Photos & Words: T. Gentsch
Created by T. Gentsch |
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TITUS Tornados | "Cyprus Duuude!" Tour
An place dreams are made of resurrected!
-My night is sleepless since the time frame for a negative covid PCR test result has started
-What would happen if I was positive for covid? Which photographer could possibly step in? Would I even want anybody else to step in? On MY trip, to a destination I picked and loved? Hard to think about…
-Thursday afternoon, the result is finally here: Negative! The permanent ringing sound in my ears finally starts to fade. Back to the computer, “CyprusFlightPass” check-in, gather my luggage, and set my alarm clock, time to sleep.
-Cyprus, we’re coming!
Friday, 19.11.2021
-My 5am alarm doesn't go off for some reason – blessed to have a roommate also traveling along!
-The "Deutsche Bahn" is amazingly on time and we arrive at Düsseldorf airport
-Ansgar and Deniel made it as well, the check-in goes smoothly and the perfect granite ledges in the terminal are not allowed to sit on anymore – “Someone should use these differently” pops into my mind
-Layover in Vienna where we meet up with Loco Papi – NOW it's on!
-Landing in Larnaca, get outside the airport and breathe in the air - feel the warmth!
-Get the rental, which is pretty tight with all the bags and 5 people, we drive to Limassol, check into the apartment hotel all without a hitch – In Cyprus, you drive on the left side!
Saturday, 20.11.2021
-During the night, the rest of the crew arrived at our new home with the second rental car, except for Tshala who was due to come that evening
-Our local guide Alex Kililis arrived at noon and we happily greeted after a decade of not seeing each other
-Since it's always great to keep things traditional, the first spot we went to were the little transitions at the zoo
-As soon as we all got in the cars, it started raining – Great, welcome to Cyprus!
-Since the spot is under a big tree, we still managed to get some clips and even the first photo – Things could have started off worse!
-Afterwards, off to a famous school atop a hill overlooking the city of Limassol
-When it got dark, it got dry again as well. We grabbed something to eat at an awesome Israelian restaurant and headed for another session, our third of the day
-When this was done, Ansgar and I went back to the airport to pick up Kevin; the long first day was over
Sunday, 21.11.2021
-With Kevin along, our crew was now complete and we could use the weekend to skate the best weekend spots, aka schools
-The accommodation is so perfect, sleeping in after all the travel and the first two days seemed fair enough, but it gets dark at 5pm so we gotta move
-The city of Paphos was calling and upon entering the city via the big roundabout, our eyes were flooded with spots – No way we could miss skating there.
-Since schools are barely lit up, we continue skating into the evening in the city centre where some perfect flatrails awaited us. We were back home in Limassol way after midnight
Monday, 22.22.2021
-First weekday of the trip, unfortunately for Cyprus, this means you can't skate any spots
-The weather was awesome, so we decided the best option was to enjoy it on a river in the sun
-Nothing too good for people afraid of heights, but everybody survives unharmed
-After a sick session, Wanja was keen to check out a flat gap right in front of the coastline in the city of Limassol. Tim saved his board from the water with his incredible reaction time
-Afterwards, we were off to some curved ledges but Victor spotted a rail which remains the only one skated on the whole trip – who would have thought?!
-The day then ended at the curved ledges, Deniel battled a tech trick for ages but didn't succeed – next time!
- 4 spots skated on a weekday – Not too bad
Tuesday, 23.11.2021
-No trip to Cyprus is complete without hitting Nikosias - A well known plaza
-Before leaving, we got to know a kid in front of our house who became a big fan and handed us a handwritten „postcard“ the next morning – Sweet!
-The island crossing drive took about an hour and showcased the diversity of the island landscape
-Upon arriving at the plaza, everybody jumped on their boards and explored the countless possibilities it has to offer
-As it got dark, we headed for the old city of the island’s capital and enjoyed some tasty falafel next to the most annoying street musician ever – But 50 euros altogether was well worth the trip
-Afterwards we gave the ultimate tranny/bank spot at the „Freedom plaza“ a shot but were very quickly in a heavy argument with some security. He didn't hold back to order 2 more colleagues who were wearing motorcycle masks and putting gloves on as they approached us – We decided to get out of there without further interrogations!
Wednesday, 24.11.2021
-In the morning, we realized the tour was halfway done so it was time to get busy
-Our spot guide and homie Alex was on his last night because he was about to head to London on Thursday morning
-Alex skates on a level screaming for “new team rider” – We were planning to tell him at dinner in THE fish restaurant of Limassol; one of those places “where the locals go”!
-The spot of the day was some hip in the mountains we spent an hour to get to via loads of crazy roads
-After arriving, the good old „What the fuck Gentsch, this is where we drove to for ages?!“ came out of everyone’s mouths – I knew it
-Nevertheless, 4 tricks went down and after being back to the city, we decided to give the “one and only kicker“ a try – Which is even bigger nowadays due to a planter behind it
-Alex did a perfect impossible and everyone is especially geeked up now about telling him he’s a part of the team
-To make things even more perfect, you could smoke inside the restaurant and this evening became the official “party night” of the trip!
Thursday, 25.11.2021
-First news of the day: Tshala didn't get stabbed the night before! Some on the island living Russians seem to understand things the wrong way…
-Now on our own without Alex, we decided to keep it local and skate some spots I found
-At the well known „spot-street“ in Limassol, we hit up a double set, some other small things close by, and then went back to the famous school on top of the hill
-Back up there, everybody is trying to stack some clips but Loco Papi kills himself trying to kickflip over the trashcan – Tshala rides away perfectly from a sw fs 180 though
-Afterwards, the manual pad was heavily frequented and after about 3 hours of fighting a nosemanny nollie tre out, Deniel landed one perfectly!
Friday, 26.11.2021
-Alex told us it might be smart to check out the city of Agia Napa up in the north of the island – and so we did. An hour drive later, we found ourselves in a city reminding us of Mallorca
-While driving there, suddenly there was no phone service because we drove through a British zone – Here it became a little more clear that there is still some state of “war” going on between the Greeks and the Turks – with the Brits inbetween.
-After being a bit disorientated, we found some sick ass spots, one of them being an abandoned water park where we got the boot before I could even get my camera out – bummer!
-Afterwards at the beach, Kevin met some hooligans from his hometown which saved us from another bust because the dudes were homies with the nearby hotel security
-We then hit the “ledge behind the lightpost“ spot in Larnaca and were off back to our crib – Last day was coming up way too quickly!
Saturday, 27.11.2021
-Bam! Last day is here, fuck! “Too many MC´s, not enough mics” could be the best way to describe it
-We went back to Paphos, trying to hit up some schools we hadn't already skated
-Still, after 7 days of non-stop shredding, people were a little tired – understandable!
-We skated a school until it was dark, checked the hips at the city's entrance, but it soon became clear that nobody had much juice left. Domi was searching for a PCR test station for his flight back to Barcelona…
-2 cars, driving back to Limassol, Domi went in the front and Deniel, Victor, Tim, Ansgar and I were in the other car… when Deniel yelled out “Lets go to the 10 stair school!”
-There we faced 2 kick-outs due to classes still going on. We waited for about 2 hours, and then the other part of the crew came back to witness Deniels last battle of the trip
-At 23:43, Deniel rolled away perfectly from a Nollie Heel and it was the best ender we all could have imagined! TOUR DONE!