The Icelandic Canadian - 01.12.2004, Side 14

56
THE ICELANDIC CANADIAN
Vol. 59 #2
when we landed in Luxembourg at 18.30
local time. Johan met us at the airport.
We had never met Johan before and
didn't know what he looked like. We were
curious to meet him. We weren't disap-
pointed. He was a friendly man in his thir-
ties, and seemed to be honest. His wife and
four year old son accompanied him.
We didn't stay in Luxembourg, but
drove on straight to Paris with Johan and
his family.
On the way we finally got the chance
to discuss further what was ahead. Johan
confirmed what Philippe had told us, that
we were supposed to sail the ferry Girne
from Famagusta harbour to Brindisi in
Italy. The ferry was a rather large ship,
took 50 - 60 cars and 300 passengers. It was
48 meters long, 15 meters wide but drew
only 1.8 meters. It was 50 years old, had
originally been built in England, and had
been sailing between England and Ireland.
In 1958, a new superstructure, which was
very high, was put on it. It would be bad on
sea if something was wrong with the
weather.
Johan said we had to move fast. We
couldn't afford to lose any time, because
we would have to take the ship on Saturday
night after dark. That was suspicious. If
everything were normal we would hardly
have to do this in the darkness of night. We
brought it up with Johan, but he assured us
that everything would be just fine. He
showed us a folder with papers that proved
his ownership of the ferry. We put the mat-
ter aside for the time being and didn't dis-
cuss it any further.
We arrived in Paris 1.00 hrs on
Saturday morning and stayed in a fairly
decent hotel close by Orly Airport. We
were glad to get some rest and went
straight to bed. We didn't get much sleep,
because Johan woke us up at 6.00 hrs in the
morning and took us to the airport. From
there Johan's wife took the boy and car
back to Belgium, but Johan stayed with us.
Greeted with Guns
Ahead was a trip to Istanbul. We were
booked on a flight at 8.00 hrs with Air
France. We got more excited after we got
on board the plane. What would await us in
Turkey?
After a three hour flight we landed in
Istanbul. Things were very different there.
It was like turning the pages of history
many years back in time. Everything was
dilapidated. Old military trucks, rusty
scrap-iron and even dead cats scattered all
over. The air terminal was nothing but a
cluster of hovels. Further away stood some
military airplanes. The people we saw were
tattered and strange looking. It was an odd
feeling to be so suddenly in this eastern
environment.
When we stepped out of the airplane,
armed guards were everywhere. That was a
rather unpleasant feeling, since Icelanders
are not used to that kind of a greeting. We
were rushed into coaches and taken to the
air terminal. It looked just as tattered inside
as out. Our luggage was searched carefully
there. Johan had a sextant in his luggage.
That was considered a suspicious object,
and it was obvious that they thought it
safer to examine it carefully. When we were
asked, we told them we were tourists and
that we would only stay for a short while in
Istanbul. In the end that was accepted and
we got through. We were supposed to stop
in Istanbul for four hours and then fly to
Cyprus at 16.30 on Saturday.
Growing Suspicions
Johan now discussed the next part of
the trip with us in more detail. He thought
it would not be wise for the four of us to
travel together. That would evoke suspi-
cions. He thought it would be best if we
acted as total strangers on the plane to
Cyprus. He said he would meet us with
Philippe in Hotel Panorama in Famagusta.
Then he went to arrange for tickets to
Cyprus.
At that time we were getting suspi-
cious that things were not entirely what
they appeared to be. The way Johan acted
only made us more uncertain of what we
were getting ourselves into. On the other
hand we still trusted him and Philippe
completely and saw no reason not to keep
our promise.
In this part of the world bribery is