 15 euro fishbowls filled with cocktails. We got there and it looked like way more fun than the bar the night before so we stayed until it closed. They played wonderful music and gave us huge bowls of great popcorn and we danced and sang until 1 am. We got more free passes to the Castle Club and also to Carwash, a 70s and 80s club. We headed to Castle Club for a bit, but they were playing throwback R&B and sucked so we peaced out to Carwash. By that time everyone had gone back to the hotel except Dezi and I. We got to Carwash and were surprised by the lack of people. The music was so fantastic though that we sang and danced all night. We met two British guys that were there interpretive dancing who were in Cyprus playing soccer, and we walked with them to Zorba's when the club closed. They were funny but had a LOT to say about Americans and American politics. We went to bed late again and woke up the next day around 11 to head to a different beach, one near all sorts of rock formations and caves. It was kind of a hike but everything was so beautiful that it didn't matter. We made it to the rocks and the view was absolutely PHENOMENAL! We did some climbing down to a fantastic little cove and we swam in and out of some caves. I was absolutely terrified but I was pressured into it, and I had a great time. We swam around a bit and climbed out, and stopped at a few shops on our way back to the hotel. We showered and made more pasta, but this time we didn't remember to buy sauce before the kiosks closed so all we had was salt. It was a sad dinner. After we ate, Noora and Emma came over with our friends Stephan and Erik and we made more sangria before going back to Senior Frog's Bar. We got the free ride and had a great time there. I met two very nice Cypriot guys who were super fun. We left the Bar and headed to Carwash again, but this time it was packed and super fun.

The next morning we woke around 7 to catch a bus back to Nicosia around 8. It was such a wonderful spring break ;)

1 comment:

  1. hmmm really is this called school?!lol cause it seems to me like a great excuse to go to beaches and bars. i wish they had schools like this in the U.S. smh.lol

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