It’s a Small World

Today was shipwreck and church day. And of course food. I’m not sure it’s a good idea for Andrew and us to travel together, we definitely have similar unquenchable appetites. At this rate I’ll soon need a new wardrobe.

The shipwrecked vessel Edro III was first on our sight seeing list. It’s sitting just off a rugged shore that is honeycombed with sea caves. Edro III is 80 meters long and weighs over 2300 tons. It ran aground on Dec 8, 2011 shortly after leaving Limasoll, Cyprus bound for Rhodes Greece, carrying a load of plasterboard. The only reason given is stormy seas. The anchor chain is stretched out into the ocean, so it gives the impression that the captain dropped anchor, hoping to be held off the rocks. It didn’t work, obviously. All the crew were safely rescued by helicopter, though local lore would say the captain stayed on board for up to two years while the wreck was being analyzed. Sounds abit unbelievable. The ship is sitting at an 11-12 degree angle, and that seems a tad uncomfortable for regular day to day living.

The second shipwreck was the MV Demetrios II, a merchant ship headed from Greece to Syria with a load of timber in 1998. Interestingly enough, the Captain and First Mate had forged their papers and weren’t actually at all qualified to be Captaining a Vessel. The wind and seas came up, and under the not so expert hands of the Captain it was driven smack into a narrow wedge in the reef, where it has stayed till this day. From a distance it looks for all the world like a normal ship coming into port, but when you get closer you notice that the hull is rusted through and sunshine is streaming right through the middle.

The churches we glanced at were fairly unimpressive, one being closed, so we could just circle it and read signs. One of the Kings of Denmark is buried there because he died on his way to visit to Holy Lands. Years ago, this was. The other church was the St Lazareth Church back in Larnaca. Legend has it that Lazareth moved to Cyprus after he was raised from the dead by Jesus, and it must be true, cause we saw a gilded box with six of his bones laid neatly in it. We only had two minutes at that church, as they were about to close.

The Tombs of The Kings looked fascinating, so we strolled around there for a while, exploring the various tombs, but most of all soaking up the beautiful scenery and sunshine. The sparkling blue sea was right beside us, and among the tombs were acres of spring flowers, fragrant herbs and green, green grass.

Our flight out to Tel Aviv left 15:50, so we headed back to the airport shortly after lunch. It was tremendously chaotic at the airport, and the check in security we had to go through to fly to Israel was next level. They split us and Andrew up, then spent ages grilling us both and then confabbing to compare our stories. In some ways it seems so random and weirdly hectic, I can’t imagine they really weed out anyone. About 15 Kiosks were set up where the passengers would stop for their grilling. They all had tablets on them, but some didn’t work for everyone, so the security personnel buzzed between kiosks, typing this and that, stuck various colored sticky notes in our passports, tagged luggage with pink or orange or green or yellow tags and circled random H’s or K’s or who knows what. In between, Heath and I had to go empty our bags to make sure everything in them was ours. They didn’t even really bother watching. Andrew’s bag got hauled off and checked where he couldn’t see it. So random. But eventually we got past that and could start the exhausting regular security queue. By the time that was finally finished, with its share of barking ladies getting under our skins, we were able to walk right onto our El Al flight.

El Al is the only commercial airline whose planes are equipped with missile defence systems. What a comfort. The plane was ancient. I sat by a tremendously cultured woman from London, and we chatted the whole 50 minutes. She was a Baha’is, which is a religion I had never heard of before. Look it up and prepare to be fascinated. Before the flight was over she invited us to come for tea next time we’re in London. I’d love to do it, and definitely kept the card that she gave me out of her classy little card case.

And then we were home! Or that’s what I caught my head singing as we landed, anyway. Heath got the car while I went to the bakery to stock up on treats to bring to Dr. Lena. She had told us to come for supper right after the airport, so we headed straight to her flat. She and her daughter in law made us a delectable meal of savory rice, some sort of frittata bursting with cheese and fresh Israel veggies, trays of cheeses and meats, bread and butter. For dessert she made a beautiful carrot cake and we finished with tea and more sweets. Truly a feast. It was so good to see her cheerful face again, and we talked and talked till way too late. I washed up the dishes while her and the boys made the beds. It was midnight before we were finally done, and she had to be up early to go to work. We slept good.