CYPRUS - A SMALL COUNTRY OF A BIG HEART

SIMO JELAČA, Ph.D.

Zacharia Steliou Kipros and his wife Dimitra arrived in Novi Sad on business on the eve of the national holiday. They came from Copenhagen, to visit Agrovojvodina, from where Kampmann Olsen instructed them to contact me. Neither of them knew about our holidays, when Agrovojvodina did not work for four days. When Kipros called from the Park Hotel, I soon picked them up and brought them to our house. The next day, it was Saturday, we went to Rakovac together, to a weekend house, where we made a barbecue. They were delighted with the beautiful view of the Danube and Novi Sad. It was the month of May, so the weather could not have been better. Flowers bloomed all around the roads, and there were even more of them on the weekend house. And the fruit trees are all in full bloom, and the buzzing of bees with the chirping of birds from the surrounding trees are melodies for complete relaxation. Kipros and Dimitra were amazed by the natural beauties, and they were especially grateful for the unexpected hospitality. Campman Olsen did not disappoint them.

We agreed to send their two daughters, Eli and Kiki, to us for the winter holidays to experience a winter that does not exist with them in Cyprus. And they came. It was nice for them to hang out with our girls, but they didn't like the cold winter. Eli even cried when she first froze sledding.

For the second time, Kipros stayed with us while attending the Novi Sad Agricultural Fair, again in May. On that occasion, he was alone and we agreed that I would come to them, to Cyprus. Bosa and Maja traveled to Toronto, to Stasa, and I to Kipros. It was the month of July, when the sun was hot, which always suited me.

The Kipros house was made of stone, with a solar collector on the roof and a cistern for collecting rainwater, and the entrance to the house is covered with vines, from where the pleasant smell of grapes and the pleasant sound of countless bees come. The house overlooks the bay, and on the other side is the port of Larnaca. Only about three hundred meters away is the beach, next to which there are old olive trees with sparse shade. Water clear "like a tear", for swimming and sunbathing "gave the soul".

Cyprus is a country of only 7,130 km2, with a population of 650,000, at the time of my visit. Of the larger places are: Nicosia, Limassol, Larnaca, Paphos and Agia Napa, and on the Turkish side you can see Famagusta. Cyprus is a naturally beautiful country, with a Mediterranean climate, with beautiful beaches and many rocky coves. Southern fruits, pistachios, watermelons, millet and many types of flowers grow among the bays. The colors of the flowers are unsurpassed. Ambience for eyes and soul. Cypriots make excellent yogurt, and they eat watermelon with cheese that grinds under their teeth. The beaches of Cyprus are clean, and the one in Limassol is about 12 km long. There were about a hundred hotels in Limassol, mostly lined up next to each other along the coast. Their common name is "SunOtels'', with the capital letter "O" in the middle, in the shape of the sun.

On the way from Larnaca to Paphos, we took a break at the archeological excavations of Khirokitia (5800 BC). where a theater was discovered, which is still used today. There, not far away, is the temple of the god Apollo, behind which Aphrodite, the goddess of love and beauty, emerged. According to Greek legend, “Aphrodite is the daughter of the god Zeus and the goddess Dione, while according to another legend she was born from seafoam Romiou”, which in Greek means rock. And indeed, where Aphrodite emerged from the sea, a high rock rises from the shallow water of the sandy shore.

Paphos is a relatively small town, with an international airport, where many tourists come. One evening we stopped in Xynophagou for ice cream. Almost all the locals baked fish in front of their houses, which made the whole town smell. The ambiance remained unforgettable. During the next forty kilometers, the houses on the Greek side shone in the light, the shops were all open, and on the Turkish side of the island, behind the barbed wire, everything was in pitch darkness. Their soldiers stood day and night on the watchtowers, while the Turkish citizens managed to flee to the Greek side next to them. I visited Nicosia twice with Kipros.

One evening we attended a local wedding, for which Kipros' family had an invitation. The tables were arranged on the surrounding hill, where, as I was told, as many as 5,000 guests were sitting. All invited guests are all served hot lamb, and they all give the newlyweds only envelopes, from which the newlyweds collect so many gifts that they can start an independent life. We also spent one day on the beach in Agia Napa, with Kipros' relatives. The day and the sea were extraordinary.

And soon, after such a wonderful journey, the world was completely disturbed. The Americans went to war with Iraq, Mikhail Gorbachev sided with America in order to overthrow communism, Czechoslovakia split, fortunately without blood, the Romanians killed Ceausescu and his wife, and Yugoslavia fell apart into existing republics. The West, led by America and the Vatican, has embarked on campaigns to destroy Serbia. To achieve their goals, they appointed their followers as leaders in the republics, and disintegration was inevitable. Numerous professional staff, mostly from Serbia, started emigrating to the western countries. By that my trip into beautiful Cyprus was covered by the gloomy cartoon of political happenin 

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