Day 18: welcome to Cyprus

Trip

Greece+Cyprus 2025

Location

Larnaca 🇨🇾

Date

September 30, 2025

It’s the last day of September and we’re marking the end of the month by transiting to a new country. Tomorrow, October will come and so will our first full day in a country we’re visiting for the first time.

We began our day with an early-adjacent alarm (8:30). Better than if we had done the hike yesterday. We stopped for breakfast at the 📍The Botanist. Karine was served the most beautiful yogurt bowl she’s been served this trip; sadly it wasn’t the best (but still good). I got the traditional scrambled eggs with tomatoes and spice (garlic and oregano this time) and a lump of cheese on top. Both did the job well and made us happy.

Being a little ahead of schedule we stopped at 📍Red Jane for the last time. Their double chocolate chip cookies (really brownies with chocolate chips in the shape of cookies) made their mark with Karine. We grabbed some cinnamon buns to devour right there and cookies for the airport.

We jumped on the bus to the airport (the stop being conveniently located a street over from the bakery) and were very clearly informed that there was no food allowed on the bus. No food, no drinks and no ice cream; in case we wanted to argue that ice cream is neither a solid food nor a liquid they have prohibited it on its own. Other than that, the ride was efficient. It’s about 25 minutes, a little more in our case as we had to let a NATO convoy pass ahead of us. There’s a NATO base near the airport we were told.

Not much to say on the flights themselves. First 50 minutes back to Athens then a little under two hours (1:45) from Athens to Larnaca. We did enjoy having access to the Aegean lounge in Athens. It’s clean and you can make yourself a great lunch if needed. Also, they have mint-flavored sparkling water, which Karine loves.

We landed in Larnaca at 17:43. The sun sets a smidge before 18:30. We intended to grab the bus but the integration in modem digital tools here is almost inexsitant. Apple Maps will refuse to give you directions. Google Maps knows nothing of public transit and little about closed streets. Apparently, Waze is the least bad way to get directions (I note that we weren’t told it was good). While I was trying to confirm which bus would get us to the apartment the right bus passed in front of us and the next one was in 20 minutes. It was entirely my fault: we wanted the 425 and I hesitated thinking it was the 435. By the time I could confirm and get the cash money (I feel in the 1990s when I have to get physical money), the bus had passed us by. We resolved to taking the cab. We were told the amount before getting in. While the cab driver did have the machine to accept credit card payment, he sure didn’t make it easy by having the machine off and insisting it would take 5 to 10 minutes to boot up. I’ve seen enough of those boot up to say it’s more like 2 minutes but as he parked in a way to block the road we, polite Canadians than we are, didn’t want to cause issue and paid in cash.

💡

If you’re arriving in a city for the first time after dark, or late in the day, wait until the next day to make any judgement on the city. Getting in unfamiliar surroundings at night might make you feel like the city is empty, unsafe or dirty. This is just your brain playing tricks on you.

Checkin to the Airbnb was easy. By the time all was done the sun had set. We went for the basic necessities (sunscreen, body wash, sparkling water) and made plans for dinner. One thing that we noticed is that our apartment is located in the middle of American chain restaurants block. Our neighbour on one side is a McDonald, on the other side is an Häagen-Dazs next to that a TGI Friday itself next to a KFC. On the other side, next to the McDonalds we have a Starbucks. We’re a little disappointed there’s no Hard Rock nearby (not).

We didn’t go to any of those for dinner. We choose a meat extravaganza at 📍Militzis. The humus and olives were great but the salted pork, halloumi ravioli and the lamb skewer did make the meal.