Limassol, Cyprus

Our next stop was Limassol, Cyprus. It is an island nation that is comprised of both Greek and Turkish people. They drive as they do in Great Britain and Japan, on the right hand side of the car on the left hand side of the road. We had to take a shuttle bus into the city centre because the port was in a mostly industrialized area of the small town. Cyprus is known for their beautiful beaches. However, it was off season and I think we might have been on the wrong edge of the island to see the sandy beaches they are well-known for. We toured an Eastern Orothodox Church...it was so colorful and beautiful inside! We also went to an old mosque and peeked inside. We did some shopping and then headed towards the water. The day was sunny but not very too warm. We sat and watched the waves crash onto the rocks for quite awhile. There was a small children's park next to the coast and Lily was able to play (as well as the Messina men - all of them) for about an hour before catching the shuttle bus back to the ship. We were in a large store that only sold seashells and sea sponges, etc. Lily was taking turns "listening to the ocean" in the large conch shells they had for sale. The store owner really took to her and tucked a smaller shell in her overalls pocket as she was leaving. For the rest of the day, she would pull out that shell every 20 minutes or so and listen to the ocean before tucking it back into the pocket on her chest. Lily also had been collecting little rocks and tucking them into her coat pocket on all these stops. When I washed her jacket when we got home to Norway, I had several clean rocks from all over the eastern Mediterranean countries come out too.
The waves were pretty big. There had been some kind of wind storm the night prior. The boat had been really rocking from about 8 p.m. the night before. An ambulance met us at the port to take off a patient from the boat. I don't know if it was related to the rough weather. It made for wonderful crashing waves to watch on the coastline. If you have been to Japan, you remember the giant cement sea jacks to break of the waves. In Cyprus they just have big cement squares. Easier to make I am sure but not as nice to look at.
The can of beer....Keo beer is brewed right there on Cyprus. Didn't ever think about Cypriat beer...but there you have it. I found one along the rocks and snapped a photo.
While we were in Cyprus, they elected a new president, whom I have heard is of the communist party. The day we were in Turkey was the day the Turkish ground forces invaded Iraq to squash the PKK terrorists along their borders. I was hoping by this point to avoid any kind of news at our next stop in Egypt!