Cypriot lessons

Cyprus became my destination a bit by coincidence: someone mentioning the island on a rainy April day, me buying a ticket for August.
And a guide book.
Which I lost on day 2, just as I was going to start digging into it.

Limassol-Paphos-Larnaca-Nicosia-Kyrenia and a few small places in between. 

Loads of sun, Orthodox icons, spicy sheftalia and fresh Xynisteri. 

Plenty of Brits and Russians on beaches and promenades. 

Historical sites, tiny churches and imposing monasteries to choose amongst. 

And even without the guide, good instinct for cool open air bars ad cafes: La Isla on the beach in Limassol, Dstrkt in the centre of Larnaca, Pieto just off Ledras in Nicosia.

But also border crossings, buffer zones, abandoned buildings and some reckoning on divisions and solutions, as a reminder that this is not just another Greek island.

At the end of 10 days, after driving some 850 km and walking about 78 km (according to the iPhone's probably overgenerous counting) also some life lessons:

- driving on the left is odd but doable, also by night, but it helps if you find out how to turn the lights on before taking the highway;

- if the car in front of you at a border crossing has stopped, most likely it is not just another form of creative parking which allows you to overtake;

- this summer nothing can stop Despacito everywhere, but Greek pop will not go down without serious fighting;

- when visiting excavation areas at noon and with some 40 degrees, only one thing matters: