POLICE_WORLD_2_2017

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IPA Cyprus Section Friendship Week October 2016 David King , Surrey Branch Secretary

Caroline and I arranged to extend our trip by a few days either side of the friendship week. We arrived at Larnaca airport late at night and were met by Andreas from IPA Limassol who took us to the Hotel Atlantica Miramare Beach Hotel, which was our base for our time in Cyprus. O n Sunday the President of IPA Cyprus Michael Odysseos and the President of IPA Limassol region Kyriakos Pericleous warmly welcomed 27 IPA members from Ukraine, Romania, Norway, and Moldova. Caroline and I were the only members from the UK. Later on in the week we were joined by members from Israel, Greece and Macedonia for the 33rd National IPA Congress. Our week included guided tours of the main historic sites of Cyprus, starting with Kolossi Castle and the wonderful ancient city of Kourion, with its theatre and ancient mosaics.

After a rest day, our tour continued with an excursion to Paphos and the surrounding area. We visited some of the most important archaeological sites and the mythical Aphrodite’s Rock where we had lunch and enjoyed a fantastic view from the cliff top. Our final day of the tour took in the stunning Troodos Mountains and the Kykkos Monastery which included the tomb of Archbishops Makarios and Prodromos. We sampled the liqueur made by the monks and their hand made sweets based on grape juice and almonds; all delicious. Again we had a wonderful lunch in a local taverna. The last day of the formal programme ended with a gala dinner with traditional Cypriot music and dancing. Caroline and I were persuaded to join our hosts in the dancing which went onto the early hours. I presented the president of IPA Cyprus with a Surrey Police Plaque as a thank you for hosting a wonderful friendship week. Our hosts and their partners gave up so much time and energy to making their Friendship week very special. The majority are still full time serving officers with busy lives and family. However despite all of this they couldn’t do enough for us and made our stay in Cyprus a very special one.

The following day we travelled to Nicosia the last divided city in the world. We were shown the “green line” still patrolled and guarded by UN troops, with Greek Cypriot troops on one side and their Turkish counterparts on the other. We found this a very moving experience. In Nicosia we were treated to a magnificent meze lunch.

With Gal Sharon from Israel at the Gala evening

POLICE WORLD Vol 62 No. 2, 2017

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