Today we drove back to Limassol for a combo day of business and cultural visits! We started off the morning at DP World in their new passenger terminal to hear about how they have managed the privatization of the Limassol port (the biggest port in Cyprus) and how the company operates and plans to expand in many different ports around the world. I thought it was interesting to hear about how the company has set up different areas of the port for different purposes, such as the car importation area, to increase their efficiency. We then got a tour of the DPW area of the port. My favorite part of this tour was seeing the massive grain silos, just because I thought it was really cool to see a large portion of the entire country’s grain supply right in front of us.
After DPW, we went into the Eurogate area of the port. We got to hear a lot more about shipping container terminology, such as TEUs, which are measurements of the lengths of containers, keys, which are the stretches of the port where the ships anchor to unload, and berths, which are measurements of how deep into the water the ships can sit at the keys. They gave us pastries and drinks, which were really good! We then got a tour of Eurogate’s area of the port. The best part of this tour was when we got to go out to their key, see the gantry cranes and the cranes for the refrigerated products, and watch the straddle carriers load and unload trucks. I thought this was especially interesting because we got to see so much of the behind-the-scenes work that brings us everything buy.
We then went to the Old Port for lunch, which was right near Limassol Marina. We had such fantastic views of the Mediterranean Sea and the coast, as well as lots of locals’ boats! After lunch, we went to Limassol Castle, which is where Richard the Lionheart married his wife. I really enjoyed seeing so many artifacts from so many different centuries and the view from the roof was amazing! In our free time, we explored the Marina and the pier and lots of the shops in the area. I got cheesecake flavored ice cream and it was really good! Once we got back to Nicosia, we went out for dinner and checked out a couple of the kiosks in the Old City to find some Cypriot snacks. Today had a really great balance of business and cultural activities!
