Last day in Famagusta, although we can't imagine not going back. Of all the places we have travelled, it has probably touched our hearts the most. A beautiful combination of history, architecture, and the people. Welcoming people, yes, but so much more - philosophical, engaged, creative, passionate, vulnerable, tolerant. We will be back.
Official high is 21, but much warmer than that in the sun. J's little thermometer shows 36 degrees when we take it out as we're sitting in the square. On Fehmi's street the older men move their chairs and newspapers into the sun and soak in the warmth. Jane and Bill meet us at lunchtime and we have a meal at Fa Kebap. Very nice - though they are out of sheftalia, and inexplicably don't carry Efes Turkish lager, usually considered the best on the island. Then back across the border, where the guard asks, quite civilly, if he can look in the trunk. He lifts it - for about ten seconds and waves us through. Odd. We haven't brought alcohol or cigarettes, but J and I each have a suitcase and a carry-on. They could have been full of whiskey. What use is opening the trunk? Although there was the time a man was smuggled into the South illegally in a car trunk. That didn't end well.
Stop at Jane and Bill's for coffee, and to admire their orange tree, fruit just ripe. Collect out suitcases and then back to Larnaca and the Sunflower. Our usual flat. Had wondered half heartedly whether 20% price hike this year meant renovations had reached the fourth floor, but no. Slightly more dilapidated than previous year. More likely to reflect increasing numbers of tourists competing for rooms. Ah well. Brief outing to acquire bread, humus, wine, whisky, and oranges. Grand total of €14.02. The oranges, clementines, were €0.39 a kilo ($0.59 CAD, 34p UK). Twenty of them for 43 euro cents!
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