New shores

Technically, we aren't working. So why is it that I seem to have been busy non-stop for the last five days?! Not fair, is it? Well, at least some of it was time well spent.

I was a bit worried with the two-hour stopover at Delhi, but my god, was I surprised?!! In the best way possible that is! IGI Terminal 3 is an absolute miracle! How else could one possibly describe disembarking the domestic flight, checking in for the international, going through immigration and then security, all in a half hour flat?!!

After that, the rest of the travelling was decidedly ordinary :). Bahrain leans distinctly more towards the UAE side of the Arab world rather than the Saudi, IMHO. But I suppose that's not really that surprising.

Arrival into Cyprus was such a benign affair that the scary memories of Saudi immigration began to seem like a bad dream :). Unfortunately, we were greeted by this mushroom cloud of the explosion that seemed to have almost coincided with our landing :(.

Despite the hustle and bustle of joining the boat at port, some of us managed to make some time and had a very brief look around Limassol. The place, apparently, is not even called that. Lemessos it is. And like the name, everything else is Greek. Quite literally!

Despite the allure of the beaches of Santorini, and the Parthenon and the rest, I haven't yet made it to any part of Greece, but this definitely was close. The beaches seemed way too busy for a Monday afternoon, till we realised exactly how popular a tourist destination Cyprus is.

Oh, and by the way, the police there have totally awesome stuff by way of transportation :D.

Meandering along narrow alleys and undistinguished looking buildings of stone and peeling plaster, we quite suddenly landed up in the middle of the old town. It was quaint, I suppose, but rather short-lived. And the 'castle' left much to be desired. Unfortunately, that was all we had time for, as the very next afternoon we set sail. Not before this rather interesting spectacle though :).

Right, so since then we've been sailing pretty much right through the middle of the Med. (And I thought the Red Sea was a busy waterway :|.) Imagine a straight line from the bottom of Cyprus to an imaginary point about 20 miles off the south-western tip of Crete. Then another straight line from there right into the heart of Valletta. We're about half-way down that second bit.

That's right, Malta, here I come! And having been disappointed by one castle, I'm indeed looking forward to the famed fortifications that overlook the entry to the harbour! Now let's hope we make our entry to port before I go to bed tomorrow :|.

Currently: in transit
Listening to: Chapeaumelon - Nonchalant