K.T. Comer travels around the Mediterranean island of Cyprus. Beginning her adventures in the southern resort of Ayia Napa, she checks out the beach party scene, before moving on to  the ruins of Kourion to catch a midsummer's day festival in honour of the ancient Greek god Apollo.
From nearby Limassol, she then heads out to sea to go freediving with the Cypriot national champion Costas Kyriakou, one of the world’s top freedivers, who can dive to a depth of over 200 feet whilst holding his breath. From the coast she travels inland to the island’s most revered Greek Orthodox monastery at Kykkos. Next she heads on to Nicosia, the world’s last divided capital city, straddling the UN-patrolled buffer zone between Greek-dominated southern Cyprus and the breakaway Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus.
After listening to the inspirational Bicommunal Choir for Peace, whose members are both Greek and Turkish Cypriot, she ends her journey in Kyrenia on the northern coast watching the famously beautiful sunset.
Meanwhile, traveller Adela Ucar Innerarity heads to the Greek island of Crete to learn more about the island’s past in World War II and experience its stunning natural beauty along one of Europe’s most popular walking trails: the E4.
Adela begins her journey in Hania - a bustling harbour town replete with Venetian and Turkish architecture. Adela has timed her visit to coincide with the commemoration of the 1941 Battle of Crete - the last time the island was invaded and when the Germans drove out the Allied forces to occupy the island for the remainder of World War II.
 Adela meets up with veterans of the war and retraces their experiences, from Maleme in the west where the battle began, through the rugged interior and over the towering white mountains before reaching the southern coast at Hora Sfakion, from where the majority of Allied troops evacuated the island.
From Hora Sfakion Adela then joins the E4 Trail, heading west to the idyllic fishing village of Loutro and Agia Roumelli. She then hops on a boat before rejoining the trail at Sougia - catching the Byzantine ruins at Lisso before continuing on to Paleohora. Her journey ends on the far westerly coast at the stunning beach of Elafonnissi. |
