One of the easiest ways to entertain oneself on a beach is with a spherical device and a couple of people to throw it to, and these needs were satisfactorily met with the three of us and a ball which bounces on water like some kind of crazy, magic Jesus ball. So here's a handy hint; If a random Turkish man wants you to throw him the ball, don't throw him the ball. It was all fun and games as him and his mate frolicked with us in the water with our spherical device, but have you any idea how hard it is to then ditch two Turkish men, despite the conversation being painfully dragged through a language barrier backwards?
And of all the chicks on all the beaches in all of Northern Cyprus, they locate and latch onto three lesbians. Homosexuality isn't entirely legal on this side of the island either and to be honest, the "I'm a lesbian" technique can sometimes have the opposite of the desired effect. Eventually we convinced them that we were off to Salamis to drink vodka Red Bulls at the local disco. I'm not even shitting you. It did the trick though so off they went in their car, blasting music which I'm surprised is legal in a country where homosexuality isn't, and we were left to sort out our evening.
We'd made it up the pan handle, the gorgeous peninsula that sticks out to the right of the country. The Karpas Peninsula, Kıpaşa in Turkish, is so fucking awesome, and so fucking unexploited. There are quite a few places offering accommodation in the form of camping or cabins, but there wasn't a towering hotel stuffed full of all inclusive package holiday makers in sight and not a single theme bar lined the beach. I think the time of year meant it was pretty
quiet so whilst Shups and Loody couldn't quite fulfil their dream of a deserted beach, we came close enough on the immense Golden Beach.
So food and accommodation was easily sorted. We'd parked at Hasan's Turtle Beach where you could do all kinds of exciting things such as pitch tents, eat food and drink rakı and Efes. Ah shit, rakı. I have this thing about trying liquors from different countries which probably isn't the best hobby for someone who loses all basic motor functions if she so much as gets a whiff of anything with an alcohol content. I did give the rakı a go and it basically tastes like sambuca.
Yeah nah, I reckon I can live the rest of my life without sampling it again, I don't mind if a liquor melts my liver but I tend to have issues when it tests my gag reflex. Efes, however, the Turkish beer, is fucking lovely! I could quite happily drink that until I had to be carried home, waving my underwear around whilst slurring "Don't Stop Me Now" by Queen.
After we'd suitably mauled Hasan's baby goat, repeatedly told it how gorgeous it was and stopped it from trying to eat my shorts, Shups spoke to him (Hasan, not the goat) about camping and he told us we could camp on the beach if we wanted, as long as we were careful not to damage one of the four turtle nests which, as he pointed out, were marked with four sticks and a cage. No worries. But first, beer and food. We ordered a meze and settled at our table, drinking Efes and chatting away until pita bread, dips, salad and some beans arrived which we made short work of and waited for the rest of it to arrive. And waited. And waited. Ok, so apparently a Turkish meze is very different from a Greek meze in that where a Greek meze will actually defeat you and have you curled up in a corner weeping, a Turkish meze will leave you wondering what happened to the main course. That was it. Bread, dips, salad and beans, as confirmed by two German guys Loody spoke to and a member of staff who then brought us some watermelon. I wasn't liking the Turkish idea of a meze, I wasn't in pain and my stomach didn't hate me. It felt wrong.
So anyway, before we crawled into our sleeping bags, we spent a short while staring at a nest because this time of year is the hatching season and Golden Beach is an important turtle breeding ground, but nature doesn't always like to play ball unlike lovely but misguided Turkish men with failed gaydars. Nah, fuck it, we gave up.
I eventually curled up in my sleeping bag, watching the stars until I drifted off to sleep.
Food, Drink, Beaches And... Erm... Men?
Tuesday, September 20, 2011
Kırpaşa Peninsula, Famagusta, Cyprus
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Comments

2025-02-11
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Tori
2011-10-31
crazy, magic Jesus ball.... After that I pretty much knew this post would be awesome :)
crittersandcrayons
2011-11-03
Really cool- I see you're wearing a SSG Army cap- Yours? Cool post- Jealous of all the cool traveling! :)
travelnshit
2011-11-03
Why thank you, Tori. I do get warm and fuzzy when people use the word "awesome" to describe a post ;)
Patricia, no it's not really mine strictly speaking. I don't have a military bone in my body but my dad and sister are both auxiliary RAF and dad found the hat when he was in Afghanistan, gave it to me. I wouldn't last a second with the military but I love the clothing ;)