Day 28 – Büyükkonuk, Kyrenia, Alanya, Antalya, Marmaris

Today is the weak link in our meticulous itinerary. We need to arrive at Marmaris port by 1500 tomorrow for the ferry to Rhodes. We were unable to book the coach travel across southwest Turkey online and, since we were therefore unsure how far we would get, we didn’t book any accommodation either.

After enjoying another tasty breakfast at Lois and Ismail’s we are a little late departing Büyükkonuk but we arrive in Kyrenia in plenty of time for the ferry. We can return the hire car by leaving it at the port, unlocked with the key under the rubber mat in driver’s footwell, a common practice in these parts apparently.

Having collected the tickets and paid the port tax we wait in the departure lounge for a while and then pass through security, pay another mystery tax, and have our passports inspected. The catamaran departs on time and though the sea appears calm it’s a bouncy crossing and we arrive an hour late.

 

After a quick trip to a cashpoint we take a taxi to the otogar, where we establish that the only bus going to Antalya leaves in eight minutes. We buy tickets and provisions and the smart Mercedes coach departs on time. We are forced to endure more Turkish television, some kind of Jurassic Park spoof this time it seems.

The reason the 130 km journey is scheduled to take two hours soon becomes apparent as we crawl along the free-flowing dual carriageways, the driver repeatedly hooting to announce his presence and collecting passengers at random locations en route.

Shortly after 1730 the coach arrives at the impressive Antalya bus station. There’s an information point with friendly and apparently impartial advice. We are shown which sales desk to go to, where we discover we are in luck: there’s a coach at 1830 going all the way through to Marmaris, albeit not arriving until 0030. We have time to buy provisions and to book a hotel online.

It’s another well-appointed Mercedes coach, complete with free wi-fi. We climb slowly out of Antalya in to a spectacular mountain landscape. The shadows gradually lengthen and it falls dark. I fatefully remark on the lack of television. At a 25 minute refreshment break we enjoy the 17 °C mountain air, the coolest we have experienced since leaving the UK.

After a brief stop in Fethiye we continue to Marmaris, arriving early. We take a taxi to the hotel. The driver is the nicest so far, speaking good English and being very helpful. He asks what we’re up to and, just when we are expecting an offer to collect us and take us to the port tomorrow, he tells us we can easily hail one in the street outside the hotel or better still just walk, and he explains the back route through the marina.

We weren’t expecting to make it all the way through to Marmaris, so we’re very pleased at the prospect of a relaxing day tomorrow. The only downside has been passing through Anlanya so quickly we miss what is reputed to be the only brewpub in Turkey.

Day 27 – Büyükkonuk, Kantara, Karpas Peninsula

Our reason for visiting Büyükkonuk is its reputation as Cyprus’ first pilot eco-village, which has benefitted from US, UN and Turkish investment since 2006. Traditional buildings have been renovated, including the Old Olive Mill and a rainwater harvesting scheme at the local mosque is in the planning stages; an 8,000 litre capacity, PVC tank will be used to supply WCs and basins.

This project is being led by our hosts, Lois and Ismail, a Canadian-Cypriot couple, who seem to be very active in the local community, as well as running the wonderful B&B and adjacent craft shop.

 

Lois brings us a delicious breakfast and afterwards introduces us to Ismail, with whom we chat over Turkish coffee. After a while we are joined by two new arrivals, friendly Barcelonans now resident in Stockholm, one of whom is a photojournalist.

Ismail tells us that the mains water is supplied from local artesian wells, now more than double the 45 ft depth required to reach the source. One well has dried up entirely so mains water is only available every other day now. Still, Büyükkonuk extracts more than enough for its own use and is able to sell to other villages. Treatment is basic, crude chlorination by bottle resulting in variable levels of dilution, so most people buy drinking water, which is more carefully treated and delivered by truck.

Depending upon the number of guests the B&B takes up to three deliveries of potable water per week, each of 19 litres and costing 3 YTL (£ 1.30). In comparison the cost of mains supply is 1 YTL (£ 0.40) per m³ for the first 10 m³ per month, rising for higher levels of consumption. Since mains pressure is very low Lois and Ismail use a dry, clay-lined well to hold mains water, pumping it to storage tanks in the buildings.

Across Cyprus water shortages have become increasingly acute, culminating in freshwater imports in 2008, in Greek tankers to the Republic and in Scandinavian designed, floating plastic ‘balloons’ to Northern Cyprus. Desalination capacity has been increased (making use of cheap and dirty, low-grade fuel oil) and in 2011-2012 a freshwater pipeline and electricity supply will connect the island with Turkey. The channel between Cyprus and Turkey is relatively deep so the pipeline will be suspended rather than run along the seabed.

The project is politically contentious with Greek Cypriots reluctant to be dependent upon Turkey in the longer term, assuming reunification at some point. Turkey, which is not generally water-stressed, sees the opportunity to ultimately export water to Israel. The seabed between Cyprus and Israel is much shallower and flatter, making such a pipeline significantly less costly.

We also receive the best explanation yet for the ubiquitous request not to flush paper down the toilet (a bin is usually provided instead). Typically manholes are not constructed with benching and swept bends, and therefore they partly fill with sewage. Paper does not break down as easily as sewage so is more likely to clog up the manholes. The problem is compounded by increasing bleach use, which severely impedes sewage being broken down naturally. Consequently most people have their septic tank emptied annually. By avoiding bleach use, Lois and Ismail are yet to have their tank emptied in 13 years of residence.

Future projects include developing more comprehensive strategies for water and wetlands management. The former could include education, perhaps leading to a reversal in the trend for exotic, non-indigenous, water-hungry garden plants (and the lawn at the new ‘ecolodge’), and integrating intermittently used, existing reservoirs.

It is hoped that the many areas of wetland lost to development (in Büyükkonuk for quarrying and later an industrial estate) can be reclaimed so that, in tandem with a hunting ban in sensitive areas, migrating birds will return, offering potential for more sustainable tourism.

Another vision is an “off-grid” campsite accommodating up to 100 people, featuring only temporary buildings, complete with composting toilets, rainwater harvesting, solar water heating and kerosene fridges.

Ironically there are also plans to route a new tourist highway through the village. However the recently elected new government advocates low-impact tourism, merging the Ministries of Environment and Tourism, so the village may yet be spared.

Later in the morning we visit the amazing Kantara Castle, not as large or well preserved as Crac des Chevalliers, but with even more impressive 360°views. The western part of the castle is not visible at all upon entering but paths through the trees and undergrowth lead to the living quarters and the vaulted basement beneath, originally housing a prison and later two large cisterns, still full of water today. The medieval latrines on the south walls were once flushed by the castle’s sophisticated water system.

 

 

After an inadequate lunch in Kantara we wend our way down to the coast via Yarköy.

Head down past Galatia to Artemis, a new casino resort under construction. Planning consent was conditional upon the development incorporating its own desalination plant, which has been completed. Temporarily, until the resort is fully built out, desalinated water is sold to local residents.

A small tidal lagoon has been converted in to a lake by disconnecting it from the sea, ensuring that it is always full of water but completely transforming the ecology, replacing birdlife with algae.

We head further along the Karpas Peninsula and stop for a swim east of Yenierenköy. Sadly the beach is quite badly littered and there are almost no fish in the sea. Ismail later tells us that in his youth anemones, sea urchins, sea cucumbers and many species of fish were common but sadly, as in much of the Mediterranean Sea, they have gradually disappeared, presumably due to industrial pollution.

After another lame meal in Bogaz (though at least we are spared the cats),we return to the B&B and sit out the back of Lois and Ismail’s house, supping Efes and talking the evening away with our hosts and the Barcelonans.

Day 26 – Polis, Lemesos, Lefkosia, North Nikosia, Boğaz, Büyükkonuk

To travel the length of this small but partitioned island, we have a long and fragmented day of travel ahead of us, primarily because cars rented on either side of the Green Line are not insured to cross it.

The first, uneventful leg is the drive to Lemesos to return the car. Close to Avis’ office, after a 20 minute wait, we catch a bus that we are told will take us to the bus station. It is soon evident that the bus is heading for the port so we disembark and walk for 10 minutes to one of the three bus stations, where the Lefkosia buses depart from. Or used to, as it is now abandoned. A short walk brings us to another bus station, where we learn that we’ve just missed the 1100 bus, leaving a 90 minute wait for the next one. We are going to miss the first of our two meetings in Lefkosia, with Artemis Achilleos of the Water Development Department.

Following a dreadful lunch and several attempts to contact Artemis we board the bus, which makes numerous stops en route. (This is the only public transport between the two largest cities in the on the island.)

The city of Lefkosia (Nicosia in Turkish) has been partitioned since 1974, the southern part being capital of the Republic of Cyprus and North Nicosia being the capital of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (recognised by no nation other than Turkey).

We walk from the bus station to the Ledra Street “border” crossing, easy to miss in its surreal location on a small road at the heart of the city. The buffer zone between comprises a narrow strip of abandoned city, barbed wire strung across gaps between the buildings. On the Turkish side our passports are inspected and we each write our name, nationality and passport number on a small piece of paper, which is then stamped. The process takes little more than a couple of minutes.

We have no problem in hiring a car and then stumble upon Fergün’s office, where we book the ferry from Kyrenia (Girne) to Antalya, completing the penultimate piece of the travel jigsaw.

Parking close to Ledra Street we re-cross the Green Line and head southeast to the Cyprus Hilton to meet Nakis Theocharides, the Health Club Manager.

Nakis was given responsibility for implementing Hilton’s we care! programme at the hotel. By his own admission he did not know a great deal about sustainability at the time, but received online training and set to work, ultimately leading the hotel to win the programme’s 2008 award, rewarded with mountain bikes for staff.

In Nakis’ view water is much more important than energy use and climate change in Cyprus, particularly given the major shortages last year. The hotel still experiences interruptions in mains supply, though less frequently this year. Other than a borehole supply for irrigation, mains water is required for all end uses, including the swimming pool.

Consumption has been reduced by retrofitting nylon bags to WC cisterns (to reduce capacity), and flow regulators to taps and shower heads. The latter initially led to customer complaints but these have subsided as communication has improved; green credentials are displayed in reception and on email signatures.

Last year Nakis saw a newspaper article about two other hotels achieving Green Key certification, sought more information and went to achieve accreditation in early 2009. Due to the initiatives implemented under the we care! programme, no additional work was required.

In terms of the future there are proposals by the landlord (Hilton is the building operator, not the owner) to refurbish the hotel, which will present an opportunity for more radical change, though the regulatory framework is very weak.

Nakis argues that behavioural change and technology are both important and interdependent, and the latter can stimulate the former. The health club membership is mainly Cypriot, whereas the the hotel guests are predominantly British and Greek. All are increasingly interested in the hotel’s environmental credentials, evidenced by responses in formal customer feedback.

 

We pass through the checkpoint for the final time, retrieve the car and head east, stopping at Boğaz for an awful dinner, accompanied by an annoying clowder of stray cats hunting for scraps while the waiters look on indifferently.

It is 2200 by the time we arrive at Lois & Ismail Cemal’s B&B, where we receive a very welcome warm welcome from Lois.

Day 25 – Polis, Latsi, Akamas Peninsula

After a morning of email, Skype, blogging and research we lunch at the Hotel Natura, where we arrange to meet owner later.

We hire a dinghy and sail off Latsi for an hour, and then spend the remainder of the afternoon driving around the Akamas Peninsula. Most of the roads are dirt tracks and we are glad of the four-wheel drive. It is one of the island’s last remaining wildernesses, partly because of its controversial use by the British Army as a firing range, even though it lies outside the Sovereign Base Area agreements of 1960.

We return to Hotel Natura to meet the owner, Dr Christos Georgiades. Since inheriting the family farm on Cyprus’ northwest coast he has resisted the advances of island’s established property magnates and developed a “holistic” hotel, the first phase of which is well-established.

Much of the focus is on water and food. A large part of the plot is still farmed, in a way that is sensitive to the local climate, particularly rainfall. As well as more conventional measures, such as irrigating early in the morning and late in the evening, Dr Georgiades draws upon his experience as a microbiologist to develop more innovative techniques, including plant breeding. One example is reducing the water needed to grow watermelons by crossing them with pumpkins, which have a more efficient root structure.

He makes the rather bold claim that “not a drop of water is wasted”. The hotel has four sources of water:

1. Potable mains water for drinking, cooking and ablutions;
2. Irrigation mains water for agriculture, supplied from a local dam;
3. A borehole for lawn irrigation; and
4. Grey water recycling for WC flushing.

Day 24 – Polis, Pomos, Kato Pyrgos

It is Saturday today. We head northeast towards the Turkish Republic of North Cyprus (TRNC) border, stopping first at Pomos for a swim and some lunch.

 

Afterwards we head further up the coast and are then forced inland to circumnavigate the Turkish enclave of Kokkina, a detour of 24 km.

Shortly afterwards we arrive at Kato Pyrgos, which is one of the most remote places in the Republic, and consequently much less developed. According to the Lonely Planet guide it is “like Cyprus used to be”. It seems an agreeable place with very few tourists and we stop for a drink. I can’t get data over the local mobile network but the barman has a laptop and a television each streaming English football, so I am able to find out that Colchester’s winning start to the season is coming to a premature end at Milton Keynes.

  

Back at the hotel the studio smells a bit funny again. We open all of the windows and start the punkah fan to cool off. There’s still a bit of a smell and we try to trace its source. Wedged under one of the mattresses there is a used ashtray and a couple of dozen seashells. We go on to discover other sea shells hidden on the bathroom window sill, behind the bathroom mirror and in the toilet brush holder. All very strange but at least once we have removed them the odour seems to dissipate.

Day 23 – Lemesos, Galata, Polis

We are late arriving in Lemesos but are grateful to clear immigration and customs quickly. Ignoring the keen taxi drivers we find the bus stop and seven minutes later we are on our way as the only passengers on the No. 30 bus. We realise it’s heading along the sprawling waterfront rather to the bus station as we had hoped, disembark and walk for 10-15 minutes back towards the centre, where we have breakfast.

 

 

At 1100 we have a meeting with Dr Michael Ierides, Secretary General of the Cyprus Marine Environment Protection Agency (CYMEPA) and another enthusiastic environmentalist. Originally a shipping industry NGO (a function it retains) CYMEPA’s remit has spread to broader environmental education and since 1994 it has been Cyprus’ national member organisation of the Foundation for Environmental Education (FEE).

Recently elected to the FEE Executive Board, Dr Ierides has responsibility for mentoring JREDS, Jordan’s representative organisation, which we visited. In fact he had been in Aqaba just before us, where he oversaw the Mövenpick hotel achieving the first Green Key accreditation in the country. In Cyprus there are four hotels certified to date, soon to be five, with a target of ten for next year.

CYMEPA is also implementing the Eco-Schools programme, which started at primary level, expanded to senior, and now covers 300 schools. Water is a favourite opening topic, as the water cycle is easy for the children to understand. Typically automated taps and cistern bricks (which reduce the flush capacity) are installed as part of the project.

I am intrigued to know whether CYMEPA operates across the ‘Green Line’ and Dr Ierides tells us that he would and does work with any NGO that supports unification but not with the “so-called government” of North Cyprus.

We talk about Cyprus’ water “shortage”. Dr Ierides’ view is that the main issue is unsustainable agriculture, which accounts for 70 % of consumption (domestic use 20 %, tourism 10 %). Water-hungry cash crops such as pistachio nuts, bananas and tomatoes are grown but frequently ‘dumped’ as Cypriots struggle to compete on the international market:

• Other producers benefit from more favourable climates;
• Since joining the EU in 2004 Cyprus has been subject to the Common Agricultural Policy; and
• Water for agricultural use is not subsidised to the same level as previously. (Even so it costs just 7 pence per tonne and some farmers apparently bottle it and sell it at up to 50 pence per litre.)

In the 1960s, in an attempt to increase water availability, every river and stream on the island was dammed, which is one explanation for the reduction in marine life around the coastal. Even so last summer, after poor winter rains, fresh water had to be imported by tanker from Greece.

This has not been necessary this year as the winter rains were ‘better, and mains water availability has risen from three to four days per week. (A hosepipe ban remains in place though.) Water pressure is low so most houses have two tanks, one at low level filled by the mains from which water is pumped to a rooftop tank that serves the fittings and appliances by gravity. Stored water is not considered potable so most people drink bottled water.

Another culprit, says Dr Ierides, is the trend in domestic swimming pools and lawns, which he says has resulted in increased humidity in Nicosia (we find this incredible). Pools are typically initially filled from water delivered by a tanker, with subsequent evaporation losses made up from a private borehole.

Demand for potable water for domestic use is increasingly being managed, with dual-flush WCs and grants for greywater recycling and private boreholes available. The country’s major infrastructure project is a new desalination plant, to add to three existing facilities. It will run on oil, perhaps converting to gas in the future if Cyprus’ untapped fields are exploited as expected. One has to question the value of an ‘autonomous’ water supply if it creates/perpetuates food and oil dependency.

Solar water heating is almost universal in residential buildings; it would be “stupid not to” have it given the subsidies (the capital cost for a four-person household should not exceed 700 Euros) and the short payback period. It is also common in schools, offices and other building types. The adoption of photovoltaic (PV) cells is less common and no clear subsidy strategy has yet emerged.

It has been a useful introduction to water management in Cyprus and Dr Ierides has also kindly arranged for us to visit the Green Key certified Cyprus Hilton in Lefkosia.We accept the generous offer of a lift to Avis’ “downtown” office, actually conveniently located 4 km from the centre. We want to see a lot of the island, particularly the mountainous interior, during our short stay, and public transport is rather limited, so we have decided to rent a 4WD.

We head north, past one of the dams, and up on to the Troödos Massif, heading for Galata where we have booked three nights’ accommodation through the Cyprus Agrotourism Company.

Except that when we phone the owner to say we have arrived she has no record of our booking. Thinking something is lost in translation we meet her in person but alas the studio is not available until the following night. However she is not about to pass up the chance of some unexpected revenue and takes us to see her friends who run a hotel and will put us up for the night.

We meet this friendly couple, are offered some homemade lemonade, and a long conversation in Greek ensues. We query what is happening and are told to wait. The husband disappears and returns with the phone book and they start discussing whom to phone.

Conscious of time (it’s now about 1600 on a Friday afternoon) we try to make our excuses but our prospective host is still reluctant to let a windfall escape her grasp and suggests we stay at her sister’s house for the first night. We agree to have a look. There’s no-one at home and she takes around the back of the house, where she fruitlessly roots around under stones and plant pots looking for the spare key. Her sister is on holiday and probably has no idea what’s going on.

It’s now 1700, two hours after we arrived and we’ve seen enough. It’s a pity because we want to support the agrotourism company, but our experience has been more aggro-tourism.

We decide to head for the northwest coast, as it is supposed to be less blighted by bad development and it allows us to traverse the interior, which we had intended to do. We consult the Lonely Planet guide, exchange phone calls with a hotel in Polis, where I agree to take a room, and am then lectured on the rudeness of not showing up.

  

It takes two hours to wend our way through the Cedar Valley and Pafos Forest, down on to the coastal plain. We arrive at the hotel but the proprietor has no idea who we are. Thinking it’s an embarrassing error on my part I return to the car, check the guide book and my phone, but the hotel and phone number appear to match, leaving me somewhat confused. So I return to the hotel and show the hotelier the guide book, whereupon he remembers that the number has changed and its new owner, another hotel, is allegedly taking advantage. This clearly isn’t the first time this has happened.

We phone the other hotel, get directions, and upon arriving discover that it is being renovated and isn’t as nice as the other hotel. So we tell the chap there what’s happened and that we’re going back to first place. He is initially reasonable and understanding, but then starts insulting the other hotelier who in the interim had called him, apparently accusing him of poaching his customers. We make our excuses and depart.

The first hotel still has space and the proprietor shows me the “studio”, which seems quite nice and fairly good value, before embarking on a brief character assassination of his rival. We unpack and agree we made the right decision. And though it’s not branded “green” or “eco” you have to pay extra to have the air conditioning enabled.