Varosha, A & E, NI

Hello subscribers – and welcome new ones!

As already promised in the general Cyprus Blog Post from January, and again in the Blog Post of 10 March, I have finally put together a brand-new Blog Post that is a photo essay about Varosha. That’s the fabled ghost town just south of Famagusta in Northern Cyprus that is under the control of the Turkish military, but has recently been opened up to tourists. It really is just a visual post – the photo above is one of the 20 pics selected for the new post. For more in-depth background info please refer to the full-length Varosha chapter on my main website.

The nearly three weeks since the previous DT Newsletter have been turbulent for me, health-wise. I already indicated a skin issue last time. Well, shortly after that Newsletter had gone out things totally escalated so that I even had to rush to the “Notaufnahme” (A & E) at the general hospital here in Vienna. That was a first for me. After two hours of waiting I was finally seen by a doctor and immediately sent up to the dermatology department. There I was prescribed a hefty and torturous treatment that more or less knocked me out of action for a week (I’ll spare you the details). But with the help of copious amounts of cortisone it was brought more or less back under control, though it’s far from over and can have long-term effects that might actually also impact on my future travels. However, I’m currently on the mend. The question is: how long will it last? I fear this may turn into a lengthy battle with setbacks likely.

But given my current state I decided not to cancel/postpone the travel plans I had made for the upcoming Easter period. I had specifically not mentioned these yet (because there was a very real risk I might not be able to go), but now it’s decided: on Monday I will travel to Northern Ireland (NI). I have been to that corner of the world before, but that was over a decade ago and much has changed. And that warrants a return visit, this time also allowing for more depth. I’ll mostly be based in Belfast but will also make a two-day excursion to Derry/Londonderry, primarily to see the new Museum of Free Derry (informally aka “Bloody Sunday Museum”), which has doubled in size since my previous visit. In Belfast, the Titanic Belfast Experience has just undergone an overhaul too, so it will be interesting to see the outcome of that. I’ll also go on a political walking tour of West Belfast (instead of the shorter Black Taxi Tour I did last time); and have allowed for plenty of time to independently explore the area afterwards, as well as East Belfast. And then there’ll be the Crumlin Road Gaol, various museums and yet more Titanic-associated sites. It should all provide plenty of distraction, so I hope. Fingers crossed it’ll go well, despite the somewhat precarious health situation. I’ll report when I’m back in the second half of April ...

…. until then,

best wishes,

Peter