the road less travelled

May 17, 2009.

A normal sunday it was that turned into one of my most treasured journeys here in this wonderful island - cyprus.

At about 5 in the evening, sarvo, deva picked me up and we head towards a nearby dam - yermasoiga in deva's car. It was just about 15 km away from home and i am quite sure none among the 3 of us would have expected it to be a journey that in the end would cover almost 160km. How could a journey to a place just 15 km away eventually turn out to be more than 10 times ? Well for most people it would'nt have, but things somehow "happen" to us. Or should i say our drives!!!.

So we headed towards this beautiful dam. It was indeed a serene place of beauty. Quiet, peaceful, lush green, winds, small lake, valleys, villages, and beautiful winding roads as well. It was a in a world of its own away from the hustle bustle and noise of the city. The villages along the roads, the people there, seemed to be happy in their small beautfiul world. And so did we enjoy the journey to there. But en-route, sarvo happened to glance at the car's dashboard and we are thankful that that glance took place. Deva was driving in a region of villages, hills, valley on an uphill road on "reserve fuel".  There was no petrol pump around and in the region we were, there was no hope of one showing up as well. The nearest petrol pump was back in the city and there was a very very remote possibilty of the car reaching there. And so the adventurous journey began!!!

We moved ahead, hoping to find a gas station somewhere in the nearby villages but no such luck. Deva was is usual self unmindful of the fact that the car would soon be out of gas. Well actually all 3 of us were not much concerned, since so many more "serious" incidents/accidents have happened to us and our cars that running out of gas on a lonely road was the least concerning. And besides, in this case, we were aware of the gas situation and had back-up plans in case we did not find a petrol pump. There was always the option of calling some of our friends, and then the option of asking some locals for help. And if that did'nt work, the speed-fire company (towing service) by now knows us and our situations pretty well since we have become their regular "damsel in distress". Besides, deva's car had still not got the priviledge of being atop a towing truck and being chauffered for a change! The last option did'nt happen and i hope it never does. And neither were the first two options required. 

We asked a group of young boys from where would we get petrol and they showed us the way. We went in that direction and soon landed up outside a couple of cafes. And were kind of lost. Not exactly. We asked the people there and voila we landed right outside what we needed. Petrol was available right there at the cafe. The people there stored fuel in big tanks and why they did that was pretty obvious since there was no gas station around and probably never will be. So this guy comes out with a big 6l funnel and pours petrol in the car. Anyone been to goa can perhaps imagine the scene here. In indian villages perhaps one may expect such a situation but here in tourist heaven cyprus in europe!!!Wow. That was quiet a moment seeing petrol being sold in that fashion.

Moving on, now with the trouble of fuel solved, we decided to go ahead on those mountain roads rather than return home. And glad we did. The places we saw there were no less than wonder. Beautiful view of the ocean from atop the mountain, the curvacoeus roads, the villages below, trees covering the deeep valley.Simple amazing. These places perhaps wont find their mention in a commercial tourism book about cyprus and it was simply great to see such beauty of nature unscathed till today by human civilization and its greed.

All the above still doesn't add up to the curiosity of how a place just 15 km away would eventually result in a journey of 160km. Now comes the cherry on top. Rather than taking an about turn and returning the same route home, we moved ahead anticipating to find another route, trying to replicate Christopher Columbus voyage to India. Well he landed up in America instead of India. And no surprise that something similar happened to us. The only difference is we knew finally where we were. Moving ahead and ahead and taking turns here and there and following Sarvo's gps and intuition, we moved on and on and on and reached Nicosia. Nicosia!!! The capital city of cyprus about a 100 km away from home. How on earth did we land there? It turned out that we had traversed the old- bylanes and old single lane highways that was perhaps in use in olden times before the super-expressway came into existence in modern cyprus. And what roads they were. Surrounded by plane lush green fields on both sides, wind in the air, rarely a car to honk and overtake, villages, churches.Amazing. We perhaps travelled through the interiors of mainland cyprus and not along the coastline.

We reached nicosia in about an hour, had food at mc-donalds and then was time to head home. This time we decided to remain sane and take the super-way back home. But finding that also was a journey of its own. We again got lost in the old lanes of nicosia and reached the UN military zone or no-man's  land. Surrounded by ruins of the old city of famagusta, the broken houses, the vandalized stores, the barbed fence and the big wooden gate separating the turkish part of cyprus from here. It was as if we travelled through time and re-lived that period of history.

Finally we managed to reach modern times and on the express way. In about an hour's time we reached back home and back to living our normal work-aholic lives.

That day was an experience in itself. Those 15 km would perhaps have never gotten longer had deva not been on reserve fuel in the start.

The road less travelled.