Digital Wanderer

We live as long as we fly

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Cyprus — 9, day eight, outskirts of Larnaca

2015-07-26

 

My story is drawing to a close — my loyal comrade and sarcastic joker Rybakov is leaving me. He is rushing off to Latvia for Stipro Skrējiens — a race for people who find climbing 2km up mountains insufficient; they also need to flounder in freezing spring mud, break their limbs on slime-covered wooden obstacles, and endure all sorts of other humiliations and abuses just so life doesn't seem boring. In my own way, I get bored too, but not quite to that extent, so I still have a couple of days left to discover the outskirts of Larnaca.

 

Rybakov flew out early in the morning, while I leisurely rolled into the center to hit up the bike shop and pick up the spare parts from my rim repair on day one. I was in for a letdown — the shop was closed, despite it being a Friday. I asked the first Cypriot I came across what the deal was, and he replied, "Bank holiday." For those who haven't rubbed elbows with the British, this expression might seem puzzling — what do banks have to do with shops being closed? Fortunately, I'm a man of the world (insert solemn throat-clearing here) and therefore aware that it's just the traditional British term for a public holiday (for the history buffs, it's simple — primarily, the Bank of England would close on certain days).

And the reason this Cypriot grandpa answered me with an English idiom is that Cyprus's ties with the British Empire run deep, and it only recently got out from under it.

But what kind of public holiday is this right in the middle of spring? Boom! Boom! The drumbeats all around triggered an epiphany in my brain, exhausted by the heat and the endless elevation gains. Today is May First, Labor Day!

Down the main avenue, and then along the exceedingly long promenade, stomps a ceremonial procession of schoolchildren, young men and women in uniforms. I've never seen so many percussion instruments in my entire life — it seems they had to scour the whole of Cyprus to arm everyone. Uniforms of all colors — green, white, red, and among them a ton of flags with a clenched fist, looks like the trade union movement or its various offshoots.

 

 

A procession is walking down a sunny city street, with people carrying red flags and banners, one of which says "ΕΠΑΡΧΙΑΚΗ ΕΠΙΤΡΟΠΗ LARNACA". In the background, there are other buildings, one partially covered with white construction fabric, and cars on the road.

After gawking at the parade for a bit, I finally decided to go all in and ride the road route of the CTO you already know, which was close to a hundred kilometers long. Too late to ask myself why I need this — the course is set, the landmarks are in sight, it's time for action.

A person in a white t-shirt and jeans is walking down a sunlit city street, carrying a black banner with gold fringe, a round coat of arms and the inscription "AEIBANON", against a backdrop of buildings with signboards.

Having stocked up on water properly (who knows what lies ahead on the way), I moved in a triangle around the windmills, which you will see from many angles in my photos.

Endless wheat fields glowing with gold awaited me on the route. I haven't seen so much wheat in my entire life — though I suspect I just haven't had the chance to visit the parts of Ukraine that are the breadbasket.

A warm but very strong headwind blew in my face, creating a gentle sensation that it is the height of summer right now, yet not letting me forget that I am, after all, near the sea.

There was a ton of older cyclists on sick road bikes in full cycling gear. If I wanted to, I probably could have even caught up with them, we were barely doing 25, but I didn't want to go too hard — I still had another kilometer of elevation gain ahead, and 90 km of distance.

A tree blooming with pink flowers against a clear bright blue sky. In the lower part of the frame, a city street with a passing white car, road signs, and low buildings are visible.

In these parts, the vegetation is much livelier, apparently they water it properly. The result is delightful — smells delicious, looks great.

An ancient stone church with tiled roofs, a dome topped with a cross, and massive walls made of light stone. The building is surrounded by green grass and thick trees under a clear blue sky.

If you can't tell an ancient church from a modern one, and what the value of an architectural monument is, is it even worth studying them? I used to stress out a lot about not knowing something, but now I think it's impossible to know everything, and what's the difference anyway — having a broad outlook is nice and useful, but as with everything, it's best to do it without fanaticism.

A tall green cactus and a lush bush of bright crimson bougainvillea. In the background, palm trees and part of a Greek flag are visible under a blue sky.

A gray asphalt road with a green shoulder in front of a vast golden field, in the center of which stands a lone green tree. In the background, a city among hills with wind turbines is visible under a blue sky with white clouds.

Windmills against the backdrop of wheat

Rural landscape with bright green fields in the foreground, beyond which stretch hills with sparse trees and patches of dry vegetation. Mountains are visible in the distance under a blue sky with white cumulus clouds.

Hills against the backdrop of mountains

Landscape with a harvested golden field in the foreground, hills and a small village in the distance, against a backdrop of a clear blue sky.

Wheat against the backdrop of wheat

By the road, against the backdrop of mountains and a cloudy sky, stands a pole with a metal robot figure and two large advertising billboards in Greek, pointing to a bank and an auto repair shop.

The Tin Woodman against the backdrop of ads

Summer landscape with a dirt road in the foreground leading to an arid hill covered in sparse greenery, under a bright blue sky with white clouds; the edge of a wooden signpost is visible on the right.

This part of Cyprus is full of these mini-hills. I climbed one or two of them, but it's boring and unnecessary — there's usually nothing there, except for an extra two hundred meters.

A steep hillside consisting of red-brown earth and light rocky outcrops, covered with sparse dry grass and shrubs, against a blue sky with white clouds.

And rocks, occasionally covered in trees

An asphalt road with dry grass on the shoulder leads to a hilly area covered in shrubs and sparse trees, under a partly cloudy sky. In the midground, several small structures and a power line pylon are visible.

 

A small church made of light stone with a dome and a cross on the roof, surrounded by coniferous trees under a blue sky. In the foreground, a stone fence with wooden railings and information plaques in Greek is visible.

A protected monument of antiquity, by the way. I'd tear it down without a second thought

A blue sign with the inscription 'PURGA' and a left arrow is fixed on a chain-link fence with barbed wire, behind which thick green trees are visible. In the foreground is an asphalt road and a low stone wall.

The most worthy sign on the route

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A wall made of large rough stones of different shades, with layers of small flat reddish and light bricks. Above the wall, thick green vegetation is visible.

Golden fields and gentle wooded hills under a partly cloudy sky. Power lines are stretched across the sky, with a high-voltage tower visible on the left.

In places, it totally looks like my home turf, especially if you imagine that it's been a hot and dry summer

A dirt road winds through dry hills covered with yellowed grass and sparse young pines under a blue sky. In the background, the silhouettes of low mountains are visible in the distance.

These kinds of roads are more to my liking than asphalt, but I just didn't have the energy for planning and navigation anymore

A light brick church with red tiled domes, including a large central one, and a bell tower, is visible through a section of a black wrought-iron fence. A path bordered by a green lawn leads to its main entrance.

A monument of a man with a rifle raised above his head, mounted on a pedestal in the center of a roundabout. Streetlights are located around the junction, and green trees and a sky with sparse clouds are visible in the background.

IMG_3987

I rolled into the excavation site by bypassing the padlocked museum through someone's vegetable garden. Us tourists, we're such cheeky bastards, totally uncivilized — if something looks interesting, we just barge right in

View of a settlement located among fields with green grass and yellow flowers. Blue mountains rise on the horizon under a light sky with scattered clouds.

 

An asphalt road with passing cars, running parallel to a red bike path and a paved sidewalk under a blue sky with light clouds. Lampposts are installed on both sides of the road, and dry grass is growing.

An unprecedented trace of civilization in the middle of the villages

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Some of the wheat has already been harvested

A golden wheat field under a clear blue sky with light clouds. In the background, low hills, sparse trees, a distant settlement, and a wooden power line pole are visible.

And some hasn't yet

A dirt road winds through fields of ripe golden grain, leading towards light rocky hills under a blue sky with sparse clouds.

The most boring hills in the world, but interesting to see once

Landscape with a dark asphalt road in the foreground, flanked by trees on the sides. Beyond the road, fields with dry grass, green shrubs, and hills with wind turbines are visible under a blue sky with white clouds.

Windmills from the other side

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Round straw bales are scattered across a golden-brown harvested field, while hills are visible in the distance under a clear blue sky with sparse white clouds.

I rode over a hundred kilometers solo that day. There are people who feel comfortable and at peace in solitude, but the longer I live, the more I realize that man is a social creature, and I'm probably more social than most. The division into introverts and extroverts, like all social constructs, is contrived. If I have something to do, I have a pretty good time alone too — like right now, for instance, writing in this clunky (as one visitor called it) blog, or when I'm working thoughtfully and totally immersed in the process. But such immersion, also known as flow, comes easily to calm people. For those who are emotionally more restless, the easiest thing to dive into is a conversation or a shared game, because we humans are hardwired for it, even if you're the most introverted introvert on earth.

I will travel alone too, if it can't be helped, and that way is good as well — it pushes you to step out of your comfort zone and interact with the locals. Ultimately, we now live in a global village, and by hacking a local telecom operator's leaky Wi-Fi, you can call friends in Latvia from any village. But after living a decade or two, you start appreciating something more physical and real — live human interaction, the surrounding landscapes, the smell of the forest and fields. A human being has too many senses, and they are too complexly wired for us to be satisfied with the currently existing virtual toys.

The world is infinite, unknowable, complex, and beautiful.

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