The problem island

We have been in Cyprus for a while now, and I have not reported much at all. As a matter of fact we are leaving soon, so I guess it’s time to put the experiences down on (electronic) paper. I just hope I can remember everything.

London

We arrived in Cyprus just after 10pm with the Cyprus Airways pilot making one of the softest landings I’ve experienced so far. It was an Airbus 320, hence it is a smaller plane; if that has anything to do with it. The public announcement reckoned the outside temperature at 29 degrees, but as we stepped outside the plane we were greeted with suffocating humidity.

Old London Town

We had occasional rain throughout the Europe trip, but London provided us with a change – constant rain. There are occasional moments when it’s not raining. We even spotted the Sun a few times, though the view is mostly of dark rain-saturated clouds. The temperature is also ‘great’ with long-sleeved clothing being a minimum, though a jacket doesn’t go wasted either.

The drive to the finish

After saying goodbye to the friends in Wiesbaden we made our way to Saarbrücken, a small town towards the border with France. Leaving Germany was marked by rain. In Saarbrücken I called the Peugeot people to arrange for a drop off time for the car. The first response I got when I called and asked if I could speak in English was ‘NO!’.

Wiesbaden HQ

Being stationed in Wiesbaden, we got on to visiting the surrounding towns. That part of Germany has many towns clustered, which is really handy for sightseeing. The first for us was the Wiesbaden-Mainz-Frankfurt cluster.

From Salzburg to Wiesbaden

Overlooking Salzburg is a fortress on top of one of the many hills. We would have toured the fortress the day before, but we got into town around 6pm, and the opening hours changed the next day from 6pm to 7pm. There are two ways to get to the fortress, on foot and via a rail like thing. We were in a hurry as we had a full day and the rail thing had a queue. So we went for the hard way.

Saltfortress

We started the day a little behind schedule, as we were tired and had trouble getting out of bed. We checked out straight away, and made our way to the Belvedere, an old mansion, now used as a museum. It has a beautiful garden in front as well as the back of the building. The collection is mainly made up of paintings from various artists as well as styles and periods.

Museum overload

According to the tourist guide book we brought along a visit to Vienna must start at the main square, where the cathedral is. So that’s exactly what we did. It’s funny how a religious book like the Bible can’t make people do things any more, yet a guide book is followed without question.

Sshhhh, we are looking for terrorists

We decided to leave my grandma’s place early so that we would have enough time to see Budapest and Bratislava and still get to Vienna by the end of the day. We were on the road by 6am.

The Capital

We made our way to the capital of Croatia, namely Zagreb, by first visiting some family about 10 km outside the city. We got there around lunchtime and lunch was waiting. The family was disappointed they could not speak to Darling. So the conversations involved a lot of nodding and hand waving. After lunch, my cousin accompanied Darling and me to the city centre, whilst my grandma remained with my aunt. If nothing else, it was a very hot day, and those who did not have to be in the Sun, where not outside.