Sunday, January 26, 2025

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.

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