07.36 It is cool air in the room here at Hotel Ayatekla. The air conditioner is effective. Today we will get back to Tasucu and the ferry port there to get tickets, board the ferry and head for a new country, Cyprus. We will go to the northern, Turkish half of this divided island.

Silifke, it looked like this in daylight!

10.00 In the queue to the Cyprus ferry. We got to Tasucu in a taxi, got out, realised that Christer had forgot his sunglasses in the taxi, went to a ferry office, realised it was the wrong one, went to another one, bought a ticket, noticed that the ticket was for the ferry that leaves tonight, back to the counter, argued with people, got a new ticket, got confirmation that we can go with the ferry that leaves 10.30 and ran to the queue. It is never right to travel on the 13th of July (see 2001, 2002, 2003). The ticket that we hope is a return ticket cost us 32.50 each.

10.45 The ticket is checked and approved and we are in the passport queue. We are sweating and the line moves ever so slow.

11.12 It took quite a while but we made it to the passport police officer. He let us pass. We went to the ferry Fergûn Express II just as it said on the ticket. That was a false move. It was fully booked. Now we are at Fergûn Express IV. We are ever so hungry.

11.20 I just stopped a guy who sold snacks here in the lounge and took a look at what he had to offer. I chose between crackers or candy. Crackers might be healthier but candy got more calories. It was too tough to choose, it became both cracker and candy and also some orange soda.

11.40 The breakfast is no more. The ferry is still ashore.

13.16 Our boat splits the waves and I am gently rocked to sleep. Within half and hour/forty-five minutes we will see/standing on Cyprus. It will be the sixth country on this trip. We also gazed at the ferry TV.

14.05 We can see Cyprus through the mist out there. People have begun to get up. Are they heading for the luggage out on the stern deck? Next will follow arrival, pack picking, dismounting, passport police, customs?, taxi and checking in. Because nothing else will go wrong, or?

NORTHERN CYPRUS

15.49 We are sitting on a bench trying to figure out in which direction our future home is. We had barely sat down before a British lady came and wondered about our backpacks. She and a friend of hers were about to go backpacking in Thailand. We did our best to promote our backpacks.

16.14 In room 109 at Sidelya Hotel. We got a view over the Mediterranean. The room cost 20 lira per day. The hotel is a bit run down but among the cheapest in town.

The Mediterranean seen from the rooftop of our hotel. Staying at Sidelya Hotel in Girne.

18.43 Sitting on the rooftop/terrace and put out our thirst. We´ve just been shopping Yedigûn Mandarin soda and enjoy every second. I also bought some Maltesers, candy. The owner of the hotel has shown us how to act to get hot water in the shower. Turn to step one on the water heater. It worked, the water got warm, really warm. He also warned us for the high prices on food in the Marina. Up to 40 lira per meal. Can this be true?

Girne´s famous marina in the dusk.

20.37 It is true! 18 lira ($ 14.40) for spaghetti Bolognese. We are sitting down by the sea and wonder how people can accept such prices. So far we just looked at the prices of the food. Should be nice to taste the food as well. I saw a place in the centre that seemed OK. They´ve got cuttlefish.

20.53 We are anchored up at Shiraz café. Waiting for the menu, maybe cuttlefish, maybe beer, most certainly coffee.

22.34 I had the café´s hamburger and what a burger it was. Meaty burgers, grained bread, fresh salad, chips, beer to drink and coffee to top it of. Christer choose Turkish ravioli and beer. The bill got delivered in a small wooden box with a lid. On the way home we saw a cat sneak around an enormous bird. The bird sat in a fountain and was made out of stone. We just got home. It is 26° outside and warmer inside. Time to wash clothes.

Thursday 14th of July

09.18 Just before 05.00 this morning it started, the call for prayer. Christer woke up right away while I waited for the final calls. After all that we went back to sleep. We got a minaret just near our window. That might be another reason why the room price is so low. Now I wash myself before breakfast.

Our "alarm clock", the minaret in Girne.

09.53 Went into to the shower and did as I was taught yesterday. Turned to step one on the water heater and hoped for hot water. Got positioned under the shower and turned on the water and out came hardly any water and the little that came were lukewarm. No hot and nice shower today.

11.49 We had our breakfast on the terrace. Juice and pita bread today. Still no hot water, not in the shower at least. We washed/flushed our heads under the bathroom sink tap.

Downtown Girne

13.35 We´ve been and taken some pictures and also bought postcards and stamps. As of now we are sitting on Winslow Café & Bar and we´re drinking Efes beer from tap.

14.16 We´ve been and bought more beverages. Lots of fluids are needed here. Our shower decided to give us water again, but it is still cold.

In this picture you can see the Turkish flag, a statue of the Turkish national hero Kemal Atatürk and also the flag of Northern Cyprus (plus a man that we don’t know).

19.51 After shower, siesta and TV (watched the movie Casper, the friendly ghost), breakfast juice has been bought. We will buy fresh bread tomorrow. Next internet and dinner. A man we met outside the hotel wondered where we were from and also told us that Sweden, Norway and Denmark were his favourite countries. He praised Volvo and Nokia.

20.58 We are back at Shiraz Café. Christer has got/chose Spaghetti Bolognese and I will try Pasta Mama. It is supposed to have steak, seems to pieces of meat.

22.34 It was pieces of meat mixed with tomato and onion. After a while the bill was presented this time in a coffin. At the hotel entrance is a water car, has it brought the water? The air outside is ´+26° and in here we are watching the movie "Silence of the lambs" on TV.

Friday 15th of July

09.05 Awaken, lightly sweating and just want to have a shower. I hope it can be done. Once again we have been awaken at 04.50 by sounds from the minaret.

10.58 The men on the roof are having breakfast. We both had a shower. Around us we can hear playing crickets, gushing water in a water tank, a motorboat on the sea, croaking crow birds, a honking car and something else as well. Today we hope for bath/dip/soaking.

Christer on our terrace in Girne.

12.13 Resting in the park in the roundabout in town. We are looking for the ferry office. It isn’t situated where the map claims it is supposed to be. Not much is accurate on the map. We believe that they reconstructed the area around the roundabout or that the guy who draw the map in the guidebook was maybe drunk.

13.09 We gave up. We had to go and ask in the tourist information. They told us to go to an office near the roundabout. Christer bought some new sunglasses on our way to the office and we took a peek at the “beach”. It seems OK. Well beach and beach... it is a steel staircase and a quay below the fortress in town. We carried on to the office that seemed to take care of almost everything. A guy there confirmed that we had return tickets. He validated while we stood there and enjoyed. Partly for the fact that we have return tickets, partly from their air condition. We are back on the terrace with bread and Coca Cola. Sidelya Hotel seems to have had some golden years. Among the trash on the roof you can see remains from a bar.

The old fortress in Girne with roots from the eighth century.

15.31 Just came out of the water from this year’s first bath. It felt great to rinse the body from sweat, salt and dirt and to replace it with seawater full of, hey salt and dirt.

17.19 Gathering powers after the bath. Our room seems cooler now. Is it because of the skin is cooled or what?

Peter is draped in the waves of the Mediterranean.

18.09 All seats taken at the first Internet café. The other one with plenty of seats and air condition closed at 18.00. We are back on the roof. Here the call for prayers just took us back to reality.

21.46 We went out and got out on to the Internet. It was slow to say the least and not much was done. It was impossible to send e-mails. After this lousy attempt we got back to our regular place Shiraz Café, partly because of the tasty food, partly for the humane prices. We were recognised by the waiter who wondered if we really needed a menu? We let him know that a menu is never wrong. He came back with a menu to us each and left. He soon returned to snatch the menu from my hands. Was my time to look at it over? He smiled and returned it. We ordered and he brought the food. After the dinner followed several attempts to withdraw money. The first ATM didn't work, the second one was out of money, and the third one worked, had money but didn't accept our Visa cards. We ended up on four is a charm. We went home and here we are packing our belongings.

22.24 All done. Hoping for a new (good) movie on some TV channel. We really have been spoiled with TV in the rooms on this trip. The cool day has turned into a cool evening, +26° right now. Tomorrow is an early morning. We are looking for a new place to stay in tomorrow. It seems to be Mersin on the Turkish south coast.

Small town feeling in Girne, a relaxing place.

Saturday 16th of July

06.47 A new morning has dawned. It is time to leave the room and it is not a day too late. There is a damp smell here. Christer had problems to go to sleep last night. A dog, sized minor, was irritated/angry at something and barked more or less constantly for hours. I took to notice of this dog.

08.02 Time to leave our home here in Girne in Cyprus.

10.19 I hate ferry terminals. First one hour in queue to the only counter for the port fee. I spoke with a Cypriot teacher while queuing. It seems that my pupils home in Sweden have lots in common with his pupils here on Cyprus. After the queue this day’s first ticket controller stopped us. He waved with our tickets and said something. We understood nothing and less. Then he grabbed a ticket from another man who didn't like it. On this man’s ticket was a note which couldn’t be found on ours. We got sent to the ferry office in the port. There we made 4-5 employees work hard until one of them said ”ten minutes”. A minute later another man said ”34 lira.” I kindly told him that we had a return ticket. Sure you got! he said but you haven’t paid the port tax! We returned with our new note and got in line for passport control. As it was our turn the man in the booth got up and walked away. He returned some minutes later and let us through. We took aim for the boat but were soon stopped by another controller of tickets. We got onboard and had a third and final check. The last guy tore the tickets apart. Now we are sitting in the same places in the lounge that we had on the journey over here. Here it is nice and cool. That is welcome.

13.07 Mainland to our left. We pass the steep Turkish coast where the mountain range Taurus goes all the way down to the sea. I guess there will be more queuing as we reach port. I hope for a smooth passing at this terminal. I also hope that we will find a mailbox so that the postcards we wrote this Monday could be sent.

TURKEY

14.03 It was smooth to leave the terminal. We also found a post office but no mailbox outside of it.

Tasucu. We´re in Turkey again.

14.11 I went inside the post office and found no mailbox. I did find a man who took care of the postcards. Now we are in a taxi on our way to Silifke where we will travel on.

14.32 Things are running smoothly today. The taxi took us to the bus station. We went to a small office. They wondered where we were from and as we answered a young guy said ”Fredrik Ljungberg” with a smile. We waited a while in the office so that the mini bus could prepare. We have now paid for the trip to Mersin. Only the bus host and we are on the bus.

View from Hotel Dostlar towards the bus station in Mersin.

17.09 Just reached room 207 at Hotel Dostlar in Mersin, one of plenty of hotels by the bus station. The guy who checked us in was of the younger kind, around thirteen we guess. He wanted to know our parents name and where we were born. A smiling young lady, maybe his older sister, assisted him.

Two photos from the Atatürk Park in Mersin, a wonderful oasis between sea and city.

20.58 Back home after a tour the town. We saw a rooster on the way to city centre. Well it was us being on the way, not the rooster. We headed for the Atatürk park where we studied a strange phenomena in the sky, it was the sun shining through and between the clouds. After some rest in the park we got hungry. Our hunt for a place to eat lead us to a man offering us leather clothes, jeans, gifts for our girlfriends, girls aged 20-25, visits to nightclubs and a taxi ride with his friend.

Nothing was tempting. We kept strolling back home and passed a cloud that smelled like diesel. As we passed our hotel our young host came up to us and said “This is where you live”. We told him that we hadn’t missed the hotel only been looking for a place to eat. A Place was just what we found. Well place and place more of a dump, Cigerci Ali (Cigar-Ali as we saw it) was a humble establishment. We ordered "Adana kebab servis" and got minced meat rolls, bread and a mix of vegetables raw as fried. To drink a carafe with tap water, that we didn't drink. The dinner cost us 5 lira ($ 4) each. Now I need coffee.

21.22 It has occurred again. Something strange has once again happened to me. As I got out of the room I met a man with a remote control to an air conditioner. After some language problems I understood that he wanted me to bring it down to the reception. As I got there more problems appeared. I had to explain why I brought down a remote control. The young man we met previously is switched with a man who only knows some words in English. I think he eventually understood why I had brought the remote. After this challenge I sure needed coffee. I played it safe by saying the Turkish word for coffee. He looked at me and asked in perfect English if I wanted Turkish coffee or Nescafe. I chose the latter.

22.35 It feels warm as I get out on the balcony but it isn’t a warm night. It is only +27°.