08.20 It is morning again. We are in our room at Sky Hotel in Nicosia. After our usual morning chores and routines have been completed, we will cross the border into the unknown. Once there, it will be a journey towards where we have been before.

09.24 For the second day in a row, we had a great breakfast in the restaurant located next door to the hotel. A TV updated us on the latest news from the world at the same time.

10.06 Now we are soon ready to head out from the room and the hotel. We will walk towards a border post. We'll dedicate this day to visit the Turkish part of Cyprus. Originally, we had plans to go up into the Troodos Mountains to see some snow and maybe do some cross-country skiing up there. Now we happen to know that there is no snow where so the journey was no longer that unique and interesting.

NORTH CYPRUS

10.43 We have walked along the pedestrian street, Ledra Street and the border is now crossed. We have walked a couple of metres in the no man's land and then got our passports stamped in the Turkish part of Nicosia and Cyprus. We have exchanged euro into some Turkish lira and have been wandering aimlessly around a bit in the old quarter and now sit down on a bench between the Selimiye mosque and the Mosaic Restaurant & Bar.

11.32 We have continued to wander around in and studied the northern parts of Nicosia. It feels strange that it is just some metres from Greece to Turkey. At least, that´s how it feels here. We had intended to visit the coffee chain Gloria Jean's coffees but it was unfortunately closed. Now we have instead returned to the area near border post and there we have sat down at Patso Café. It's time for some morning coffee. There will be no Turkish coffee though.

12.21 We finished our coffee. Some Norwegians sat at the table behind us and at another table were some tourists from Lithuania, international here. Now we've seen more of this side of Nicosia. The next step will be a trip away from here with a mini bus. We're going back to old hunting grounds and see if anything has changed since 2005.

We have crossed the border and suddenly everything feels very Turkish.

Northern Nicosia.

The Selimiye mosque used to be a church.

Two flags on the Seilimiye mosque, the flags from Northern Cyprus and Turkey.

Christer and a funny tree.

12.33 We have located the site where the minibuses towards the coast depart. One of the drivers had forgotten to turn off the lights on one of the minibuses. As a result of this, the bus did not want to start. Three men helped trying to push it so it would start. We, on the other hand, are waiting for the departure of another minibus. It has been a short shower of rain a and one of the gentlemen from the bus office wondered why had such thin clothes and even tried to persuade us to take cover inside the office.

12.42 Now we and six other men are on the road to the North. We'll go the short distance to the north coast of Cyprus. The destination is the town that in Turkish is called Girne or Kyrenia if you choose to speak Greek. Our only previous visit to Cyprus was precisely in Girne a few days in July 2005. Then it was blazing hot. Today it is rain in the air.

12.58 The journey has gone along a nice road completely surrounded by mountains. We have also gone through an intense raining but it looks to be clear skies down by the coast.

13.14 We have now, after ten years, returned to Girne. The last time we were here was in mid-July 2005. Are we going to recognize ourselves? How much has changed? That time we came from the north by ferry from the south coast of Turkey. Today we came overland from the south.

13.35 The minibus dropped us off at the small square Belediye Meydani. Some things are familiar, for example, the fountain in the square. Some things feel brand new. We have walked down toward the harbour and went past the Sidelya Hotel, where we stayed ten years ago. It looks familiar but it is definitely restored and certainly much more expensive now. We had the same feeling down by the sea. It was familiar yet unfamiliar. A large hotel complex with a casino just can't have been here then! Or are our memories completely lost?

13.47 We have visited the place where the Kemal Atatürk statue stands and where the Turkish and Turkish Cypriot flag flies. We remember the square here as burning hot with a sun that tormented us. Today it is different. The wind blows and the waves are plunging aggressively towards land. It's still a little drizzle in the air as well.

The venetian column in North Nicosia.

Christer is waiting at Patso Café.

Kyrenia Gate, a part of the old city walls in Nicosia.

Christer is waiting for the departure to Girne.

13.59 We have walked through the Centre of tourism here in Girne, the cosy fishing port. Now we think that we might be right near where we jumped in and swam in 2005. This will not be the case today. Why can’t I remember more in detail all the things we saw then? The castle, which is Byzantine, is larger than I can remember. Inside of it was King Peter I:´s pregnant mistress tortured by order of Queen Eleonor. One wonders why she did it. The two ladies had common interests. We have also met two happy dogs. They were even happier then a French couple with backpacks passed. I don't know if it was the couple or what they had in the backpacks that delighted the quadrupeds.

14.28 The walking, despite the fact that it hasn't been much or far, have made us hungry. We have left the sea and the harbour behind us and sought a suitable lunch restaurant. Now it will be lunch at Kebapcim, one of many similar restaurants in a small square near where we got off the minibus.

15.08 It was really great food; you can always rely on the Turks when it comes to such things. We also got a visit from a cat during the meal.

15.39 We've been and checked the transport for the return trip. We were told that the bus from Kombos will arrive in about ten minutes. Soon we will head back towards Nicosia/Lefkosa.

16.16 The minibus came, were filled, went and left us standing. We decided to take a walk to the bus station for the large buses instead. It seems to be an eternal waiting in line to ride the minibus at this time. It went smoothly to find the bus station. It was however deserted, no activity at all. We have to get back. We have had time to see the Café Doping and a shop with baby things. The shop’s name was the same as the Swedish word for ass.

We have returned to Girne after 10 years.

Our hotel from 2005 is still here.

The Mediterranean is aggressive today.

The fishing harbour in Girne.

A dog wanted to say hello.

Christer on his way to the impressive castle in Girne.

16.37 After an intense walk through Girne, we are once again at the original stop. Now we just have to wait and hope. A litre of diesel costs 2,86 lira. It is just above one dollar.

16.42 A minibus turned up and we were offensive. The two of us and a Russian family quickly went into the vehicle. It's nice to be on the way back. It's almost dark.

16.50 The vehicle is full. It is time to leave.

17.20 Without any problems we got back to where the journey began near five hours ago. The darkness has fallen over Nicosia and it is now time to walk back over to the Greek side again. First we'll just spend our remaining Turkish coins in a kiosk.

CYPRUS

18.08 It was drama-free to cross the border. The Greek Cypriots did not notice that we walked past. We are again in the European Union and the Cyprus we began the journey in.

18.31 During a slow walk along Nicosia's streets, we have decided about the evening and done some shopping. New areas of the city were seen or did we just get lost? We found, among other things, a large square that we haven't seen before. Now we are at home in the room at Sky Hotel for a while. Here it is cleaned and we've got clean new towels.

19.48 The time has come to go out in the city one last evening. Once again singing and music can be heard from outside.

Peter is having lunch at the restaurant Kebapcim.

Christer met a nice cat.

Who wants a coffee break here?

20.06 The last dinner in the capital will be at Grillerz, The House of Grill. We have had our eyes on this meat restaurant earlier during the New Year holiday but it has unfortunately been closed when we were getting ready for dinner. Tonight it's open and it´s quiet here, hardly any other guests.

20.50 The food was delicious, octopus for me and hanging meat for Christer. The beer was also perfect.

22.34 The tasteful dinner was then crowned with coffee at Starbucks at Ledra Street. It is a wonderful place where you can sit along the pedestrian street, drink good coffee and observe anyone who passes by. Now we are at home in our room again to relax a bit before it is time to sleep.

22.49 We have updated us a little bit about the latest news from the internet. In the ice hockey junior world championships, Russia beat United States 3-2. In the match between Sweden and Finland, it was 0-0 after the first period. Right now is the game in the second period, and still no goals.

23.50 We are faithful to tradition and enjoy an evening beer each. In the match between Sweden and Finland, it is now 4-3.

23.56 It´s time to sleep before a new day begins.

A white Christmas tree lights up the Nicosia evening.

Christer´s dinner at Grillerz.

Late evening coffee at a well-known location.

Saturday 3rd of January

08.41 Good morning! Sweden won the game against Finland. Now Russia awaits in the semi final. We are preparing for breakfast here at Sky Hotel. We do need to pack our things after breakfast and prepare for the return trip from Nicosia.

10.00 We have been postponing this for a while but now time has come to get things ready. We can certainly ignore this but it will lead to sad consequences. It is just to grab things and pack them in our backpacks.

10.36 Everything is in place where it should be, the debris into the trash and our belonging in the backpacks. Soon, we will pay for our three nights here.

10.51 We have paid, checked out and wandered out to the Town Hall and sat down by a fountain. The last breaths of Nicosia air should be taken before moving on to the bus. Though we might breathe then too?

11.13 This is written on a small wall where a sign hangs as support. Behind me is our next bus. It currently lacks a driver. He just went away. I hope that he will come back.

11.26 Suddenly a driver appeared inside the bus. The trunk of the vehicle and the bus door was opened. Now everything is in place. We are ready for departure.

11.32 Bye Nicosia! Once again a capital of Europe and the world should be left. Speaking of capitals, there are those in Europe who are waiting for me and my writing pen. The ones which remain are, Ankara, Berlin, Bern, Moscow and Oslo, which will we visit next?

12.31 Hello again Larnaca! The bus trip here went smoothly and comfortably. We sit on the sofas in the lobby at the last hotel of this trip. We are waiting for our room to be cleaned and ready. We're at Achilleos City Hotel (http://www.achilleoshotel.com). Our plans to see a football match in this city has been cancelled. It´s rather cold and some distance to the stadium.

It is time to leave Nicosia.

We are in a very comfortable environment, waiting for our room to be ready.

Our ultra-modern hotel room.

Achilleos City Hotel, Larnaca.

13.16 The wait is over! We are in room 207. It is a room that feels new and fresh. Instead of a do not disturb/clean sign we have displays that you touch. Our rooms also have a door bell and peephole. The button for the bell isn’t in the room. The pillows in the beds are so comfortable that we are planning to move in here for good. This fantastic room can be had cheap this time of year, absolutely incredible that we do not pay more than about US$30 per person and night.

13.48 We left our nice and cosy room and went out. Once outside, we were greeted by a drizzle. It soon grew in strength. We had before that arrived to the restaurant Tuck Inn. Now we will have lunch. They are smoking at the table behind me, unnecessary! Our waiter knew some Swedish. He had lived in Sweden and claims that there has been a fire in the mosque in Sundsvall. He had read about it in a newspaper. He may have confused it with Eskilstuna where it was a fire during the Christmas holidays.

14.32 At the end of the lunch the waiter gave us three tasty oranges for free. Thank you so much!

14.58 Now we are in the room again after we had time to make a stop by the sea. We walked along the beach and admired a great rainbow on the high seas, the only thing that remained from the rain that hurriedly pulled over.

16.50 The time in the room made us lazy. We are once again out on the pier where we were the last time we were in the city. The sea has receded. A dead cat is floating around in a large puddle. Some children just discovered it.

Christer is having lunch at Tuck Inn.

A beautiful rainbow appeared after the rain had left Larnaca.

Modern technology in our room.

17.34 We have sinned, been unfaithful. There will be no visit at Starbucks. We will instead have coffee at Gloria Jean's Coffee, a new coffee chain for us. It has its origins in Australia. In the soccer game, which can be seen on the big screen TV in the restaurant opposite of here, the home team AEK Larnaca is losing 0-1 against Omonia Nicosia. No home team which we have seen live on our trips have won. Do our plans to see the game affect the end of it?

18.42 After we found out some information regarding when the airport bus departs, we´re at home in the hotel room again. The score in the soccer match is now 1-2.

19.34 We currently try to check in on tomorrow's Air Baltic flight with the help of Christer’s phone. We are far from successful. We are considering whether we should borrow a desktop computer and get the confirmation printed out.

20.04 Ok, we have borrowed a laptop from the Russian girl at the front desk. We will e-mail the confirmation to the hotel’s address and then she will print it out. It sounds simple, but is it so?

20.24 Everything is finally printed. Two of the boarding cards are a little pale. The printer began to run low on colour but it is hopefully enough good anyway.

21.09 After a bit of walking and searching around in Larnaca, we´ve finally decided to visit the restaurant Luv Souvlaki. It is everything but a shortage of places to eat here in town. We would have liked to have something unique on this last evening but must settle with the fact that most places are for tourists and not so exciting. We ignored restaurants with Swedish menus, restaurants with men trying, begging us to enter and restaurants with dark rooms.

22.48 It was clearly a delicious dinner. The outdoor terrace was simple but the service quick. Once again it became a "mixed grill" grilled meat of various types. Now we have shopped a bit and with drawn money for the last time on this trip. Once back in the room, we are beginning to prepare for the return trip. The football match ended by the way 1-3. It would have been yet another home loss if we had gone there.

The moon is visible tonight.

Larnaca beach in the evening.

The Finikoudes avenue at night.

Peter is eating mixed grill at Luv Souvlaki.

Sunday 4th of January

07.30 We have for the tenth year in a row, at this date, awakened on foreign soil. Today we´ll travel home. The beds and pillows are absolutely splendid. A night of perfect sleep should now be followed by an intensive day of travel. It is somehow typical that we often only sleep one night in the rooms which are most comfortable.

08.15 We are, after showering, ready for breakfast. We decided yesterday that it was worthwhile to spend money on a hearty breakfast. It is not included in the price we paid for the room so there will be an additional charge.

08.51 We had a tasty and varied breakfast. It was served/were offered in a room with a stunning panoramic view of the city and the sea. Now we'll pack the last belongings before it is time to check out of the hotel.

09.24 We are waiting for the airport bus or more precisely bus 425 which route end at the airport. A short distance away is the bus to Limassol. Right now, it feels a long time ago we jumped on it in the beginning of our journey.

On our way to the airport.

At Larnaca airport.

09.47 We travel with the bus. We just passed a small salt lake. A flock of flamingos stood in the lake. Unlike the flamingos we saw in the Bahamas, these seemed less eager to dance.

09.49 It is large, open spaces here at the airport. Christer is off and check the facts about check-in, the flight and to find a baggage cart.

11.25 It was easy to find at check-in. Once there, it took plenty of time before it was our turn. We will first fly to Riga in Latvia, and then proceed to Stockholm. The reason to this route is that we fly with the Latvian company Air Baltic. Christer was asked at check-in if our final destination was Berlin. We didn't really recognize that. The flight code must have been changed. Now we are waiting for the gate to open.

11.55 The gate opened and we were bussed to the plane from Air Baltic. Now a few hours of flying in a northerly direction awaits us.

12.22 We have taken off from Cyprus. Now we leave the sun and the pleasant temperatures behind us. It feels a bit sad.

LATVIA

17.11 We landed around half an hour late at Riga airport. It is raining here. We have moved around at the airport and in vain searched for the restaurant LIDO which pleased us before, one of the highlights of this airport.

17.24 We have, after much searching, located LIDO. We see it but can't get there from this part of the airport, what a pity! It is on one floor above us, probably on the part of the airport for flights outside the Schengen area.

18.00 We gave up the hunt for the LIDO, restaurant which serves delicious Baltic food. Instead, we have gone to Costa Coffee for a coffee and a ham sandwich. Sure, you can buy pizza here in the basement if you are ready to pay 18 US-dollars. We are not one of them.

Somehow Costa Coffee became the venue for our meal at the airport in Riga.

18.30 We came to a complete stop as it came to the first pleasure at Riga airport. The second pleasure is a safer card, the purchase of the liquor Riga Balzam. We have done various purchases of that Latvia's contribution to the world of liquor cabinets. We have bought some for ourselves and Christer also bought some for his dad. Now we are at gate A1, ready for the next move.

19.02 Now we have sat down. We will soon, hopefully, fly to Arlanda, get the backpacks pack, have dinner and the catch the train to Sundsvall. It's time to set the watches to GMT. When you fly from Riga to Stockholm you arrive at the same time as you left. It is quite handy.

CHANGING TIME ZONE

SWEDEN

19.47 We have arrived at Arlanda Airport and the backpacks are here as well. Now all that's left is dinner and hopefully a train.

20.11 We have done a traditional stop near a kiosk here at Arlanda. In fact, it has no connection with the kiosk itself. Here there are always vacancies benches in a quiet environment where when one needs to unpack, pack down, wait, call or whatever you need to do on departure or arrival.

20.50 We are waiting at Alfredo’s. We are waiting for the newly ordered dinner.

21.18 After a moment of anticipation a young waiter appeared with my pizza. He said today’s pizza. Yes, I said, I've ordered an España, which was today's pizza. No, he said, this is a today’s pizza. He continued to look for the "right" customer before returning behind the counter. I had to go there and fetch it myself. A little boy and his mom arrived at the restaurant during our dinner. The kid was giving orders about what to eat and where they should sit. The mother began to sit at the wrong spot, something that was pointed out. Then the little bastard said, remember that we're going to have ice cream afterwards! After a while the mother started to cry for a too me unknown reason, maybe it because she has such a son? Now we sit and take it easy on a bench. We don’t know how things are for the mother and the offspring.

22.44 Now after we had some coffee at 7 Eleven, it is time to move toward the platform.

23.15 We have, separated from each other, begun to move north to Sundsvall. I wonder when we will travel the other way next time.

Peter is leaving the plane at Arlanda airport.

Christmas atmosphere at Arlanda.

Monday 5th of January

00.30 We have left Gävle behind us. It is a long way to go this night.

02.01 Even Hudiksvall is passed. The arrival comes ever closer.

03.01 The time has come to stop travel by train. We will now walk up to' Christer’s permanent home.

03.40 All that remains now is to sleep and a few months of preparing for the future adventures.