A beautiful sunset at sea, on the way to Cyprus.

What to say about our visit to Cyprus? Well, first, that it almost didn’t happen! Cypress requires PCR tests for entry, and they actually sent medical staff on board, while we were still at sea, to test us about a day ahead of docking (those are the scared people you can see scrambling up the ladder onto the ship).

Testing proceeded as normal, except these tests needed to be taken back and processed in a lab. Late that evening, there was a miscommunication. Everyone who was definitely negative was cleared to leave the ship the following morning. But everyone whose test required the full 24 hours to process was not yet cleared to leave. However, that was translated on board to “all these people need to be isolated and their close contacts quarantined.” So, at about midnight Dan, whose test just wasn’t finished processing, was told to pack for 10 days isolation, and was marched into a windowless isolation cabin deep in the bowels of the ship. Joe and I were told we had to remain in our cabins. The next morning the food delivery began and we cancelled our Cypress Airbnb. It was stressful and scary. And then, after lunch, we were suddenly cleared, as Dan’s test was actually finished and was negative. So the ship went from about 15 cases, with 30 close contacts, to 1 or 2 actual cases, who went into quarantine. This hopefully is a manageable number. We all hope for zero each port, but testing ahead of Dubrovnik, where I am writing this from, detected one case and one close contact for isolation and quarantine. 

So, in the end, we got to Cypus, shaken and a little anxious, but happy to be on shore. We found another apartment, with an ocean view. And our host had actually spent several years in Edmonton, which was a funny thing to chat about.

Limassol was really pretty. The weather was cold, very windy, and somewhat rainy. So we actually weren’t too ambitious in this country. We stayed in town, walked the gorgeous boardwalk and through the old part of the city, and ate delicious and fantastic food. 

There is a pretty good archeology museum in Cypress, situated in a beautiful old castle. They had a great collection of old guns that Jack would have loved to see. 

And lots of very, very short ceilings that truly show how we have evolved into a much bigger species!

Cyprus is full of cats, and these two were some of the prettiest.

A big family event in Cyprus was Joe cutting off his hair. I think it looks wonderful.