The Cyprus Tourist Organisation is appalling. Stop to pick up timetables for bus routes 430 and 431 re our outing tonight at Vlachos Taverna - and mention Vlachos to the girl at the desk. She is immediately (and unasked) on the phone and, after a little Greek, informs us that it is opposite the Palm Beach Hotel. Fortunately we know that it is on the same side of the road as the Palm Beach but half a km further on. I say to J that I'm going to apply to the CTO, saying that I speak no Greek but that my information and research skills are vastly better than present staff. Ah, he says, but you have forgotten the last question on the application form asking who you are related to.
Duly take the bus out to Vlachos. Fortunately J has opted for more than due prudence and we are out by the bus stop just after five for a bus that should leave Pervolia - a village on the far side of Larnaca - at five. Impossibly, it arrives at our stop at 5:10 - which can only mean, even if there were no passengers at all, that it left its end point early. As there are no buses between five and seven, this is rather awkward for anyone attempting to plan - but entirely typical of Cyprus. So the good side is that we arrive while it's still daylight, so our exploratory walk (as we're not meeting for dinner until 7) is more interesting.
We're dining with Jane and Bill Curtis, whom we haven't seen for nearly a year, as they left just after we arrived in Larnaca for Christmas in England, followed by a six week cruise to the Caribbean and the Amazon. So much to talk about. They highly recommend both the cruise and the line and were pleased to be in a small ship rather than a city block at sea. Dinner as good as usual at Vlachos, with multiple meze style starters - salad, tahini, tzatziki, pita, olives, pickled beetroot, pilaf, eggs - before the main courses. They do a nice moussaka here and J and I both have it. Enormous portions and I bring more than half of mine home. J and B kindly give a lift back.