Limassol Part 2

 

After a week in Limassol, I still miss Paphos.

While Paphos was mostly quiet with a gorgeous harbor, Limassol has a more big-city feel.  The main road that connects all the coastal towns is the main drag here and it’s less appealing than in Paphos.  There’s construction everywhere, so the sound of machines is constant.

There is one corner near the apartment that is constantly covered in motorcycles.  It reminded me of Thailand and the motorcycle taxis, but these were just delivery guys.  Wolt is the big company here for food and grocery delivery.

There is no nice harbor area nearby with a bunch of seaside shops and restaurants.  There is the old harbor near where I got off the bus from Paphos, but that’s two miles away from the apartment.  I’ve been on the good foot this whole time, so I have not returned to the harbor.

Along the shore there are small narrow beach areas, a broken-up boardwalk (which is annoying as the walkway just disappears for several feet and you have to cross the beach to connect to the next section), and lots of hotels and houses.  A couple of the seaside places have For Sale signs out front, but I don’t even want to know how much they would cost.

I knew I didn’t want to stay in the last place for too long.  The bathroom was starting to really piss me off (no pun intended).  And no, the owners never did show up to replace the lid.  Not that I was expecting them to – like I said before, whoever cleaned the place knew about the issue and never got it resolved.  No matter.  I cut out a night early and arranged to move to another place in the city.

Pro:  the new place is in walking distance, so no need to flag down a cab and try to convince some guy to do his job.

Con: despite getting me nearby, the directions from Google were (once again) not quite accurate.  It got me to the right street, but pointed me to the wrong building.  I had to text the host who sent me a link to a map (that one was accurate).

Pro:  the apartment is as the pictures depicted.  The ‘front’ room is the office area with a decent desk chair, a rarity in the Airbnbs I’ve visited.  As for the rest …

Con:  the listing didn’t specify that the place is technically a studio (usually a pass for me).  Turns out it’s this small, dark, window-less (well, one narrow window in the front and a frosted glass window in the bathroom), oddly shaped … thing.  There’s a sliding glass door hidden by that curtain with the bedroom/dining room/kitchen (and the only heating unit) beyond it.

Pro: the place is clean and functional.  No loose lid on the toilet this time and the shower stall has a door along with excellent temperature control and water pressure.

The ultimate con:  while the apartment is not what I expected, it is decent enough.  Except, of course for the noise.  All that construction I mentioned happening around the city?  Well, some of it is located directly behind the apartment.  And it is beyond annoying.

Seriously, how do these places just keep finding new ways of getting worse?

Still, I figured I’d make the best of it.  It helped that I already knew the area.

On Saturday, 1/25/25 I decided to go out to this place called Barley’s for breakfast.  It’s a British pub I’d visited before for lunch while enjoying some American R&B music from the 90’s.  What brought me back was the rare American breakfast offered on the menu.  I sat there reading while marveling that every song that came on made me feel like the restaurant tapped into my personal computer.  When my pancakes and eggs arrived, Paper Planes by M.I.A was playing.  That is only my favorite song of all time. 

American breakfast in a British pub on a sunny Saturday in Cyprus.  The whole experience put a smile on my face for the rest of the day.

The next day, Sunday, I woke up to the sound of electric saws.  At 7 a.m.  Are you f*&king kidding me?  Then, an hour later, the internet went out.  I switched to a different modem, which worked for a couple of hours ... then the power went out.  It stayed out for several hours.

So, no.  I won’t be extending my stay in this place.

On to Limassol

 

After 5 weeks in Paphos, I figured it was time to explore more of the island.  While I was reasonably comfortable in the apartment, the longer I was there, the more issues I encountered which led me to not extending my stay again.

The floors were constantly covered in this sooty residue and I know I wasn't tracking anything in.  I've mentioned before that the building was old and retained the cold.  I also think that the vents were spitting out this dust.  The constant hacking I heard from the neighbors would seem to confirm that theory (so much noise through the thin walls!).

I came back one day to find that the power had gone out.  No big deal, it's happened before in other Airbnbs.  This time, though, it was just mine and one other building in the immediate area and the power was off for hours.  I didn't want to leave to get dinner and have to fumble my way back in the dark, so I ended up having another no dinner night in the place.  Also, I couldn't take a shower because of the dark, so it was a fun night all around.  Power was mercifully back on by morning. 

So, once the three weeks were up, I thought it time to move on.  At least this time, I knew the bus system and should easily be able to move between the cities.  Right?

Why then was my first experience using the intercity buses so much easier than my second?  Despite knowing what I was doing this time, the travel day ended up being a complete mess.

First off, Google.  The Maps function usually doesn’t steer me wrong, but in this case, it told me to catch the bus in a municipal parking lot.  Okay.  That doesn’t sound right.  I entered ‘bus station’ repeatedly into my phone and it kept telling me to go stand in the middle of a parking lot where there was no signage, no bench, no nothing.  Seriously?

There was an elevator shaft nearby since the parking lot was at the base of a hill.  I took it up, expecting to finally see an actual station.  Nope.  Just a sitting area flanked by taxis.  I asked a cabby where I could catch the bus.  He made some vague gesture that the station was located elsewhere, but notably, did not offer his services.

That’s something I’ve noticed in Cyprus.  Not only are the cabs outrageously expensive, but the cabbies act like they don’t want to get a fare.  When I first left the apartment, I found a taxi stand a short distance away.  I told the lady I needed a ride to the bus station.  She told me it would be 10 euros, but that it was only a 15-minute walk.  Okay.  I guess I can walk it … with all my crap … over uneven Cypriot sidewalks … in the blazing sun … while holding my phone to get directions (to a parking lot).  Sure.  Sounds like fun.

And boy, was it.  I left the second taxi stand, thinking the station was nearby, but no.  After wandering around for a while, I returned to that same taxi stand.  I asked a different dude where I could catch the bus and he told me about the actual bus station that was about a mile away.  Just take me there.  Whatever money you want to charge me is fine – just get me there.

Arrived at Karavella station and waited.  And waited.   And waited.  There was a bus already there with signage for Limassol.  But that wasn’t the bus.  Plenty of other buses arrived that were also not the bus.  I really hate waiting.

Finally, a bus arrived and let out its passengers.  I knew the driver would take a break before reloading, as I’d watched others do during my stupidly long wait.  But, come on, dude!  I’ve already traveled over half the city, I’m tired, I haven’t eaten since breakfast, and I just want to get this travel day over with. 

Then, at last, we were allowed to board.  And no, at no point during the hour-long trip did we ever hit that parking lot that Google recommended.  Thanks for that.

I'm not sure why the bus driver had a mermaid doll splayed on his windshield, but I had to take a picture of it.

The trip went well enough.  The spaces between the cities consists of a whole lot of nothing.  Just huge rock mountains with a few scattered towns.  We hit some traffic coming into the city as Limassol is bigger and a lot busier than Paphos. 

I wasn't sure where the bus route would end but, as I was following our route on my phone, I thought to get myself as close to the apartment as possible.  I watched most of the passengers get off at the Limassol bus station, leaving me and one guy on the bus.  We got to the next stop and the driver got up and asked where we were going.  Before I even had a chance to answer, he yelled that it was the end of the line.  Fine.  I'm leaving.  You could have just said that as soon as you stopped.

Now I'm on the side of the road.  I recognize it as the place where I changed buses on the way to Paphos.  But what do I do now?  I'm staying in the city, I'm at least 2 miles from the apartment (and screw walking all that way after the day I'd had), and I didn't know the local bus system.  Sigh.  Time to catch a cab again.

And again, the taxi drivers ignored me.  I thought maybe they couldn't stop in the bus lane, but, as more and more taxis zoomed by me, I started to take it personally.  They see a woman with luggage on the side of road waving and think what?  I'm just being friendly?

I lugged my crap to a nearby taxi stand and managed to convince a cabby to do his job.  He got me to the place with no problem and I found my way into my new home for the week.

My last place wasn’t as nice as the first place I stayed in Paphos.  It was still cozy enough to extend my stay for 3 weeks.  The new place makes me miss the last place.

It's spacious enough and has a gas stovetop (thank you!) but ....

I hit the bathroom first thing (of course) and immediately noticed that the tub (Yay!) had no shower curtain (Boo!).  Why is this so hard for Europe to get right?  Even the last apartment had a partial partition on the shower stall.  But this place?  Yeesh.

Then, the real corker was the toilet.  Not only is the flushing mechanism confusing -- the knob on top that I kept trying to push down or twist until I figured out that you have to pull it up -- but the toilet lid just fell off when I tried to close it.  Are you kidding me?  You know that whoever cleaned the apartment KNEW that the toilet lid was loose but did nothing about it.  Oh, no, let’s just let it be a surprise for the first sucker who rents the place.

I hate that bathroom.

I messaged the host, not only to get it fixed, but to make sure I didn’t get charged for breaking the thing.  They said they’d be out to fix it at a time that was convenient for me.  We’ll see how that goes.  Until then, I’ll just be staring at a gaping toilet whenever I go in there.  (I’m keeping the door closed).

Once I found the big issues with the apartment, I really began to notice the small things.  And, boy, are there a lot of small things.  

Why is the floor so scuffed up?  I already don't like the white tiles as I prefer the hardwood I've had in most places.  But to see that the floor is this messed up (there are scuffs like this all over the apartment) just makes the place feel scruffy.

Why is there a lock on the refrigerator?  I have never seen that before. 

I’ve also never seen a patio with two sliding glass doors.  No screen door – two sliding glass doors.  WHY???

My first place in Paphos had a screen door – a rarity in Europe.  The only issue?  Whenever I’d open the door in the morning, a cat would appear and immediately start screaming at me.

I miss Paphos.

New Discoveries in Paphos

My continuing exploration of Paphos led me to the harbor, about a mile away from my current apartment.  It is the city’s main attraction, drawing all kinds of people to the shops and restaurants, the outdoor exercise area, and plenty of places to walk and sit.  A nice place to hang out and I’m glad I first saw it during the gorgeous sunset shown above.  

In one of the restaurants by the water, I spotted yet another pet bird just chilling, as big birds tend to do on these islands. 

And I discovered that I own a taxi stand.  Sweet!  That means I get a discount on rides by dropping my name, right?  Right???

For the record, I now own a hotel in Istanbul and one in Rome, a clothing store in Sophia, Bulgaria, and a restaurant in Athens.   I may be a nobody in the states, but I am a baller in Europe!

On the morning of 1/8/25, I got an email from Google regarding an update to my account info.  They have decided to change my country region from the U.S. to Portugal.  I thought that odd since I’m currently sitting in Cyprus, but I ain’t mad.  I have spent more time in Portugal than in the U.S. in the past year and half and, of course, I do want to make that country my home.   I just didn’t expect this change to happen so soon.

I guess this means that my cell will now work with Google FI in Portugal again.   I’ll have to use esims for any visits to the U.S.  That will be … different.

Yet another incentive to get my a$$ to Mars – I mean Portugal.  Ten points if you get that reference.

The email inspired me to do a tally of my time outside of the states since 3/23.  In no particular order:

               1 month in Greece

               1 month in Costa Rica

               1 ½ weeks in Jamaica (still too long)

               1 week in Singapore

               2 weeks in Bulgaria

               2 weeks in Montenegro

               1 week in The Netherlands

               1 week in Ireland (not long enough)         

               3 weeks in Thailand

               1 month in the U.S. (roughly)

               2 months in Cyprus (and counting)

               5 months in Türkiye

               8 months in Portugal

Equaling 22 months of travel.  Can you figure out which ones are my favorites?  When I first started this journey, the main 3 countries that I wanted to explore as a potential home were Portugal, Thailand, and Costa Rica.  Now the big three are Portugal, Türkiye, and Cyprus. 

Speaking of finding a home, I figured I’d investigate apartments in Cyprus just out of curiosity.  Most of the 2-bedrooms I found are way too expensive at 1500 euros and up in Larnaca (my preferred city), Paphos, and Limassol (I plan to hit that city next).  The only places under 1000 euros are in Nicosia.  Haven’t been there yet and have no plans to go there, mainly because the city is further inland than the other places I mentioned.  Hence the lower costs.

Call me spoiled, but I really need to be in walking distance of the water.  And, yes, I know I’ll have to pay for the privilege.

I periodically check Idealista.com for apartments in Portugal.  It’s currently not looking so good for places in Funchal.  Most are in the same range as the ones here in Cyprus.  Places in Portimão are more reasonable, though.  I do love Funchal, and it is still the goal for my next home, but it all depends on my budget.   If I ever get a job and a visa, Portimão might become home.  I figure as long as I make it to Portugal, I’m good. 

During this first week of January, I was watching the news from the U.S.  Devastating fires on the west coast, deadly snowstorms on the east coast.  Sigh.  The world’s going to hell and, unfortunately, the U.S. has a head start.

I really need to get my a$$ to Portugal.