Countries visited: UAE, Cyprus
Cycled mileage in February: 479.8km
Cycled mileage per country: 190.8km UAE, 289km Cyprus
Total cycled mileage incl. February: 47,675.0km
February mileage not cycled 106.6km (Bus, Metro, Walking) - Flight not included!
Days per country: 18d - UAE, 10d - Cyprus
Days cycling: 8d
Technical failures: N/A
Link to this month's route
After exploring Abu Dhabi for two days we had finished the month of January halfway to Dubai. Despite our best efforts to avoid all major highways between Abu Dhabi and Dubai we had found ourselves on a 5-lane dual-carriage road. There wasn't a great deal of camping spots and so we had called it a day when we spotted some sand dunes right next to that highway.
Despite the never-ending flow of traffic we had a surprisingly good rest. There was an area which we thought was a military base nearby and so we got going with the first daylight to avoid being found camping next to a potentially restricted area! We followed the big highway for another 20 or so kilometres before we finally turned into a smaller road. The next few kilometres just flew by. Hardly any traffic, endless expanses of nothingness either side of the road and a pleasant tailwind. Around noon we reached Al Qudra Cycle Track. The track is approximately 90 kilometres long with a 60 kilometres-long loop and an extension into the outskirts of Dubai. We stopped at a shelter right next to the track and held a lunch break. As it was the weekend we had expected to see heaps of cyclists. In fact we only saw a dozen or so even though our break lasted for more than two hours. We stayed until the sun reached the bench we were sitting on and forced us to move on. The cycle track was bliss and we quickly bashed out the last kilometres to the car park and the official start of the track. The closer we got there, the more cyclists we saw. We could have pushed on into town but supposedly Al Qudra was a popular camping destination and so we decided to do exactly that. Not a great idea as it turned out. There was a lot of conflicting information out there as to whether camping was allowed in Al Qudra. We thought it would be advisable to go where all the weekend warriors went. There were a few hotspots but all of them were packed with cars and it was obvious we wouldn't get any sleep would we pitch our tent there. So stealth camping it would have to be. We headed back to the car park and sat down at a cafe. With the last daylight we left and headed back into the desert. It was surprisingly difficult to find a sheltered spot but eventually we spotted a depression next to the cycle track and pitched the tent.
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| Al Qudra Cycle Track |
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It was a very unpleasant night. Given we were camping in the desert we didn't expect much in terms of condensation. And we certainly didn't expect the amount of condensation that we woke up to. Even though we had solely set up the mosquito net, the entire tent floor was covered in puddles of water and pretty much everything was soaking wet. The sand in the desert around us was equally wet but naturally it would still stick to the wet surfaces. Packing the bikes was a pain and pushing them back to the track was even worse. By the time we reached the tarmac they were completely covered in wet sand. Bummer! We tried to brush off the sand but didn't have too much success. Luckily most of it came off when it dried while we cycled back to the car park.
There were even more cyclists about than the day before. Between all those expensive and shiny road bikes our battered and beaten touring bikes clearly stuck out. While we were treating ourselves to a coffee we got to chat with quite a lot of curious cyclists. Eventually we cycled on to another roadside shelter where we dried our wet camping gear in the sun. Just before noon we got going again. The cycle track lasted for another ten kilometres. For the remaining 25 or so kilometres we had to cycle on busy roads. It was just about as bad as we had expected it to be. Too much traffic, a lack of space and reckless drivers made for an utterly unpleasant experience.
We had booked three nights in a hostel in the South of Dubai and we got there just after 3pm. The comparably cheap price was the only thing the hostel had going for it. Space was extremely limited and the wee bit of space that would have been available was mostly taken by the unproportionally big number of long-term guests. We squeezed our stuff in one corner of the dormitory, went out to get some food and then went to bed early.
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| Made it to Dubai |
After the unbearably hot weather during the last days we were quite surprised to wake up to a grey sky. We both felt like having a day off but the hostel didn't have anywhere to relax really and so we decided to do some sightseeing. Despite the dark clouds it didn't rain and so we set off towards the Mall of the Emirates, Dubai's second largest shopping mall. There was a metro station near the hostel but the way was only about three kilometres and we decided to walk. Not a great idea. There still wasn't any rain – which we appreciated – but the absence of rain together with the strong wind meant that the air was full of dust and sand. We hurried up and made it to the mall in no time. It felt a bit weird to go sightseeing in a shopping mall but hey, this is Dubai! Shopping is a popular pastime and the malls are built to impress. The Mall of the Emirates actually houses an indoor ski resort and more than 600 shops. We weren't really shopping for anything but still it was late afternoon by the time we were on our way back to the hostel. While we had been visiting the mall the rain had finally arrived, the clouds had cleared and when we walked back the air was crisp and clean. Back at the hostel we received a message from our friend Nazim. We had met him in autumn 2016 in Bishkek when we stayed for almost a month in the famous AtHouse. He was now living in Dubai and his flat was just two metro stops from our hostel. We dumped our stuff at the hostel and then we were on our way to meet Nazim. It was a pleasant evening, strolling around the JLT neigbourhood, exchanging stories, chatting and enjoying some delicious Indian food.
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| Sandstorm over Dubai |
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| Mall of the Emirates |
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| Indoor ski resort inside the mall |
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| Visiting Ibn Battuta Mall with Nazim |
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| Evening stroll |
There wasn't any point in sleeping in the next morning as the noise level in our dorm was too high. We faffed about for a while, sipping some coffee on the balcony and then we set off to the Burj al Arab, a Dubai landmark and the supposedly most luxurious and expensive hotel in the world. As a non-guest it's not really possible to get into the hotel so we just took some pictures from the distance. Instead we continued to the Madinat Jumeirah, a vast compound housing hotels, cafes, restaurants and a souq – all built to resemble a traditional Arab town complete with wind towers and water channels. Even though the whole complex was obviously artificial it made for some nice pictures and a pleasant stroll. In fact it was late afternoon by the time we returned to the hostel.
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| Burj al Arab |
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| Madinat Jumeirah |
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The next morning we had another early start thanks to our noisy dorm. After breakfast we took the metro to the Dubai Marina. The whole area is man-made including the shoreline and the inland waterway with its yacht harbour. We spent most of the day admiring the countless skyscrapers, strolling around the long beach and the harbour with its shops and restaurants. In the late afternoon we returned to the hostel and started to pack up our stuff. The next morning we were planning to move to a hotel on the far end of town. We still had almost two weeks to go until our flight to Cyprus and a hostel with a private room sounded more pleasant than the hostel we were staying in.
Hold on, Cyprus?! There had been so much talking about returning to Iran??? So, here's a bit of the stuff that had been going on in the background for the last 1.5 months. We had used single-entry visas for our stay in Iran in November and December hence we required new Iranian visas to return there. We had heard from other travellers that applying in Muscat would be extremely simple. Naturally we tried our luck in Muscat. Usually the Iranian visa requires to apply for a so-called authorisation code before applying for the actual visa. A time-consuming process that can either be done online or through an agency. Now, the rumour was that upon visa application in Muscat no such code would be needed. We gave it a try but unfortunately the staff at the embassy insisted in getting the authorisation code first. We tried to do exactly that and passed the waiting time for the code cycling through Oman. End of January we received a message that we both were rejected for the authorisation code. Honestly this wouldn't have been the end of the line. Other travellers before and after us got their visas in Muscat without an authorisation code so we could have just returned to Muscat to try again. We could have tried to apply for visas in Dubai. We could have used the service of an agency.
After a lot of soul-searching we decided we couldn't really be bothered to waste more time and money on attempts to obtain an Iranian visa. We checked flight schedules and prices and came up with a relatively economical solution that would allow us to visit two destinations we both had long wanted to visit – Cyprus and Malta. So our new plan would mean flying from Dubai to Cyprus on 18th February, staying on Cyprus for 3.5 weeks before flying on to Malta on 15th March. From Malta we would take the ferry to Sicily and cycle Italy from South to North on our way back home.
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| Dubai Marina |
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But first things first. We stayed in the hostel until noon as the check-in at our new hotel only started at 2pm. After the sunny weather the last two days it was back to cloudy – and windy. The way from the hostel to the new hotel would have been bad enough in good weather but with a strong headwind and dust in the air it was even worse. We tried to avoid major roads but were not all too successful. It was only 35 kilometres to go but it took forever and when we finally reached our hotel we felt as if we had had a 100+ kilometres day behind us. The hotel was pretty basic but the room was clean and it was quite. Except for some food shopping we stayed indoors for the rest of the day.
The next 1.5 weeks just flew by. We were interviewed for one of the Emirates' major news outlets. Dawn, one of the cyclists we had met at Al Qudra Cycle Track, had forwarded our contact details to a reporter who apparently loved our story. Check out our interview here.
We spent an afternoon with our friend Valentina who had arrived in Dubai in the meantime. After cycling with her in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan we hadn't seen her for more than four months.
We continued sightseeing and visited Dubai Mall, the world's largest shopping mall. It houses 1,200 shops, a giant aquarium, an ice rink and a genuine 7 metres long dinosaur fossil.
We visited the Burj Khalifa, with more than 800 metres the world's tallest building, and the adjacent Dubai Fountain, the world's second largest choreographed fountain.
Other than hunting for record-breaking architecture we also explored the historic quarters of Dubai, Deira, Bur Dubai and Al Bastakiya with their buzzling souqs.
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| Meeting Valtentina |
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| Dubai Mall |
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| Dubai Mall Aquarium |
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| Ice rink |
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| Dubai Dino |
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| Burj Khalifa |
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| Dubai Fountain |
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| Souq in Bur Dubai |
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| Bur Dubai |
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| Ferry across the Creek |
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| Deira |
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| Al Bastakiya |
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| Boxing the bikes |
On 18th it was eventually time to say farewell. The hotel had a 1pm check-out policy while our flight would leave at 11pm. Not a great timing but still we decided to take a taxi to the airport immediately after checking out. Luckily there was free Wi-Fi at the airport and so we were able to keep us busy while we waited. Check-in and immigration were hassle-free and just before midnight we took our seats in the plane. One hour later we landed in Bahrain. There would be a nine-hour layover. We found a quite corner in the transit area of the airport and tried to get some sleep. A flight to Delhi had been cancelled on short notice and we were surrounded by sleeping Indian travellers, two of them snoring particularly bad. Also the A/C was running full power throughout the night and by 6am we were shivering and decided to seek shelter in a cafe. Just after 9am we boarded the flight to Larnaca. We both slept through most of the flight. Still we felt shattered when we arrived on Cyprus. Given Larnaca is a fairly small airport we had our luggage back in no time. We re-assembled the bikes right at the airport and in the early afternoon we were good to go. We had booked two nights in a guesthouse in Larnaca. It was about 10 kilometres to cycle and it was quite a challenge to be back in left-hand traffic! We checked in at the guesthouse, went out to get some food and then went straight to bed.
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| On the flight to Bahrain |
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| 9 hours layover in Bahrain |
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| Reassembling the bikes in Larnaca |
We felt much better the next morning and decided to explore Larnaca on foot. There wasn't a whole lot to see, but the seafront and the historic centre were beautiful. We spent most of the day in town and only returned to the guesthouse in the late afternoon.
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| Larnaca old town |
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| Agios Lazaros church |
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| Larnaca seafront |
The forecast was for occasional rain showers the next day but when we set off it was still sunny. There was a touring recommendation from the national tourist board that would make for a nice loop to the east of Larnaca. For the first 20 or so kilometres the weather stayed sunny but then clouds turned in quickly and soon it started to drizzle. With no shelter in sight the rain became heavier and heavier and by the time we found shelter in an unfinished building it was torrential. The rain went on for another 1.5 hours. Eventually it stopped and we pushed on. Even though we had only cycled 45 kilometres it was late afternoon by the time we called it a day.
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| Rain the next day |
The next morning the weather looked much friendlier. The forecast was for more rain later in the day and so we opted for an early start. The route was really beautiful, particularly the coastal road around Cape Greco. We briefly stopped in Ayia Napa where we admired the namesake medieval monastery. When we left Ayia Napa dark clouds were already turning in and inevitably the rain started soon later. Fortunately it was only a brief shower. In the afternoon we were back in Larnaca. February and March are still low season and so it wasn't difficult to find a cheap hotel for the night.
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| Cycle track at Cape Greco |
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| Ayia Napa |
We got another early start the next morning. The forecast was for two sunny days and we wanted to use them to cycle to Limassol. Right after Larnaca we stopped at the century-old Hala Sultan Tekke Mosque. On we cycled to Kiti village with its picturesque byzantine Panagia tis Angeloktistis church. By the time we left Kiti the wind had picked up considerably and cycling became a slog. The route was nice though and the sky was still clear. Just before sunset we reached Governor's Beach where there was an official camping ground. We pitched the tent under a concrete shelter and after a quick dinner we retired into our sleeping bags.
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| Hala Sultan Tekke mosque |
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| Panagia tis Angeloktistis church |
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| Cycling towards Limassol |
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| Camping at Governor's Beach |
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| View from the camping ground |
The next morning started with some clouds but soon the weather cleared up. We only had about 40 kilometres to go to Limassol and so we took it slow. Not even five kilometres into the day we met Romanian touring cyclist George who went the other direction. There were a lot of stories to be exchanged and we kept talking for more than an hour. Eventually we said farewell and carried on. Next on was the archaeological park Amathus. Remains of the namesake ancient city and its important Aphrodite cult sanctuary have been excavated. We left our bikes at the ticket office and spent the next hour strolling through the ruins. From the archaeological park it was only a short ride to the outskirts of Limassol. Again we had secured a cheap hotel room. We checked in and just relaxed on the balcony for the rest of the day.
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| With Romanian touring cyclist George |
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| Amathus archaeological park |
The next day we went for a stroll through the old town of Limassol. Cheap hotels mostly come at a price – the city centre was more than five kilometres away. In the end it wasn't too bad. In fact it was a lovely walk along the seafront. The old town was nice if not particularly impressive. Even in low season everything looked super touristy and we could easily imagine how packed it would be in summer. It had been rather windy for most of the day but on the way back to our hotel the wind really picked up. Back in our room we checked the forecast – wind speeds around 50 kph for the next 2 days. Bummer! Fortunately we could extend our stay in the hotel. A good decision. The weather was just as disgusting as the forecast had suggested.
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| Limassol old town |
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| Storm starting! |
On 28th the weather finally cleared up. It was still fairly windy – headwind naturally – but we figured it would be good enough to cycle the 75 kilometres to Paphos. The route was actually beautiful but with the wind constantly in our faces we couldn't really enjoy it. We left Limassol around 9am and cycling those 75 kilometres took us an astonishing six hours without much of a break. By the time we reached Paphos we were completely knackered. We had found another low-season deal for a hotel and so we went there immediately. At the reception we were told the hotel was overbooked and that there might be no room for us. We were prepared to make a big fuss but in the end we were upgraded from a double room to a 2-bedroom apartment. What a nice end for a rather mixed month of February!
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| On the way to Paphos |
