"Ah! Sotira!"

I knew returning to Athienou after 12 years was going to be tough since it'd be my first visit without my dear Yiayia around, but we were greeted by enough family to ease the pain and put a smile on our faces...side note- My grandma is one of 16 children, 12 of which lived to marry and reproduce, so my mom has what seems like a million cousins and aunts, most of which live in Athienou. It also doesn't help that Athienou is a fairly small town and my dear mom is pretty well known by just about everyone in town. Oh and apparently, I look, sound and act EXACTLY like my mother so everywhere P and I went, a voice would exclaim "Ah! Etin Sotira! Irte ei Sotira!" (Ah! There's Sotira, Sotira is in town!") and often time there'd be a shout from around a nearby corner in response "Poon tin Sotira?! Ma irte che then mas ipe?!" (Where's Sotira? She came and didn't tell us?!") Which was fun at first, but after the 5th day, it just hindered our daily plans- it'd take over an hour to go to the market to pick up milk!
Now, being stuck in Athienou without wheels is like being stuck in Goshen without a car, makes for tough living. So cousin Irini saved the day by lending us her car for the month (we love you Irini!). After a few test drives around Athienou's windy, narrow maze-like streets, driving standard on the left side of the street was no biggie and we were off to explore Cyprus.
There was much of the island that I had never seen before since going to Cyprus in the past meant hanging with Yiayia, strolling the sleepy streets of Athienou and hitting up the beach. This time around P and I explored a different town or village a few times a week, visited ancient sites, old churches, old family, young family and managed to fit in plenty of beach time before returning to my great grandma's ancient home in Athienou for each night's rest.
Tourism has taken over Cyprus in a way I hadn't imagined, massive hotels have developed almost every inch of the island's coastline, restaurants catering to tourists are everywhere you look and every other car you see on the road is a red plated tourist rental. Though Athienou has not changed too much, the rest of the island barely looked familiar!
The small city of Larnaca was our stop for shopping to replace our cheesecloth third world clothing- we had to stroll in style now that we were back in the western world! The capital of Lefkosia was our history lesson of how Turkish Occupied Cyprus (TOC) came to be- as a divided capital city, there's a lot to be said. Taking the lift to the top of Shakolas Tower gave us a glimpse of TOC and had photo explanations of historical landmarks (one of the more interesting museum spaces we've seen along this trip, and I'm not being biased!). Paphos has become the city of tourists, though there are hidden gems if you stray inland from the pier and the archeological site just a few steps from the Paphos castle holds some of the more interesting ruins on the island. Lemesos seemed like a long strip of beach resorts, hotels and tacky restaurants so we didn't spend much time there. We thought we'd head to my mom's favorite spot in Protaras... I guess the deep blue yet crystal clear waters of the Mediterranean sea allows you to overlook the hideous concrete hotels and resorts which have taken over much of the sand along this beach. We did manage to find a pretty quiet and beautiful strip of Protaras, which we returned to several times. BUT thanks to P's convincing, our attempt to find a deserted, undeveloped, pristine strip of sand on Cyprus was successful! We found a great spot,(which we'll keep a secret) where there were no other tourists in site, nor a hotel or resort, just some olive trees to provide shade, deep white sand and crystal clear water. Oh and not too far away(but far enough) back on the road, we found a great little seafood restaurant where we watched the catch come in fresh as we placed our orders to complete the experience.
So, after all, Cyprus isn't completely doomed with development after all, if you look hard enough, you can find a peaceful, undisturbed sandy spot to claim as your own for your time on the island...just be sure to stay away from ours!

* Also of special note is P breaking out of her veggie role for a few tastes of Octopus. After chewing she decided she didnt like it because "It tastes like fish!" Back to veg I suppose.