That means it would take me about 12 times longer to commute by bus rather than by car! Now do you understand why I got a car of my own? Personal cars are simply the most comfortable and convenient way of getting around here. Still, I’m somewhat surprised at how popular driving is given that gasoline is more than twice as expensive here as it is in my hometown, at about $5.90 per gallon here compared to $2.69 per gallon back home!
Even so, many of the narrow, winding roads in and between smaller villages were better for older types of transportation, namely carts pulled by donkeys. In the village of Vouni that I visited not too long ago, the maze of cobblestone roads once filled with donkeys can scarcely fit a single car moving in one direction. In order to drive his Land Rover through the village, my friend had me fold the side view mirror against the car and look out the window to make sure we could actually fit as he inched σιγά, σιγά (slowly, slowly) down the road, squeezing between mudbrick buildings as I held my breath. As you can tell, it’s not all open highways and speeding motorcycles in Cyprus!
While we’re on the subject of driving, you may be wondering, Why do Cypriots drive on the left? Driving on the left seems to be a practice continuing from the time when Cyprus was a colony under British control during the early through mid 1900s. A colony is an area that is under the control of another country and lived in by members of that country, much as the Thirteen Colonies were once under the control of Great Britain, as well. In Great Britain, drivers drove on the left side of the road, and that’s how it came to be done in Cyprus, too. Today, Cyprus is no longer a colony.
