What the title says. Day four over and out. We got up and took a long bus ride into the mountains. The views on the way up were stunning and I actually got to experience them because I did not take a nap on the way there this time. Not to fear, though. I took my nap on the way back down. I loved seeing the little tourist village on the mountain. Again, my phone is not syncing so I can not get my pictures on here, but please take my word for the beautiful green valleys I saw.
After looking at the mountains, we went down a little to a small town with adorable shops and good restaurants. We went through and old Greek Orthodox Christian monastery. I love learning about world religions, so it was pretty interesting. Unlike the puritans that are spread a lot in the United States, the Orthodox Christians are not plain. Their churches are lavish and filled with gold and intricate details. This was very much reflected on the inside of the chapel we were in. It was very impressive. At one of the little shops, I got a pearl ring for myself after agonizing a lot over whether to get that or a silver and gold coin necklace. I definitely made the right decision. There were orange trees in people’s yards, nice little courtyards in people’s houses, and everything was so clean and quiet. Sorry to those people if my friends and I were loud!
We went to an incredible restaurant and had mezze, a traditional Cyprian way of serving meals. Each dish comes out one at a time. We got some fresh baked bread with tzatziki and hummus first. We then got a Greek salad and some tomatoes with feta cheese. We then had some sesame crusted halloumi cheese with honey on top. After, we got some orzo pasta in a truffle cream sauce with mushrooms. That was probably my favorite thing. It was so rich and the flavors were to die for. For our main entree, we had some crispy skin pork and chicken skewers with a sweet wine and honey sauce. For dessert, there was fresh orange slices. However, my table got a chocolate cake because it was my friend Lucy’s birthday. That cake was also delicious. Overall, I would rate this meal an 11/10 because it was just so tasty.
We met with the Cyprus Port Authority in the afternoon. The meeting mostly was about how the CPA governs the ports as a separate public organization, but is also kind of separate from the government. Honestly, this meeting confused me a little bit. I am not really familiar with the maritime industry or how a lot of logistical business things work. That being said, I still feel like I learned a lot sitting in that meeting and listening to the questions being asked. They mentioned how their focus was sustainability before the war in Ukraine. It is interesting to see just how much global issues affect other nations, especially a smaller nation like Cyprus. Overall today was very interesting in a lot of ways.