A rooftop view of Nicosia, Cyprus. Photo by Alex Christodoulides.

Editor’s Note: This week, the blog will be tagging along with fellow Cheapo Alex Christodoulides as she visits family in Cyprus.

NICOSIA, Cyprus—Nicosia has about a dozen churches of various styles and ages scattered through the walled part of the city, ranging from the Byzantine Chrysaliniotissa Church near the Green Line and the Famagusta Gate to the airy 19th-century Phaneromeni Church. Ayios Ioannis cathedral sounds larger than it is and has been through more change than its simple name suggests. Some, like Stavros tou Missirikou Church, have survived so many masters of Cyprus that their outward appearance would seem to indicate an identity crisis.

Chrysaliniotissa Church

Chrysaliniotissa Church keeps a low profile, literally, with its solid, reliable barrel vaults. Although it’s on a street that bears its name, it’s pretty unobtrusive if you arrive there from a back road – no sky-high bell tower makes it easy to spot miles away.

Inside is a respite from the heat and glare, thanks to thick stone walls. The iconostasis here is unusually wide, making for a shallow but broad seating area. Take a look at the Virgin Mary and Christ icons, where worshippers often leave offerings in silver or wax to symbolize requests or thanks for prayers answered.

Ayios Ioannis cathedral

The oft-reinvented Ayios Ioannis sits inside a complex that includes the Archbishopric and the Byzantine Museum and Art Galleries. So small it seems you could stretch your arms and almost touch both walls, the church was built in 1662 on the site of a 14th-century Benedictine chapel dedicated to St. John the Evangelist which subsequently became a Greek Orthodox church honoring St. John the Theologian.

The single-aisle building’s lavishly painted walls and ceiling depict scenes from the Bible and the major saints of the Orthodox Church, with the throng of faces clearing for a huge Pantokrator above the elaborate iconostasis. Shooting photos and video is not allowed inside the church, and a sign at the door says tour groups get five minutes to take it all in, but on quiet days the caretaker will let you take a seat to admire as long as you like.

Stavros tou Missirikou Church

Stavros tou Missirikou Church was built in the 16th century as a medieval Orthodox house of worship, but was converted into a mosque in 1571 when the Ottomans took over the island. The church has some Byzantine, Gothic and Italian Renaissance architectural elements, and a minaret added to one side of the building documents its time as a mosque, which is a lot to cram into a building that seats maybe 30 people. No longer used for ecclesiastical services, the church often houses exhibits.

Phaneromeni Church

Nearby is Phaneromeni Church, the largest in the walled city. Its tall, unadorned white walls seem to direct the worshippers’ gaze to the massive icons near the entrances and the intricately carved, painted and gilded iconostasis.

Phaneromeni Church is another where the faithful have left a collection of wax items hooked on the iconostasis rail to symbolize prayers made or answered. A constant trickle of worshippers drops by to kiss the icons of favorite saints or offer a quick prayer for an urgent request as a benevolent-looking Pantokrator gazes down on them from on high.

About the author: Alex Christodoulides is one of those push-me-pull-you creatures known as a dual citizen. When not at home in New York City (where she is a freelance writer) or in Cyprus (where she is a freeloader taking advantage of her relatives’ hospitality), she is probably dreaming of a trip to someplace where vaccinations are required and Fodor’s fears to tread.

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Alex’s aunt sets the table for a Cypriot family dinner.

Editor’s Note: This week, the blog will be tagging along with fellow Cheapo Alex Christodoulides as she visits family in Cyprus.

Sure, the language spoken in Cyprus is Greek, but the accent is distinctive and so is the food. For one thing, Cyprus recently made its mark in the Guinness Book of World Records with a 41-meter sausage, dedicated in a big ceremony complete with traditional costumes in a town up in the Troodos Mountains.

Adventures in Cypriot Cuisine

The easiest way to get a handle on Cypriot cuisine – and a way to kill several hours trying to put away what looks like not much food – is to order meze, a selection of anywhere from a dozen to 20 hot and cold traditional dishes that most sit-down restaurants offer with little to no variety in the lineup.

First will be the dips, served with pita bread: among them tahini, made from ground sesame seeds and lemon juice, and taramosalata, made from fish roe and thickened with either a lemon-potato mixture or mayonnaise. Grilled halloumi cheese is always on the list somewhere, squeaking as you chew. There will also be meat dishes, leaning heavily on pork. Souvlaki will be among them, but so will hiromeri, a type of cured ham; loukanika, a pork sausage that is often grilled; and lountza, another ham-ish offering. For the pescatarians, there is fish meze, but vegetarians may have a hard time finding an acceptable version of the full menu.

Vegetarians will find that souvlaki joints don’t need to be off limits, since most offer grilled halloumi in place of the meat. Cypriots also eat a lot of veggies and legumes, and many restaurants offer a bean or lentil dish of the day.

Any serious restaurant in Cyprus will let you pick your fish when ordering.

A Cheapo-friendly pick in Nicosia

An inexpensive local favorite in Nicosia for vegetarian and carnivore-friendly homestyle cooking is Mattheos Restaurant, tucked unobtrusively in a corner of Plateia 28 Octobriou alongside the tiny Stavros tou Missirikou Church with its easy-to-spot minaret.

Coffee and dessert

To wake up after a big meal, there’s always coffee. There is not much love lost between Cyprus and Turkey, so locals call the brew Greek coffee or just order it by their preferred sweetness – glyko (sweet), metrio (one sugar) or sketo (black). For those who prefer their caffeine with milk, Italian-style coffee is very popular here, as is Nescafe, which is served hot, chilled or as a frothy iced frappe.

Most of Cyprus’ offerings to the sweet tooth will be familiar, but there are a few things that are typical to the island. Soujouko looks like a length of tan garden hose, but it’s made from dipping strings of almonds into thickened grape juice. Loukoumades are fried dough blobs served hot out of the oil and drizzled with honey, and are usually sold at small stands starting in the late afternoon, or at festivals. Shamishi is the same fried dough filled with a sort of cream made with semolina and flavored with mastic, which has a flavor slightly reminiscent of rosewater.

As you might expect in a hot climate, Cyprus produces its own ice cream. Three big companies, Papafilippou, Erakles and Pahit-Ice, have stores all over the country and a presence in the freezer cases at supermarkets.

Tomorrow: Heading to church

About the author: Alex Christodoulides is one of those push-me-pull-you creatures known as a dual citizen. When not at home in New York City (where she is a freelance writer) or in Cyprus (where she is a freeloader taking advantage of her relatives’ hospitality), she is probably dreaming of a trip to someplace where vaccinations are required and Fodor’s fears to tread.

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Photo by Alex Christodoulides

Editor’s Note: This week, the blog will be tagging along with fellow Cheapo Alex Christodoulides as she visits family in Cyprus.

Cyprus is on a modernizing rampage, wrestling on one side with its fairly recent history of colonial domination by the British, and on another side with its newly acquired European Union membership, in its quest to keep its identity. Souvlaki and meze (a selection of traditional dishes) are still the preferred eats, but alongside the longstanding British pubs advertising televised football matches are slick, shiny new cafes that charge patrons steep prices to be seen sipping Nescafe.

Just landed in Cyprus

As a half-native, I seem to be on a five-year cycle for visits to Cyprus, so each time I arrive something new in the landscape startles me.

One time I found a very updated airport instead of the one-story box (sans air conditioning or duty free, both of which are now present) that I remembered from my youth. Another time it was the arrival of fast food chains alongside the souvlaki joints, with the delivery scooters of the British Goody’s, McDonald’s and Burger King zipping through the traffic. Last time it was the enormous Starbucks at a major intersection in the capital city, Nicosia, which has fierce competition from more than a dozen cafes elsewhere in town. This time it’s the mall – the first enclosed North American-style shopping palace in the capital – right next to an IKEA store.

As one of the newest European Union members, Cyprus switched in 2008 to the euro from its old currency, the pound, which makes the monetary aspect of traveling here seamless. Most Cypriots speak at least a little English (along with the pubs and driving on the left, it’s another remnant of British colonialism here), and likely at least one other language, which should help travelers struggling to read signs in Greek.

Cyprus off-season

Skip the summertime crush, when temperatures pass 100º Fahrenheit and the beaches fill with hordes of northern Europeans on all-inclusive tours. Coming in the off-season between, say, mid-September and May when the hotel prices drop is one way to make a Cyprus visit Cheapo-friendly. Either end of this window will still offer plenty of warm-but-not-sweltering days in which you can hit the beach and have more of it to yourself.

The most popular beach areas are near Paphos, Limassol, Ayia Napa and Protaras/Paralimni. For an idea of costs, the Cyprus Tourism Organization lists hotel prices island-wide and contact info on their website, www.visitcyprus.com.

My trip to Cyprus

My mission this visit, however, has been to skip the beach, check out some of the Nicosia churches I’ve managed to miss during previous trips, see family, and have my coffee grounds read (which some relatives dutifully inform me is a dated parlor game for old ladies).

On these counts, two weeks into my visit, I am somewhat heavier thanks to my relatives. I’ve seen roughly a church a week, because their opening hours coincide with family lunches. And my great aunt tells me my coffee grounds show I will be taking a long journey. Probably right back to New York, whence I came.

Tomorrow: Dining in Cyprus.

About the author: Alex Christodoulides is one of those push-me-pull-you creatures known as a dual citizen. When not at home in New York City (where she is a freelance writer) or in Cyprus (where she is a freeloader taking advantage of her relatives’ hospitality), she is probably dreaming of a trip to someplace where vaccinations are required and Fodor’s fears to tread.

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Tourists visiting the ruins of ancient Athens will probably already be armed with a cheapo souvenir. Your archeological map (available for free or cheap) serves as both a necessary guide to the past and a fun souvenir for the future.

Build your map collection in Athens

Face it, if you’re planning to spend any time exploring Athens’ ancient past (and who isn’t?) you’re going to need a map. Confusion within the ancient city’s winding streets is normal, and most of the city’s ancient glories have been reduced to rubble. Even standing structures, such as the Acropolis, are surrounded by sites that could use a little explanation.

Here at EuroCheapo, we always recommend picking up free or cheap city maps whenever possible. In the case of Athens, we’re writing this advice in stone. For a cheapo souvenir, bring those maps home. Just imagine how great they’ll look framed and hanging in your rec room!

Digging for maps in Athens

Pick up free (or nearly free) city maps at one the city’s three tourism offices (also called GNTO or EOT):

The city’s main tourism office is located at 7 Tsoha (open 8 a.m. until 3 p.m. on weekdays).

If you’re flying into Athens, you could swing by the office in the Arrivals Terminal of Eleftherios Venizelos Airport (open from 9 a.m. until 6 p.m. on weekdays and 11 a.m. until 3 p.m. on Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays). 

A super-central tourism “information desk” is also located at 26 Amalias, near Syndagma Square. (Open 9 a.m. until 6 p.m. on weekdays and 11 a.m. until 4 p.m. on Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays.)

For more information, visit the Greece Tourism Office website.

Also, be aware that many archeological passes, necessary to visit the sites, include detailed maps. Don’t toss these out after your visit! For more information about the archeological sites, including days that they’re free to visit, check out our “budget tips to Athens” article.

While you’re at it…

As long as you’re hitting the town, why not pick up anything that’s written in Greek? A menu or a brochure, which might appear totally unintelligible and even frustrating while in Athens, will become cherished reminders of your time in Attica.

Also see: Our list of recommended budget hotels in Athens.

Editor’s Note: This is our second post in our “Cheapo Souvenirs” blog series. Join us over the next four weeks as we suggest one cheap or free souvenir to bring home from each city we cover on EuroCheapo. Do you have a suggestion for another cheap souvenir in Athens? Leave a comment below! 

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It’s been many years since Athens and greater Greece experienced the Hellenic Dynasty, but today the city celebrates its ancient history with the annual Hellenic Festival.

The festival, now in its 51st year, offers four months of events, from May through September. The line-up of this year’s Epidaurus Festival runs the gamut from professional stagings of plays like Oedipus and Euripides to performances by renowned artists like ballet dancer Mikhail Baryshnikov. Many events do require tickets, which range in price from €2-40. But, installations, exhibits, and some theater workshops are free and open to the public. A few, like the theater workshop on Greek tragedies, require reservations in advance.

For more information, visit the Hellenic Festival’s web site.

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We like fancy costumes. Bonus if that costume has pompoms and tassels. Major bonus points if said costume requires a snazzy red hat.

So, it’s no secret then that we love to watch the changing of the Evzone Guard in Athens’ Syntagma Square. The elite Evzones make up an infantry unit stationed in Athens and meant to guard the presidential mansion and the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. Some people refer to them simply as the “Presidential Guard“.

Every Sunday at 11 a.m., the changing of the guard, considered by tourists and locals alike to be the best free show in Athens, kicks off (literally; check out those pompom’d feet!) at the camp of the Evzones behind Parliament and travels down Vasilissis Sofias Avenue before reaching the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. For a brief period, traffic is even blocked on Vasilissis Sofias Avenue so the Evzone guards can strut their stuff in safety.

The changing involves high kicks, military stunts, and stoic faces. Seriously. Evzones are trained to tune out the paparazzi-like tourists who beg to take their photo alongside them. If you really want your photo taken with one of them, stand in an orderly line just below the steps in Syntagma Square. Onlookers are allowed up one-at-a-time for photos opps.

And, here’s a fun fact: The Evzones wear shoes that are carefully hand-made from hard red leather. Each sole has up to 60 nails in it!

For more fun facts, check out this great post by a “bootsnall” user.

Join us again tomorrow, Cheapos, for another free tip. Next stop on our Grand Tour? Barcelona!

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Author, reporter, and NPR correspondent Scott Huler recently returned from an epic journey tracing the tale of Homer’s “Odyssey.” After reading “No-Man’s Lands,” his insightful recounting of the trip, we asked him for advice on planning a similar journey—on a budget.

Scott had some great advice:

When Odysseus set off on an epic voyage, he had some non-cheapo advantages: his ships were filled with treasure from the Trojan War, and if supplies ran low it was perfectly reasonable to come ashore and make a brief pirate raid on a coastal town.

That wasn’t going to work for me. When I set out to retrace his journey from Troy to Ithaca, I had little more than a backpack, a tight budget, and a pregnant wife at home. Just the same, I found the cheaper-than-cheap backpack route from Troy to Ithaca perfect for me. I had more than a dozen stops to make. Add to that Athens and the tiny Turkish town of Kesan, and my journey covered around 20 cities in Turkey, Greece, Tunisia, Italy (where I visited the catacombs in Rome), France, and Malta. Finally, I arrived on the western tip of Sicily.

Here are five things you should know if you ever make an epic journey on a small-scale budget:

1. Get your doner on!

In Turkey, if it’s spinning on a vertical spit, it’s probably doner, which is like Greek gyro and delicious almost beyond imagination. But beware: If it’s spinning on a horizontal spit it’s probably kokorec, which is sheep guts, and tastes like sheep guts. If you suddenly find yourself buying kokorec, just get them to put a lot of pepper on it. You can get a few bites down before you turn the corner and find a trash can. Be sure to smile and wave at the vendor. You’ll be a good story for them.

2. Use your words.

Don’t be embarrassed to take a guided tour in the language of your choice: you left home to understand people and places different from you, right? You’ll learn a lot more, and if you stick with trustworthy sources (the museum’s free audio guide rather than the guy who starts plucking at your sleeve after you walk in), you’ll pay only a reasonable fee augmented by, of course, a reasonable tip. I had a guided tour of Troy that got my journey started just right, and I might have missed some very cool stuff had I been too savvy for it all.

3. Buy cheap(er) overnight accommodation.

Here’s how. Take an overnight ferry and pay the extra euros for a room. If you’re traveling alone, pay the addition for a single. Defending territory on couches in saloon bars or hunkering down in chilly winds on deck sounds romantic in a post-college kind of way, but unless you’re absolutely destitute, the extra € 20 will be well worth it, turning a sleepless night into a night of almost delightful, private peace.

4. Take the bus (especially in Turkey).

Not only is the bus one of the cheapest—and greenest—modes of transport, but it’s civilized beyond measure. In Turkey, for example, where I rode the bus everywhere, there’s air conditioning, oriental rugs down the center aisle, free cakes, water, and orange soda. Plus every couple hours or so an attendant brings around a little dash of bergamot cologne. Talk about luxury for less! (Visit the main bus terminal in Istanbul to learn more or to get moving.)

5. When in Rome, stay near the train station.

In Rome, I loved the Hotel Stromboli. Tourist guides will tell you to avoid the hotels near the Stazione Termini, but I think they’re crazy. Cheap rooms abound (if you’re clever, you can get them at the Stromboli for 50 euros or so), and there are tons of paninotecas with delicious and cheap hot sandwiches that keep travelers fueled for a couple euros a pop. Plus, you’ll find plenty of nearby nasoni fountains to keep water bottles full for free and you have constant, convenient access to the train station. No place in Rome is too far to walk from there and when it’s time to head to the airport, that’s exactly where the cheap buses depart from. There are dozens of cheap, clean, and safe hotels in this unfairly maligned neighborhood. It’s where you want to be.

See EuroCheapo’s recommendations for hotels South and North of Termini Station in Rome.

About the author: Scott Huler has written for such newspapers as the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Philadelphia Inquirer, and the Los Angeles Times and such magazines as Backpacker, Fortune, and Child. His award-winning radio work has been heard on “All Things Considered” and “Day to Day” on National Public Radio and on “Marketplace” and “Splendid Table” on American Public Media. He has been a staff writer for the Philadelphia Daily News and the Raleigh News & Observer and a staff reporter and producer for Nashville Public Radio. He was the founding and managing editor of the Nashville City Paper. He sometimes serves as guest host on “The State of Things” on WUNC-FM. No-Man’s Lands is his fifth book. He lives in Raleigh, North Carolina, with his wife, the writer June Spence; they have a son and another child on the way.

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Some items of note that flashed across our screen this week…

Cheap eats in Roma

It turns out we’re not the only ones blogging this week about cheap eats in Rome (read our post). Budget Travel’s blog is talking up cheap lunches in the Eternal City. Erica Firpo writes from Rome that we should say “Basta! to pasta” and reach for something a little less filling for lunch. She recommends picking up some triangular tramezzino. We’ll take two.

From Stansted for £4?

Checking in with “Less Than a Shoestring,” poetloverrebelspy has landed in London and is full of Cheapo-advice. First off, book that coach trip from Stansted into the city early, and use either easyBus or Terravision. On easyBus it’s possible to snag a seat (booked in advance) for as low as £4.25 each way!

Furthermore, we’re reminded that the Tate Modern and Tate Britain are not only free, but they offer free guided tours. Join in!

Dinner in London for £5

Meanwhile, Olivia from “High Culture on a Low Budget” is thinking London budgets, too. In this week’s installment of “Ask a Local“, she asks Mike from London where he would find dinner for £5 and £10. (Hint: The Best Turkish Kebab or an Amy Winehouse haunt.) Nice job with this series, Olivia!

Athens in 36 hours

Sunday preview: The New York Times takes us along for “36 hours in Athens.” We’re impressed by how much Joanna Kakissis can fit into a day and a half, including museum hopping, brunch taking, ruin walking, sunset strolling, restaurant sampling, bar hopping… But we have some better ideas for affordable hotels in Athens.

And, regarding our “Name that celebrity” quiz on Wednesday: We still can’t figure out who she is. Stay tuned for the answer and our winner.

Happy Friday, Cheapos! Should we all just head to Athens for the weekend?

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Photo by Kaymaria Daskarolis

When you have decided to leave the clubs in Psirri in the wee hours of the morning and are hungry—but not so hungry that you feel able to consume one of Kosta’s delicious crepes from Picasso di Crepa—consider going by the bakery at 23 Karaiskaki Street and picking up a freshly-baked, warm, scrumptious koulouri. The koulouria made by the bakery at 23 Karaiskaki are distributed to koulouri stands throughout Athens.

A koulouri is a wreath-shaped piece of slightly-sweet bread with sesame seeds all over it. (We suggested them long ago as Syntagma Square pigeon feed.) People in Greece love koulouri so much that the snack is sold on corners throughout the city every morning, typically disappearing by mid-day.

If a mid-morning koulouri from a kiosk is tasty, a post-clubbing koulouri straight out of the oven is a little slice of heaven.

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Photo courtesy of Kaymaria Daskarolis

Now, when most Greeks and tourists alike are beginning to flock to the clubs and bars dotting the Athenian coastline, is the perfect time to explore many of the bars and clubs packing Athens’s city center. You will find outdoor tables and chairs at many of them, more room to move about, and lower prices on drinks and cover charges than can be found in most beach-side spots.

One spot we particularly enjoy due to its funky East Asian décor, friendly service, and reasonable drink prices is Kasbah, located in the northern Athenian neighborhood of Ambelokipi (Alexi Pavli 35B across from the Panormou metro station, +30-210-692-7447). We especially like going to the Kasbah on Sunday nights, when we get to watch and listen to playful and jovial DJ E-Mill (a.k.a. Emilio).

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