A day and night to remember all right, but not necessarily for the right reasons !
From my personal point of view it all started swimmingly (literally) with a few lengths in the communal pool, followed by breakfast, then a trip with Heather to a local money exchange place and the inevitable supermarket shop.
Then a bit of planning (not too much really, as I’m on holiday for goodness sake ) to set out the next few days, organise a car, etc, etc.
Bit of sunbathing, bit more swimming, real lazy holiday stuff. An evening in with the guys with a great dinner, complete with a few glasses or two of an Italian white. Then Huseyin heard music coming from the local village, so we all piled in the car and ended up in the main square of Catalkoy at some form of pre-wedding celebration.
Apparently, it was a henna night, which is a deep rooted wedding ritual in Turkish culture, that generally happens one day before the wedding ceremony. The bride celebrates her big day with family members and friends before tying the knot. They take all the stages of the marriage “procedure” very seriously here. The bride-to-be was all dressed up (as was the putative groom) in her red finery. Typical modern Turkish music and chanting. See below.
Naturally enough Huseyin joined in all the dancing – he likes dancing…….
Then it was back to H & H’s house for a bit more refreshment, then off to bed at 0130 am-ish feeling all mellow and very holiday-like.
Next, the rude awakening. Completely gone to the world (ie hearing aid out) I was somewhat shaken awake by Huseyin shouting “Rockets, rockets, rockets !!!” Coming to, I immediately heard a house-rocking thump of an explosion, which did wake me up rather quickly. Just for a couple of seconds, I thought that Huseyin was playing some weird sort of joke, but that passed very, very quickly……
Clothes and shoes on quicker than quick, we all piled into his car and then off in the Kyrenia/Girne direction at maximum speed. Unknown to me, the police had called at the house and insisted everyone evacuate the area, as there was a fire and explosions at the nearby army camp ammunition dump. My friends house is only 500m (as the crow flies) from said army camp. So going in the opposite direction was, to say the least, sensible…..
Huseyin drove like a maniac (not unsurprisingly) as there had been a stray Russian rocket land in a local back garden on 1 July this year, having been launched by Syrian forces against an Israel attack. You have to remember that the extreme north west (the handle of the pan handle shape of the island) is only 200 miles from Syria – a sobering thought perhaps ?
Anyway, we stopped a few kilometres into town. By this time, the local civil authorities were well up and running, with fire engines, ambulances, police, doctors, etc, rushing to the scene. Very busy, but not seemingly chaotic.
We drove around for bit, calling in on a couple of their friend’s houses to check that all was well. I just sat in the back of the car, out the way…..
Eventually, we stopped at a high spot where we could observe the army camp, but now about 10 k from the inferno. Stuff still going off an hour later.
Just north west of the camp is a major holiday hotel/resort called the Acapulco. Although down in a bit of a dip relative to the main road and the camp, it’s positioned within 50/100 m of the camp and thus experienced what could be called a direct hit. The hotel reception was wrecked and glass plate windows in the main blocks were shattered. Some minor glass injuries we understand. They had to evacuate the hotel, obviously, so the 2000+ guests had to spend what was left of the night on the beach.
It was all over the Turkish news bulletins, with some pretty lurid iphone type video. See Huseyin’s iphone video below, for example. Bear in mind that we are several kilometres away from the explosions by now.
So attempting to get back to the house (since things seemed to have stabilised) the main road back from Kyrenia/Girne was closed off by the police, so Huseyin used his native knowledge (and the back dirt tracks) to get us home.
The next door neighbours had not returned – indeed they only came back at 0630, later in the morning. They had visitors as well, who (like me) had only been here a day or so. One of the guys is apparently recovering from a heart operation !!!!
Having worked out that it was not likely to get any worse, we all trooped off to bed about 0430. Nobody was hrurt, only shaken a bit.
Subsequently, we found out that the reception are at the Acapulco had been devastated, as well as a load of the room windows facing the blast. See below.
PS : A few days later, one of H + H’s friends found this is their garden – not very far away……..
Much later in the week, we found out all sorts of things, including the fact that the rockets/shells were appartently stored in such a way that if anything accidental happened they would either go out to sea or into the nearby forest inland, NOT towards population.
What a night ! I doubt that I’ll find anything to write on this blog to top this experience on this holiday !!!!! All in all, it could have been a lot, lot worse – for all……..