This is actually another holiday story - but not a bridge holiday this time. I felt the need to spend some airmiles, and invited my daughter, Andrea, who was 22 at the time, to come with me to Cyprus.  This was in March, 1997, so 6 years after the story I wrote yesterday - but this one is mostly set in a different part of Cyprus.

The Cyprus flight was somewhat delayed, which meant we arrived in Larnaca at 3.30 a.m. or so, their time, but since they are 2 hours ahead of England, it didn't seem desperately bad. We had no trouble with customs, emigration or getting our luggage, and easily got a taxi just outside the airport to drive us to what seemed a very long way away - to our hotel. It was all the way through Larnaca and out the other end, along the coast, with lots of construction taking place. At first glance in the pitch dark the place didn't look all that inviting. But we were still being positive and happy. The cabby had to do a fairly long diversion to avoid the road works outside our hotel, but finally we arrived and I happily gave him £7- an extra one for being so nice in the middle of the night. We filled out a card at the hotel and were given our key, our room being 521 - up a small elevator, down the corridor and there we were. We were too tired to do more than just take out our night-clothes and fall into bed. The room seemed pleasant, and as it seemed warmish, we tried opening the patio door, but due to the strong wind making it bang no matter what we tried, in the end we had to put up with being rather too hot.

Wednesday morning we woke just in time to get in on our provided breakfast which was due to finish at 10. I had brought my little electric kettle and was a little put off by the sign saying no heating items were to be used in the rooms at all. But I made us a drink in the glasses by putting in a bit of cold water first so the glass wouldn't break from the hot water.

We had a good breakfast, with cereal, yoghurt, juice, eggs, bacon, all sorts of bread, beans, sausages, fruit, olives, cold meat and cheese, coffee and tea on offer. The waiter brought us each a thermos of drink, and we ate as much as we could - knowing that it was the only meal provided and we might not find anyplace to eat for awhile. There were only about 30 or so people in the restaurant - most looking like they had been there all winter - very tanned and rather bored about the whole thing. Nobody seemed particularly friendly - although they weren't unfriendly, just not bothering much.

But now for the best part of the trip - the sunshine. We ascertained that the pool and beach were easily accessible, went upstairs to change into swimming or sun bathing clothes, took our suntan lotion and books, and found the deck chairs.

Andrea was going to try a swim in the sea, but quickly returned, as it was very chilly in the direct wind. By the pool we could get a bit of shelter from the building and trees. So we settled in for a long winter's nap - soaking up every drop we could find. Andrea eventually psyched herself up to go for a swim in the very cold pool, and came back feeling very proud of herself. Shortly after that, a man dressed in navy slacks and sweater came and asked us whether we belonged to the pool. He was in fact the man who cleaned out the pool and was sort of in charge of it. We hadn't picked up the hotel towels we were entitled to so he thought maybe we were from another hotel coming in illegally. But I took out my key to show him we belonged and explained we had just got there in the middle of the night, and didn't know the routine.

A bit later, he came back to talk to us (Andrea really) and said he had seen her swim and it had given him two shocks. One to see her hit the water - he knew how cold it was. And the second to see her stay in and swim. He obviously thought highly of her and she enjoyed his attention. I couldn't help but think that if she hadn't been there, he might have noticed me - as I was probably the second youngest unattached woman there after her - but he really wasn't worth getting jealous about - as he was rather old and had funny teeth.

We stayed out until three, thinking we had got the best of the sun by then. We never really felt hot, but after one, I dutifully put sun tan lotion on because I thought it would be advisable anyway. In the end, we both got burned, although not enough to keep us out of the sun the next day. But we did start out with suntan lotion the next day, some of it in a higher factor than before. I put antiseptic lotion on my burn and it stopped hurting after awhile.

After we gave up on sunbathing for the day, we put warmer clothes on and explored the shops across from our hotel. There was not a lot of choice. We walked perhaps a block in one direction, stopping in all the supermarkets to price the water, bread and cheese, and check for souvenirs that I wanted to take back as bridge prizes. Then we walked about two blocks in the other direction, also checking on the menus for meals as we intended to go out there for supper rather than spending £10 each on the hotel set dinner.

The whole area had a deserted, rather depressing feel to it. Not many people about - no excitement. I was disappointed that the place didn't have masses of bright flowers. There were some flowers - mostly geraniums and yellow daisy types called Lazarus flowers, and the trees were mostly green anyway - but it didn't feel spring-like - just sort of between seasons I suppose.

When we got back to the hotel, we decided to go to Happy Hour and have two drinks for the price of one - Andrea's treat. I chose a cocktail with brandy, orange juice and orange liquor - and got two of them. Andrea asked for a plain orange juice and rather expected two of those too, but only got the one, which was as expensive as the two alcoholic ones. We also were given a generous plate of popcorn, chickpeas covered in white stuff and pretzels. So that was nice and we finished it all up. The cocktail was not all that alcoholic or very special either, so we were rather disappointed in that too.

Later we set off to try to find a supper place. We peeked in the windows as we walked by - it was about 8 by now, and we thought it was an appropriate time for an evening meal. But except for the first one, Daniel's, the rest were almost entirely empty, with maybe one couple in one or two of them. So we decided that the crowd knew best, and we went to Daniel's too.

Who Daniel was we don't know, but our waiter (and we went there every night we were there from then on) was English - but he knew about Greek food, and was friendly. I had a pizza and Andrea had a Greek hot dish, which she said was very good, and we opted for beers, which we thought were good value. And then to our surprise, and my delight (although Andrea came to appreciate the taste better later) we were given a small glass of orange liquor at the end, compliments of the house. The whole bill including the tip was considerably less than £10, and we felt quite pleased with it all. There was pleasant Greek music in the background, and although all the other people eating there too were also English tourists, the menu and atmosphere had a Greek feel.

Back at the hotel, we watched a bit of tennis on TV and then had an early night. We had seen a snatch of Neighbours earlier in the day, and Countdown so it worst came to worst, we knew we could at least do as well as we would be at home for entertainment.

Thursday was much as the day before - except the sun was less bright and the wind was cooler. Our pool man said that he had three shocks the day before when he had seen Andrea - the first one was from her personality (by which I think he meant figure), and he couldn't sleep that night from thinking about her and all the shocks she had given him. So he gave us some tangerines, probably from his tree at home - and they were good and sweet.

We had tried to call home - and also to contact Andrea's Cypriot friend Maretta, but our phone wouldn't work. Andrea tried all sorts of things, asked the desk for help, checked out the pay phones, and in the end we finally managed to hear from Maretta. She had got our number from sending an email to Philip at home. She invited us to stay with her family for the weekend - she would pick us up on Friday after her work, and we would either go to their house in the mountains or stay at her house in Limassol - and she would bring us back on Monday evening. We didn't have to think very hard about the decision as we felt we had had the best of Larnaca and our hotel already so things could only get better.  She was to come about 4 on Friday, so although we did our swimming pool and going to the shops bits, we also packed for the weekend and were waiting in the lounge for her to come.

She was a bit late, due to having got lost many times. She kept ringing the hotel for directions so the reception staff all knew we were going off with her for the weekend. She was driving her mother's car, necessary for her in her work as the only food scientist in a yoghurt factory in Nicosia, some 50 miles away from Limassol. She was having great problems at her work with yoghurt and cheese getting mould and basically not being right-so she was eager to pick Andrea's brain (also a food scientist)  to see if they could figure out what was going wrong.

We drove back with her, and she was very nervous of getting lost again, but when we got onto the main highway, and she knew where she was and relaxed a bit. We got to her house on the northern end of Limassol about 6, and were introduced to her sister, Martha, a very pretty dark haired young girl and father, Andreos who was short and about 45, with curly hair. His English was quite good and he told us he had been at Salford University, studying engineering, although he is now a physics teacher at a secondary school in Limassol. Her mother, also a science teacher, Gena (pronounced sort of like Gaina) was in the bathroom and came out with wet hands - muttering - but she went and dried them and came back later to shake our hands. She knew and understood a lot of English but was nervous about speaking it, so we were told we were to talk to her to force her to use her English and she did very well. She had been baking and the air had a lovely smell.

They told us to sit down in the smaller living room - which had a bar area - and asked if we would like a drink. I didn't know what they were offering, but in fact we had tea, and some of the freshly baked cake - geography cake - a sort of molka mixture - made into a marble pattern in a ring mold. And also some rolled up pastry with nut filling and honey - very sticky and calorific and delicious. I had lots. I didn't know if this was all the meal we were having or not - her parents said they were going out that evening and were very apologetic about it. We were offered the use of Maretta and her sister Martha's bedrooms and they shared the bar room floor with mattresses and sleeping bags. But the floor couldn't have been harder than the beds and pillows we were offered so I'm not sure they really suffered too much in consequence.

We sat in the kitchen and chatted for a bit  and then  Maretta took her sister out to a dress up party. It was the week before Lent and so carnival time, sort of like Mardi Gras. Her sister dressed as a painter, and in fact it as the same costume Maretta had worn to a party she had gone to the night before.

We decided that when the parents went out, we too would go out and have coffee at a very posh hotel on the other end of town, the Four Seasons. We did have another meal - but it was delayed by the fact the gas had run out on the stove, and the dad had to get another tank. We eventually ate about 10, and then they went out and so did we from 11-12.30 when we picked up Martha from her party. She said she had been ready to leave by 11 and had tried to call for an earlier lift, but we had been out. We walked up and down the streets of the town first - and saw lots of people in costumes just going in and out of coffee bars and drinks bars, or just walking.

But in the posh hotel, we went to the piano bar, and it was full of rather fancily dressed tourists, probably - not a costume in sight. We had a good but rather bored-acting guitarist, and pianist who also sang. People sort or half-heartedly clapped now and then. The others had cappuccino but I had a ouzo special - which had some sort of tropical juice mixed with the ouzo - again we got plates of biscuits for the coffee drinkers and olives, nuts and pretzels for me. I ate them all. So much for my dieting good intentions. ( I had bought a size 12 suit for Andrea's wedding and needed to lose a lot of weight to fit into it.) We spent sometime walking around the various lobbies of the hotel, and guessing what it must cost to stay there. We did find out by looking in a brochure later - about £250 a night compared to our £15 a night at our hotel.

After a very bad night due to the hard pillow (I had decided not to bring mine from home as I usually do)  I rolled up a couple of towels to replace my feather pillow but it just wasn't the same.

The plan was to go shopping in the morning and then later on we would all go to Paphos.

Martha said that she had noticed that I was reading an English book and wondered if I liked reading. I said I did and read a lot. She wondered if I would like to look at the book she was writing - so I said I would be pleased to. She said she hadn't shown it to anyone so far - that Maretta hadn't wanted to read it. So I told her that later I would be pleased to read it and I did and was very impressed considering she was doing imaginative creative writing in for what was a foreign language to her. I helped her with some spelling and punctuation, and suggested a different word when she sometimes used something that sounded not typically English. I offered to look at the rest of the book as she finished it, and she said she would send it on to me. Her father was rather concerned that she should choose to write in a language other than her own, and wondered if I felt she really had talent. I told him I did think so - and although the likelihood of her getting her story published in say a teen-magazine could only be slight, I certainly thought it was worth her while pursuing the matter.

For our shopping expedition we parked by the sea - and walked into and through the various areas of town. I had luck and found handkerchiefs for 50 p each for bridge prizes for my classes at home and when we went to the open market, I got some Cypriot Delight also for prizes and Andrea got some sausage candies made by dipping nuts into grape juice and then into a sort of sausage shape. We tried some Halvah (sesame seed paste mixed with honey) at another market store, bringing back memories of my childhood as my Dad used to buy it often from our little local store.

We wandered through the market seeing the wide choice of vegetables and fruits and some very unhygienic meats and fish too. Maretta took us to the older part of town where you could almost imagine Saint Paul popping out from behind an old door frame. We spent about an hour altogether in town, and then rushed back to their house for a quick lunch before driving off in the father's car for our trip to Paphos. When it had originally been mentioned, I thought Maretta only would be taking us - and when it turned out that both her parents and sister were going too, there wasn't room enough in the car for all of us. Maretta and Martha shared the front seat and nobody but the father was able to use a seat belt. Luckily we weren't stopped, but both girls found the trip very uncomfortable.

We stopped first at an old castle at Kolassi from the Knights of St John and built in the 15th century - took a picture of Andrea under the almond tree - special for brides (she was getting married that August) - and wandered around the outside area - but since they charged an admission fee - didn't go into the castle. We had wandered around the outside of one in Limassol earlier in the day too.

Then we drove a bit farther and eventually found an old amphitheatre which I think was near Episkopi - again managing not to pay, but this time by driving straight past where the girl was trying to sell us a ticket. I wasn't sure if Andreos was naive or just determined not to pay. Anyway we walked over the magnificent original amphitheatre - down to the stage, where Gena dropped a coin to show us how good the acoustics were - and some of us wandered into the pit area where the lions came out at appropriate moments, when it was being done for real. Then we wandered along the area where mosaics were being uncovered - part of the huge building that had stood on the site.

We stopped once more, for a view of the rocks that had something to do with Athena - being born there or something like that. Andrea got out of the car and walked a bit to get a good picture.

Back in the car we drove on into Paphos and it all came back to me, my trip there from before. But there was a new bigger highway into the town, and lots of new hotels. We drove right to the tourist area seafront, and walked out along the tree lined esplanade - cutting across at the end to go to see a very well presented area of restored mosaics. First of all, we were going to have to pay, and the parents and I decided not to go in, as I had seen it before but Gena went in and said something and we all got to go in for nothing. And it turned out their children had never seen it before either, so it was not only a trip for our benefit. Then we had a cold and long wait for a cup of tea or coffee overlooking the harbour and another walk along the seafront only to find the massive Turkish fort had closed for the day. We turned around and walked back to town, and Martha sat in the car - to get warm. Shortly after we drove back home via a slightly different and shorter route. It was a very interesting afternoon for all.

That evening I was invited to go with Maretta's parents to a night club - and Andrea, Maretta and Martha were going out for a coffee and then on to another night club later, if they decided to. But Andrea didn't really want to - as it meant another very late night. We spent ages trying to decide if I wanted to go to this show with the parents - and without anyone else who spoke English very well. I thought I was very brave to do so, and I think Andrea worried that I would be miserable.

In the end it was a very interesting evening - most of which I spent clutching my handbag so nobody would steal it since I had my passport, ticket and all my money in it, rather than get up and dance in a group . We went with some other friends of theirs who seemed rather bad-tempered from the very beginning. Another couple had also been planning on going and had suddenly to go to Athens as somebody had died. I don't know if this news is what made Jana so unhappy, but she hardly smiled the whole evening and really did look rather bored and upset. She and I exchanged hellos - and I tried hard to think of things to say. Gena had told me she was a grandmother so I asked about her son, who was in the army and lived nearby so she saw him often. She asked me if I liked Cypriot food and I said yes. That was it. Her husband Demetri never said a word to me the whole evening which went from 9.30-3.

Maretta's parents tried their best to include me - but mostly they were talking in Greek with their friends - or watching the very loud show - or dancing to the very loud music. The show consisted of about 25 young women and 3 men from Russia who did high stepping dances in floating costumes with wings and feathers - and very little else. They were good - but it went on too long. Then the singers - perhaps 8 in all did solos. Then the audience all went up and danced to the loud music - some doing the traditional Greek dances and other more convention steps - but all with great enthusiasm and a great crush of people on the fairly small dance floor.

After about 1.30 we had entertainment from local groups who were competing for a prize - and some were quite good - but mostly it was dancing and singing - with the football group doing a take off on the original dancers that most people found very funny. I was dragged up to dance eventually about 2 - and we left about 2.30 getting home for 3. I was so relieved it was over. The meal had been good (salads, chicken and fish and lamb) - and there had been free drink. But since I was trying not to drink I only had two glasses of wine out of a huge bottle they got for me exclusively because the rest were drinking brandy - and I felt it was a huge waste.