Air-con vs. authenticity: Going rustic on a Cyprus village stay

Editor's note: CNN's On the Road series brings you a greater insight into the customs and culture of Cyprus. CNN.com explores the places, the people and the passions unique to this eastern Mediterranean island.

(CNN) -- The other tourists were boarding air-conditioned coaches on their way to the island's legendary seaside resorts.

Not me.

Their gleaming buses pulled away from the airport forecourt to reveal a chap with a huge mustache waiting by a tatty taxi at the back of the car park.

This must be my own "transfer arrangement," I realized.

Most passengers on my flight at Larnaca Airport were on classic package deals to hotels and apartments in Limassol or Ayia Napa.

I was heading, however, for a simple village house in the mountains for what had been advertised as "a taste of the real Cyprus."

The others had been met by prim tour reps armed with clipboards.

I was met by Stavros, who cleverly used his only word of English to direct me into the car while simultaneously stubbing out his mangled roll-up.

"Pleeeese ..." he grinned.

"Pleeese," he said again, setting off immediately at startling speed.

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