My name is Victoria. I live in Kyiv. Due to my work, I traveled a lot and kept looking around, and where I would like to live. And then, I read information about Northern Cyprus and subscribed to the mailing lists “Russian Quarter” and “Program for Assistance to the Resettlement of Compatriots in the North Cyprus”. I read letters and listened to the radio “Russian Quarter”, watched videos on the YouTube channel “ruskvartal” for a year. All that was left was to visit Cyprus and make a choice.
And so it happened in early December 2017. My sister and I flew on a viewing tour to Cyprus. At the Ercan airport, we were met by representatives of the Assistance Program Olga and Lidia. It rarely happens in my life that we met as relatives, hugged, kissed. It seemed to me that I had known these people for 100 years.
On the way from the airport to Kyrenia, Lidia and Olga did not stop talking, telling us many interesting facts about island life, and drawing attention to the sights we passed by.
When we arrived and went up to the apartment, I was surprised to see that there was a supply of food prepared for us in the refrigerator, and a vase with various fruits on the table (Olga did this — “Mother Teresa”). We had the feeling that we had left home and gone home to our mother.
The next day, Ilya and Olga arrived and we went to the first microdistrict of the Russian Quarter, where, by the way, Lidiya lives. She greeted us with a delicious lunch, gave us aromatic green tea with mountain honey. We also did not come empty-handed, the day before, in the kitchen of our wonderful apartment, where we were accommodated for the duration of the trip, we made a cottage cheese and jelly cake. It came in handy with tea.
We chatted, looked at how our “Cypriots” lived, and at the same time, the apartment. It was a 3-bedroom apartment with three bathrooms, and a huge balcony framed the entire apartment. Lidiya lives with 92 year old mother. This is the sweetest grandmother who greeted us as if we were her own children. She sat on the balcony listening to the radio, breathing in the aroma of flowers and ripening tangerines that grow right under the balcony (it was December).
Then we spent a wonderful day visiting many architectural monuments – the abbey, an ancient church on the seashore, excavations of the ancient city of Salamis, etc. We returned pleasantly tired and happy with such attention and care.
The next day, a trip to Caesar’s Residence was planned. I was very surprised that Ilya came again with Olga and Lydia. This tells me how friendly they are and how everyone helps each other. Although Olya is a nursing mother of 2-month-old Sofia, she did not leave us.
To get to Caesar’s Residence, we had to go almost across the entire island. Ilya chose this road to discover and show us as much of the island’s beauty as possible. When we arrived to Caesar’s Residence, I was honestly stunned. Yes, in Ukraine they also build eco-settlements, cottage towns, but what I saw reminded me of a National Park with a water park, and when we entered the entrance of the house it seemed that we were in an operating room, everything was simply shining with cleanliness (I remembered the shabby entrances with burnt buttons in the elevators of Kyiv). And I thought, have I deserved to live in paradise in my life? (I am 57 years old, 30 years of which have been in public service and 10 years of entrepreneurship). In beauty, comfort and tranquility, the sea is nearby (400 m), bananas are blooming, citrus fruits are ripe … The people who surrounded us were kind, sympathetic, attentive, ready to help if necessary and rejoice at your success. This is the place where you just want to be. Of course, we looked at apartments with different numbers of bedrooms. The view from the windows was wonderful, in the distance you could see the sea, and construction was in full swing below. The complex was developing, turning into a town.
I booked a 1-bedroom apartment on the first floor. On the first floor because I love flowers and would like to plant a rose garden in front of the balcony. The day ended with a delicious dinner: Poltava dumplings on chicken broth, pancakes with cottage cheese and chopped chicken cutlets and aromatic coffee. My sister and I decided to please our Cypriot friends by organizing a “family dinner”. We talked a lot, discussed what we saw, shared impressions. The day was wonderful. We did not want to part.
The third day of our stay in Northern Cyprus. Olga took us to the central part of Kyrenia. We wandered around the shops, visited the embankment, the cave of the hermit monk, and spent almost the whole day in the Kyrenia seaside fortress, examining all the nooks and crannies of the medieval monument and marveling at the strength of the buildings that have stood for centuries. We learned a lot interesting about the ancient history of the island, which at different times belonged to Byzantium, Egypt, the French, the Minoans, the Hittites, the Greeks, the Venetians, the Ottoman Empire, the Romans, twice the English, etc. Then we visited the village. Olga was a wonderful guide.
And here is the last day. We didn’t even imagine what awaited us. In the morning Ilya called and said: “all my girls want to go with you to Illarion’s castle.” It turned out that it was my eldest daughter Dasha, wife Olga and mother Lydia. Not a bad bachelorette party was planned. We were pleased. This day is hard to describe because it was full of emotions. We were delighted with the grandeur and fundamentality of the castle. We looked into every nook and cranny, climbed to a height of 735 meters.
I am afraid of heights, but stubbornly climbed to the observation deck, sometimes crawling on all fours. And then, Hurray! “Victory”. We are on the observation deck at an altitude of 735 meters. The beauty is indescribable, the vastness and immensity of the Mediterranean Sea opened up, below were white buildings similar to fairy-tale gingerbread houses. On the way, we met a group of guys from Turkey. They sang hymns and some other songs in very loud voices. Then it turned out that it was a bachelor party before the wedding of one of them. It was cool.
The day went wonderfully, all the girls from 15 to 64 years old withstood the ascent and descent. But that was not all. When we arrived, we arranged a master class on cooking in “magic dishes”. Dasha fried pancakes without oil and walked around feeding everyone in turn (since we were hungry as wolves). Olya and I cooked chicken broth without water for a couple. The day was a success! The bachelorette party took place!
The next day was the day of departure. It was sad part. I want to say that the Program for Assistance to the Resettlement of Compatriots to the NC is a good deed, which is carried out by sincere people with high moral and spiritual qualities and whose family motto is “If you want to live for yourself, live for others.”
There will definitely be a continuation after resettlement to Northern Cyprus.
