A dog bit me at the airport. A small little mutt, but well-groomed. It didn’t bark, just sneaked up, nipped me, and then retreated to its owner’s lap.
What’s most annoying is that there was no sign of aggression from my side.
My wife says we could take it to court; they might even put the dog down. I’m against it—courts can put anyone down, especially me.
But I’m getting carried away; let’s start from the beginning.
For our wedding anniversary, we got a gift from Ed Sheeran himself—a concert in Larnaca. And it was booked in advance—almost six months ahead. My wife’s parents, in addition to the gift, agreed to babysit to avoid any family squabbles, so the tickets for the concert and the flight were snapped up in no time.
The concert was supposed to take place at the Port of Larnaca, and a hotel, Best Western Plus Larco, was booked 20 minutes away on foot. Life was good, I was rubbing my hands in satisfaction.
I didn’t pay much attention to the fact that our flight times were changed 5 times. In our harsh reality, when your flight gets rescheduled, you’re just happy it hasn’t been canceled entirely.
But when, a month before the concert, I received an email from the organizers with a lot of text, I became cautious. Somewhere in the fourth sentence of the sixth paragraph, it was mentioned that the concert was being moved 800 meters to a place called “Land of Tomorrow.” I didn’t like the name right away; it sounded like a ploy to scam people. Evening money, morning chairs. In other words, Tomorrow. Mañana.
The next sentence raised my concerns even more. They solemnly promised shuttles between the two locations. A shuttle for 800 meters? Okay, I got the hint and checked the map. The distance between the port and this place was 5 km.
I snorted, first with annoyance, then with self-satisfaction, because I can indeed read to the sixth paragraph. So I started looking for a hotel closer to the Promised Land.
But by that time, all the decent hotels at reasonable prices had long been booked solid. Because Ed Sheeran is one, 50,000 people want to see him, and there are fewer hotels in Larnaca.
The day of the flight arrived, and nothing could ruin our festive Friday mood, just the two of us without kids—neither the two-hour delay of our rescheduled flight nor the dog bite in my leg.
Upon arriving in Larnaca, we immediately realized that there was a taxi problem. Outside the airport, there was a queue of people wanting a ride, with no taxis available. Every couple of minutes, a car would appear, and it would be instantly filled by those waiting. Somehow, we got lucky and “charmed” a private driver who, for a symbolic fee, took us to Mackenzie Beach.
The beach was impressive—warm water (maybe even too warm), no waves, and clean. There were some algae on the bottom, but we know that for complete happiness, something always has to be missing…
From there, we needed to get to the hotel. The provided phone number didn’t answer, the recommended apps Bolt and Cabcy were spinning their search wheels in surprise, and we trudged in the right direction hoping to hail a taxi along the way, but to no avail. After half an hour of walking with our bags on our shoulders, we arrived at our destination. The supposed luxury rest turned out to be a bust.
The hotel is quite decent, with all the boxes checked for a four-star rating, including a pool, bar, and other amenities. It’s clean, with a good breakfast, a 24-hour lobby, and, most importantly, a strategic location—just 15 minutes to both the port and the beaches. A view of the boarded-up and crumbling former medical school is included in the price.
In the evening, we strolled through the bustling port. It was a pleasant promenade with plenty of restaurants, kiosks, and other signs of a tourist city. The pricing is surprising. You can enjoy a decent meal with mezze and live music at a tavern for 20 euros, or you can go to a nearby restaurant where no dish costs less than 20 euros, and it’s not guaranteed to be tastier. But this isn’t just the case with restaurants—hello to beach loungers also costing 20 euros.
In the morning, we focused again on the sea, heading to Nusa Beach, which is not far from the hotel. It’s pretty similar to Mackenzie Beach.
By that point, we had learned the hard way that you need to arrange taxis in advance. The hotel said they couldn’t book them too far ahead, so we went out for lunch. Attempts to find a taxi through the restaurant or the apps were also unsuccessful.
We went to the port. Shuttles? No, never heard of them.
With less than two hours until the concert, we once again resorted to pedestrian anti-luxury. An hour and a half each way, over 10 km in total, in “concert” shoes—blisters included.
I won’t go into details about the concert here; it deserves a separate post. In short, Ed Sheeran rocks!
In the morning, it was time to head back to the airport. The taxi booked at the hotel arrived in 10 minutes. Waiting for us on the road was… a huge white limousine. The epitome of luxury.
During the ride, I couldn’t help but think how nice it would be to split it into three or four smaller cars for each time we needed one.
The very pleasant driver answered our questions about the local taxi market succinctly: “It’s a mess…”
So that’s how our trip went )
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