Time for some history
If you thought history lesson were boring try the Time Elevator which is almost a fairground ride
I WAS told to sit tight. The lights were switched off and the doors slammed shut. I was strapped in and was suddenly sprayed with water as rats ran past my feet. We kept crashing into rocks and I was terrified. I had taken back in time and there was no turning back. The reason for my anxiety? The Time Elevator. It started overseas in places such as Rome and Jerusalem and Walt Disney’s Millennium Village in Epcot has one, so it was high time Cyprus was graced with this adventure too.
Entering the Time Elevator, I had a horrible feeling I wasn’t going to like it. “I’ve just eaten,” I told the hostess, “do you think I’ll be OK?” Her answer was not along the comforting lines I was angling for as she answered with a question: “Are you sensitive?” Followed by an even more reassuring statement: “Just try not to throw up because I’ll be cleaning up if you do!” I tried to tempt my partner with a nice sweet crepe in order to avoid ‘the ride’ but I was led slowly in through the wooden doors. It’s dark inside and I got the feeling I was in a mine. From the moment you step past the big wooden doors you get the feeling you are being transported to somewhere dangerous, somewhere or sometime other than the year 2005.
An introduction and a quiz will be the first things you will see behind the closed doors. The quiz consists of trivia questions about Cyprus, and they are extremely difficult, so don’t push the button if you don’t know. The quiz was then followed by a short film/introduction by a guy who prepared us travellers for what we were about to go through. I knew I should have listened to him when he said: “Sit tight and hold on!”
I followed the rest of the team into a big room containing eight dynamic platforms of 10 seats. Each of these can seat up to 80 persons. There are also 21 stationary seats plus two for the handicapped and their escorts. If you’re thinking I went for a stationary one, you’re wrong. My partner pulled me past the safe seats just as I was about to make myself feel better. The ride began and the same man returned to explain that he would be driving the time elevator. The ride was shaky from the first minute. As it is an elevator, we were, naturally, going down, very fast I might add. The seats move and you get the feeling you are literally falling into this hole. The elevator has a 4-d formula, which means you see, hear and feel. When I say feel, I mean you literally feel. At a few points, the time elevator hits water and you are instantly sprayed, giving you the feeling you are actually there. Spooky.
The Time Elevator takes you through the history of the island; back 10,000 years, starting from the Bronze Age. I conquered my fears by paying attention to the arrival of Teucer to the island, the visits of the Apostles Barnabas and Paul to Cyprus, the Roman period, Richard the Lionheart and other conquerors. Towards the end, the struggle for the island’s independence and the Turkish invasion were accompanied by depressing music only to take us to the last level of Cyprus’ beauty and sights and the ever-lasting Zorbas melody.
The show, including the quiz at the beginning, lasts 45 minutes without it even seeming as if ten minutes has gone by. Being shaken, hit against rocks and mountains, falling into holes and trying to climb up are unbelievably realistic and make this ride a lot of fun. Shows run every 45 minutes, 7 days a week and it’s surprising that children from the tender age of 5 are allowed to view. I’ve already given a great deal of what goes on behind the closed doors but you’ve got to try it, if only for the rats. Don’t worry, if I made it so can you.
The Time Elevator, part of the Lanitis Carob Mill development, behind Limassol’s Medieval Castle, near the old port. Tel: 25 762828
