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Our
adventures in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus continue....
   
Well here we are in the lovely Ski resort of Borovets in Bulgaria . Actually we are back in TRNC by now, but first I am going to bore you to death with out holiday adventures.
We got out of bed at 2.30 a.m. on Monday 27th to drive to Larnaca and fly to Sophia. We had booked the whole thing on the internet with Bulgaria Ski and have to say that they turned up trumps. On hand to meet us at the airport with a car and driver to take us all the way to our very new The Ice Angel Hotel, this was exceedingly good and right by the lifts with a glorious piste view.
We had arrived in the resort about 1 p.m. so after unpacking we went out for a spot of lunch and a stroll down the high street to reacquaint ourselves with this place. Joan and I had been here about 4 years ago, but not much change, they are still trying to sell the funny hats and other tourist gimmicks, after investigating even more high street we discovered that many of the same bars and restaurants still exist. There was the addition of an “Erotic Bar” part way down the street but somehow I think that we may avoid that one.
We have to confess to a little afternoon nap and then we went just around the corner to The Kaminata Restaurant where they have the standard guy on the door, touting for business. This one was very good and persuaded us that their steaks were the best in town, have to confess that he was probably right.
Early night because tomorrow we collect our ski passes and then we will find out if we still have the legs for it.
On Tuesday morning we were greeted by a {03_19) which was clearly going to make our first day on the slopes a little diificult. However by the time we had got our passes and things sorted the sun was beginning to creep through. Then I discovered that I had lost my goggles somewhere, guess they slid off my sleeve, but in snow like this you need them over your glasses. Small investment needed at one of the high street shops.
We spent an hour or so on one of the easy slopes, recognising the fact that we had not been on skis for almost 4 years and then took the lazy way to find a simple blue run all the way down to the hotel again. The snow started to come down quite heavily again about 2 p.m. so we decided enough was enough for our first day.
We had also discussed the hire boots we had on, necessary because our own old boots had given up the ghost a couple of years back and decided that if these old veterans were going to come back for a few years yet,then new boots would be preferable, so we walked around a few of the shops and finally managed to do a very good deal on two pair.
The rest of the week was quite glorious weather, with some early morning snow flurries. We were really enjoying ourselves by now having begun to get the ski legs back.
Joan was been the real intrepid skier and especially enjoying the lift being right on the doorstep of the hotel. Just another lazy ride one after the other. There were a whole variety of runs from the very top but above all some of the views of (03_14) where quite stunning.
When we decided that we had enough each day we were able to walk around the village and usually popped in to The White Magic Bar for G&T. The guy who owns this place is a famous Bulgarian skier who has numerous European and World class medals to his name. Quite a character really but he and his family have really got it sorted in their little bar/restaurant. He and his daughter both give private ski lessons and usually the groups they take end up eating and drinking in their place also.
If you don't feel like a walk back to the hotel you can always get one of these taxi sir cute little pony traps back to the hotel.
The last three days of our holiday coincided with a National holiday in Bulgaria and the slopes got a little bit more busy.
The resort had also taken out one of the red runs to organise an open challenge cup event, sponsored by a local vodka company of all things. The ski races where for snowboarders and traditional skiers and watching from the top of the slope I think some had been on the vodka already. At the end of the day there were the standard cup presentations to the prize winner in each event.
Sunday our last day of skiing and slightly overcast but very enjoyable. Joan had decided by lunchtime that here legs had had enough and there was just enough sunshine to bask in.
I managed a few more runs and by 3 p.m. it became sort of serious stuff as I was getting quite knackered. But just one more time had to be worth it if I took one of the easier runs, low and behold I made it in one piece.
Definitely an apre-ski time now and then some packing as we were being collected at 8.30 a.m. in the morning.
We went back to the Karmanita restaurant this evening for another of their delicious steaks and a bottle of local chardonnay. I know, white wine and steak is only for heathens, but we know what we enjoy.
All in all a great holiday and think we might be coming back again next year.
Now that we are back just a quick look at last Saturday's Cyprus Today.
Seems like Thompsons Holidays have put all the holiday brochures, for the TRNC holidays back in their shops. Great, that gives tourism a bit more of a chance.
The big news item is probably that the TRNC cabinet are considering letting Gary Robb back on to the island to complete the Amaranta Valley development. This is not yet final but is apparantly based on a letter request, from Gary Robb himself, saying he wants to come back and complete the project and clear his name on the island.
Once again there is a suggestion that the Kyrenia by-pass will be started on at the end of this month. Don't hold your breath.
Speed cameras are to be put onto the roads of TRNC starting in May. A good idea maybe but, basic roadsense education would be a good start. Having been badly cut up by a policeman changing lanes this week, maybe an in-house start would be a good idea.
It seems that the Health Department decided on an overnight swoop on retaurants, bakeries, bars and nightclubs in the Nicosia area. Many restaurants where reported for not having the correct legal paperwork for staff and also on health and safety issues. The funny bit relates to the nightclubs. The "hostesses" had all the necessary health certificates but the waiters and food staff did not.
Last night we went down to LD's just to see them both after our holiday and of course to sample their food.
Today Joan had an installation of furniture going in to the Medview apartment of Chris & Karen Ryan over in Bogaz, Famagusta, so we went over together which turned out to be a good thing. The furniture delivery turned up three hours late, because the granite man had not delivered the table top to our suppliers. Then when he did, it was a lovely 120 cm round, very bright PEA green, so we rejected it. At least Joan and I got to sit around on Bogaz seafront in some relatively warm sunshine waiting for them to turn up. We tend to realise after all this time here that these things happen, they just assume that everything will be alright, without giving any thought to what the customer might have wanted.
Joan's birthday and Michael & Barbara's 46th wedding anniversary. Many will remember that last year we had a big joint party out in the sunshine to celebrate this event, but nothing like that this year it is cold and rather wet so we had to just go out together for a special occasion dinner to La Vista restaurant, which is on the road down towards The Denizkizi Hotel.
A crowd of us went to this same restaurant last summer, when we where all able to sit outside on their terrace, so we thought time to give it another try. Probably more of a special occasion place but extremly nice. Michael & Barbara both opted for the fillet steak which they both said was extremely tender and tasty, Joan and I decided on the flambe prawns, in garlic, mushrooms and wine. There I was with the camera ready just as the brandy went up when the camera politely said "change batteries" and I said *****. Never mind a nice picture of the table chef anyway.
Lots in the news this week.
A strict 13 hour curfew, for us all, on Sunday 26th March. This is census day and we all have to remain in and around our homes between the hours of 5 a.m. and 6 p.m. whilst they do a head count across the whole of the TRNC. Apparently anyone breaking the curfew, even after having been counted could be liable to a penalty of up to 1 year in jail. Bars, cafes etc will all be closed on that day and even tourists must remain in their hotels. If you need to go out to catch a flight etc. then you need permission from the local police. Interesting concept on how to count heads, only in Cyprus could they dream this up.
Cheap flights with EasyJet. Now that really is interesting. For a month or more now a new airline called Pegasus has been operating out of Ercan in to Istanbul, but to the airport Sahbia Gokcen on the Asian side of the Bosphorous and now EasyJet have set up flights from Luton to the same airport. The intention is to combine flight schedules to bring people all the way to TRNC via this route and with a saving of more than £100.00 on the CTA prices. This has already started CTA complaining and stopped their stewardesses from smiling………..
A leading TRNC lawyer has told home owners who have bought property in Amaranta Valley to “sit tight” and wait until the government decides what to do about the situation. This was said at a meeting of the Homebuyers Pressure Group last week and clearly refers to the possibility that Gary Robb may come back to the island to complete the project. He also reminder the group of one legal point which has always applied here but is often not applied. It is illegal to purchase without first having a buying permit issued by the government. He did admit that this was a grey area saying that the permit and the building work often went in tandem, but this was a clear risky thing to do as it may be possible to pay all the money but not own the property.
Phew what a week. We ahve both been quite busy with customers over here, which can only be good, but also nights out as well. But then many of you would say, whats new about that.
On Tuesday it was del & sandra's anniversary and they had suggested dinner for the four of us at The Stonegrill. This restaurant is really quite different and always very good, especially if you don't mind cooking for yourself on the hot stones. They always serve up a good quality steak and this way you can do to your liking. A great night out and then at the end of the meal Lorraine and Ann-Marie had closed up at L.D's so they came round to join us for a drink, they even brought a customer round with them, probably the only way to close the doors for the night.
Wednesday yet another night out. Brian and Pat have recently moved over here in to a villa similar to ours, Brian's sister Jean has been a big reader of our website for some time and sort of uses it to keep an eye on things here and now they are here to check up on the older memebrs of the family and make sure they are going to be OK here. They said they wanted to meet up whilst they where here, so this evening we met up with jean & alan at L.D's just to show them what a terrible life we have over here.
Thusday night back to La Vista, this time with Keith and Steve. These guys have recently bought a villa over here which is nearing completion, they have also been looking at our website for a very long time and made most of their contacts here through. This week we have been installing the air conditioning for them and hopefully next week their kitchen white goods prior to them moving in. They took Joan and I out to dinner as a sort of thanks for the help thing and we all had a very enjoyable evening aided and abetted by the fact that they like food too.
Tomorrow night we have promised ourselves a night in and home cooking.
Sunday and black clouds with thunder greet us. Only one thing to do, back to bed with a cup of coffee and the weekly newspaper so that I can select things of interest for the site.
Great news, the CENSUS DAY has been cancelled until sometime in April. Apparently the reasons are, local authorities have not finished naming and numbering all the new roads and the government department have realised that they have not recruited or trained up enough staff to do the job and their website is not yet finished. What strikes me as funny is the name of the department responsible " The State Planning Department". The term "p*** up in a brewery" springs to mind.
At last the Kyrenia bypass is about to commence, or is it? There is a formal ground breaking ceremony planned for next Friday and the work is scheduled to take two years from that date, funded by Ankara. However, a small snag has sprung up. Fifty residents along the route have employed solicitors to apply for a court injunction to stop the work. Apparently there are outstanding disputes over compulsory purchases, compensations and the site of the road. Maybe the self same State Planning Department was involved! Wait for more news this looks like fun.
Gary Robb is coming back to finish Amaranta Valley. Or is he? It seems that the government are backing the idea of him returning to complete the project and helping him to clear his name over here by offering him "significant assistance" to seize documents, computers etc as evidence of a claim that he is the victim of fraud.
The whole project including the re-opening of company accounts the appointment of an independant administrator to work with Gary Robb and other assisiatnce is being supported by Serdar Denktas. He has already been advised to employ security guards around him all the time he is here and live somewhere where he can be protected and it would seem that Mr Robb is considering the governments proposal and seeking legal advice before making his decision. We wait further news.
Once again a ministry here has promised major changes to cut red tape, this time the Ministry of the Interior. This is supposed to help residency, work permits etc and this is on the same page as two articles. One about an Englishman who has lived here 17 years and still waiting for either permanent residency or citizenship and the second article is about an Englishman, married to a Turkish Cypriot, awarded citizenship and then called up for the army, aged 54 years. Guess this department still needs to get it's act together.
Joan has had customers over this week and consequently had a couple of runs in to Nicosia to show them around some of her furniture suppliers. She is finding that people want to look at what is available long in advance of their property being ready, just to budget for the future in most cases. Hopefully she will find time this weekend to add some more products to her website.
This evening we went to the AGM for the British Residents Society (BRS)where the guest speaker was the new British High Commissioner, Mt Peter Millett. Joan and I have only joined during the last year as we now find that the society is being very active in maintaining government contacts and is able to influence many decisions which are made for the benefit of ex-pats usually. The chairmen informed us that they had been able to make some improved arrangements for the annual residency renewals whereby the time needed in Nicosia is cut, from sometimes many hours, to around 30 minutes. They were clearly also influential in cutting the costs of residency renewals by half. Just the very fact that they have almost weekly meetings with senior members of the government here enables them to keep pace with any proposed changes to legislation. Last November for some perverse reason the government decided that driving licenses should be restricted to one year in keeping with residency and work permits, now mainly due to the intervention of the BRS, the government has conceded that this was an “error of judgment” and re-instigated the 1, 2, 3, 5 and 10 year licenses. We are the first to admit that in our early years here we have been critical of the BRS, but under it’s current leadership it appears to be going from strength to strength. It still remains such a shame that at meetings like this there are always one or two people who continue to waffle about nothing from the floor, but I suppose every meeting has to have a cabaret act.
For those of you who are contemplating coming over here and want to know more about the living here then you could do a lot worse than contact the BRS in advance for a copy of their handbook which can be sent to you in UK. Take a look at the website for the BRS http://www.brstrnc.com" target="_blank">www.brstrnc.com">http://www.brstrnc.com and find out how to order.
During this week Jim & Linda McKenna have been over here with his brother and sister in law and friends Vince and Kathy Stapleton. They have all bought villas up in Arapkoy and have bought Bosch equipment from us for their kitchens. So this evening Atay Rashid, the MD for Bosch togeteher with his wife took us all out to The Five Mile restaurant for dinner. This is one of the newer restaurants here in TRNC and it has gained a very good reputation in a short space of time. This is the third time that Joan and I have been there and we have to admit that it is superb for that special occassion. Well worth a visit when you come over.
This morning I had to make a visit down town to a customer so decided to treat my car to the newest car wash in town. There is an American Style carwash next door to Lemar on the west side of Kyrenia where they did a superb job of both the inside and outside of a very dirty motor car for only 12 YTL, whilst I sat out in the sun with a cup of coffee. First they pressure wash then hand wash with soapy sponges before rinsing off and driving the car round to the finishing team. Here a whole swarm of people descend on your car with leathers, polishes, vacuum cleaners and the like. The whole process takes about 15 minutes and you come out gleaming, must use it more often.
Petrol prices have gone up today to 71 pence/litre, still cheap I here you say, but when we came over in 2002 we were only paying the equivalant of 49 pence/litre.
Hooray the census has now been confirmed for April 30th. Apparently the first chosen day was April 16th until the BRS pointed out that it was Easter Sunday and most Brits would not be prepared to be confined to barracks on that day.
Three senior politicians turned a symbolic key to start construction of the new Girne by-pass yesterday. There is absolutely no mention of last weeks threat, by residents living along the route.
The government is planning to introduce a new law making it compulsory for everyone living in the country to have health insurance. The intention is to pass the bill through parliament this year but no costs have yet been anounced. Foreigners covered by health care in their own country will be able to opt out. The government intends to provide a higher standard of health care as a result of this. Does anybody think of the NHS when you hear of this?
Will read some more, in bed, in the morning and come back with any further news of interest, have to get on with the hedge cutting before the boss shouts.
A couple more items from the weekend papers. Firstly another funny, or planning blunder.
Kyrenia road system is now going to sport two new roundabouts. Now that the one near the Astro supermarket is almost finished the designers have admitted to a small blunder, when you come down from the football stadium road it is only possible to turn left. Absolutely no provision for going round the roundabout, a small adjustment will be needed.
The new Immovable Property Commission has been established this week to satisfy the European Court of Human Rights requirements. This commission gives Greek Cypriots the opportunity to make claim to land and property vacated in the north. The important statement from our point of view is, that there should be no cause for alarm to foreigners living in the TRNC. There would be no discrimination between Turkish Cypriot property owners and other nationalities. The number of houses owned by foreigners, in which the investment made was less than the value of the land in 1974, would be very small and so would they would not even fall into the category of properties eligible for return, after a Cyprus solution.
I feel sure that this item has been in all the press in UK, but today there was to be a partial eclipse of the sun over Turkey and visible over the island as well. Lots of articles in the press about the link between an eclipse and previous earthquakes. Stories about earthquakes in Turkey which occur about every 5 years and the straight statistic that the last was 6 years ago.
Then low and behold we had a quake 170 kilometres off the island in the early hours of the morning, but neither of us felt a thing last night.
During the day we where down in Kyrenia to meet Malcolm & Joan who have bought an apartment in Alsancak. We were sitting having a beer together on an outside terrace, when it started to go quite cold and the street lights came on. The bar owner had provided some black glass pieces for his patrons to use, so we were able to see the effect and I tried to get this picture of a partial eclipse. If you look carefully you can just see the moon satrting to cut across the sun. The whole eclipse here was about 90% and it really went quite cold for a little while.
This week Joan has been very busy showing her customers Daryl & Keri Graham around her furniture suppliers. They have bought a new villa in Alsancak which is just about at the hand over stage and Daryl's Mum & Dad have bought a similar villa just up the road.
The contact came through this website so we feel it is only fair to show Daryl & Keri outside their very smart villa, for which they have succeded in buying all the basic furnishing requirements so that by next visit, Joan will have ensured that everything is in and ready for them to enjoy the next visit as a holiday.
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