Saturday, February 11/2017

The hotel is being renovated, almost entirely except for our room, which may well be added to the upgrade once we're no longer in it. So we have virtually the last of the solid old wooden furniture. Admittedly desperately in need of recovering but comfortable and indestructible. Unfortunately, the replacements won't last forever - and maybe they don't have to - but the ones we've seen aren't comfortable either. Armless fake leather sofas and chairs whose charms are distinctly superficial. The carpet will be scrapped, and should have been years ago, but the tile floor replacement will be cleaner but colder in winter. Probably the floor is a good thing, but we're wary. When they proudly replaced our horn shaped bed lamps with disk shaped ones aimed at the ceiling we lost the ability to read in bed, except for ebooks. It will look better in the carefully angled website shots but it won't be more liveable. 

Friday, February 10/2017

Radisson is building a huge hotel just past the roundabout on the way to Lidl's, and has been for as long as I can remember. Well, maybe not, but it didn't just start this year. Most days, it seems, there's no one working on it. But it hasn't been abandoned. There's a large crane permanently on top and occasionally it's seen moving. Also occasionally a half dozen or so workmen visible. Other days no action. Seems like a terribly inefficient way of going about it even if funds are scarce or unreliable. And the crane must be costing a lot of money sitting idle. Also, for my money they've built in the wrong spot. It's not near the beaches - and there are several good hotels a couple of miles north that are right on the beach. Nor is it in the city centre, and, while it's within a couple of miles of the centre, parking is dreadful in that direction so staying in a downtown hotel and not bothering with a car would be handier. Reasonably well located for Lidl and Carrefour, but supermarkets can't be much of a drawing card for tourists.

Thursday, February 9/2017

Haze and pollution looking somewhat similar, it's hard to tell visually. We do, periodically, get dust blown in from the Sahara. Obviously not much can be done about that, although it's not benign. Inhaling the small particulate matter is damaging and warnings get issued accordingly. It does turn the sky a brownish colour, though, and is easy to spot. This morning is pretty overcast, so I check out the live air quality site. Surprisingly, it shows pollution below average. Yesterday it was above, with appropriate (minor) cautions on outside activity. And, sadly, Larnaca is, on a yearly basis, above average. So, no doubt, for all its charms, is London. So nice that the other half of the year is Sioux Lookout. (https://air.plumelabs.com/en/live/larnaca - plumelabs also does similar reports for other world cities)

To the Blacksmith restaurant near St Lazarus for dinner with J&B. We all choose meze and there is an overabundance of it. One of the better mezes we've had. And far too much of it, no matter how hard we try. Fourteen dishes? Leftovers for Harry and Elsa's animals. Fairly warm breeze at night.

Wednesday, February 8/2017

Have added Melvyn Bragg's The Adventure of English to our reading aloud list. Despite being well aware of some of the crisis points coming - such as the Norman invasion - there's still some suspense, as well as a lot of fascinating detail and examples. And still words that are different in the north and south (UK) for reasons of historical occupation. Bragg himself grew up speaking a Cumbrian dialect at home and a significantly different "received pronunciation" (BBC English) at school.

Tuesday, February 7/2017

Breakfast looking out the window at the Iraklion Hotel. The street below has become a symbol of the city and a quiet morning entertainment. A crooked little street - a stage on which two or three people appear at a time: a woman shaking a small carpet and throwing out the water from her bucket, a girl on a bicycle with left hand on handlebars and right holding her mobile, an old woman in black crossing the road with small grandson to talk to a friend, a young man carrying a cup of coffee, a woman followed by two small and happy dogs, an old man using his umbrella as a cane who stops at an outside table not for coffee but for a five minute rest. Sometimes there are pauses between the little scenes and the sets take over. Small cars, a tile roof deteriorating, shops, balconies, shutters, street signs, a stone building no longer habitable, rubbish bins. A modern city within the Venetian walls and spread outside them. A port city with a history going back to neolithic times. A home.

And then by bus to the airport and back to our Cyprus home.

Monday, February 6/2017

Last day, and a leisurely one. Have kind of fallen for this city. A tough people and used to resisting, from pre-historic times to Nazi occupation during the war. But a relaxed feel to the place. Because it's winter we're seeing Heraklion almost tourist free. Not quite, as the variety of people in the breakfast room shows. One of the few places in Europe - southern Europe at least - where I wouldn't stand out as being foreign. The cafés and squares are full, with people enjoying the sunshine and each other's company. We have a gelato - not quite Florence (my gold standard for ice cream) - but nearly. Lion's Square near us has a central fountain with four lions spewing water. Decorative, but initially created in 1628 to supply the citizens with water from the hills.

Sunday, February 5/2017

                           Pillars - reconstructed

Local bus to Knossos, the enormous (6 acre) Bronze Age archaeological site sometimes considered to be Europe's oldest city. There were neolithic settlements here about 8000 years ago and a Minoan kingdom (approximately 3650 to 1400 BC), followed by a Mycenaean city, established by settlers (invaders?) from the Peloponnese. There is some dispute about what ended the Minoan, the oldest European civilisation, but a widely held theory is that it fell victim to the tsunami that followed a major volcanic eruption on Santorini. Certainly ash and sea deposits have been found this far inland.  

                            Multi-storey section

A wealthy British amateur archaeologist undertook excavation and some level of restoration beginning about 1900, and what is now visible includes excavated foundations as well as reconstructions that don't pretend to be part of the original but are based on assumptions, educated guesses, and projections from what has been found. The method is somewhat controversial but definitely impressive. 

Reconstructed room with lustral basin, original design/colouring

The site includes various stages and periods, and it is possible to look down shafts into the underground storeys of what was once a multi-storey complex of some 1400 rooms, including shafts for lighting and ventilation and a complex water and drainage system. Even flush toilets. At its most populous there were probably 100,000 people or more and a city area of 200 acres. It was also richly decorated. 

                     Bull rider - copy in situ

Most of the art and artefacts discovered are now in the Archaeological Museum in Heraklion, but some copies have been created to put in situ. When we arrive about ten in the morning we are almost the only people there - we and a Saskatchewan couple we met on the nearly empty city bus coming out. Lovely breeze and surrounding fields, treed hills and mountains. We're free to wander (having passed on the €60 asked by the guide -"but you'll get lost"). 

Bull - right side of face reconstructed

Luckily for me, J has been here before, although he says there has been considerable development since his last visit twenty-eight years ago. But he's a good source, pointing out the motif of bull horns repeated throughout and reminding me of the myth of the minotaur, associated with the hundreds of tiny rooms that may be the originals in the story of Theseus slaying the half bull half man and finding his way out of the labyrinth. 

                     Greek wit circa 1500 BC

In the afternoon we take the bus back in to Heraklion and visit the museum,  an amazing trove of ancient pieces of art, many of them from Knossos. We're very lucky that our visit is on a Sunday, as both Knossos and Heraklion museums are free on winter Sundays. 

                            Leda and the Swan

Saturday, February 4/2017

Leisurely breakfast at the hotel and then down the hill to the port. J has memories of coming here with student cruises some thirty years ago. There's a Venetian castle and a view across the harbour to the mountains in the near distance. It's Saturday so the streets are busy. Many cafés around the squares. After dark I'm reminded of the market at Marrakesh. It's not really very similar, but so many local people eating at dozens of places, having coffee, mostly happy. We pick up a couple of chicken  souvlakis in pita from a corner place doing a brisk business and bring them home with a bottle of rioja.

Friday, February 3/2017

Bus to the airport for our 12:40 flight to Crete. Plane not quite full and we're lucky enough to get two seats with nobody in the third, although it's only an hour and a half from Larnaca to Heraklion. Entirely over the Mediterranean of course, so one of the few flights on which the oft displayed life vests might actually be usable rather than leading to instant human ice cubes. Bus in from the airport. We ask the driver to let us off near our street and he does - and after a bit of map misreading on my part, as well as kind help from two separate motorcyclists who stop to offer directions, we're there. Nice room, ok wifi, a bit of exploration of the immediate area. We're within the old walled city, but it's much more modern and commercial than the old cities of Rhodes or Famagusta. Mostly locals on the street. Lots of restaurants and fast food, although all drink from coffee to spirits look overpriced. Not tourist prices either - most people around are locals and the atmosphere pretty relaxed. 

Although two small children, a boy and girl - the girl is no more than six and the boy not noticeably older - are begging. Or they're selling something token - it's not clear. They don't look underfed or neglected and they're cheeky rather than pathetic but we're rather shocked when the girl puts her head on J's leg and says pleeeease. We withdraw and they bounce off, but it's hard not to see this as her first steps on the road to prostitution, or to suppose her parents don't know and encourage what she's doing.

Thursday, February 2/2016

Weather seems to have turned a spring corner. Coffee at Harry's Café. J spots a newly arrived couple from Norway passing and they stop to chat. They're staying at the Sunflower with us, as they have in past years, and are delighted to be out in the sun and, as she shows me, wearing sandals. Now, if only we could remember their names! Ask Kiki? Or tell the couple we've forgotten first names and then ask Kiki for surnames? Pack our carry ons for flight to Crete tomorrow. Never worry too much in Cyprus about whether the dimensions might be a centimetre out - whatever we take, there will be Cypriots taking much more.

Wednesday, February 1/2017

Reading (aloud in the afternoons or evenings Chris Mullin's A Walk-On Part, political diary of his time as a Labour MP between 1994 and 1999. The first of the diaries chronologically but we're reading it last, and indeed it was the last to be published. Alternating it with Mary Beardy's SPQR. Abbreviation is from the Latin phrase Senātus Populus que Rōmānus (The Roman Senate and People) and the book a history of ancient Rome. Could say I don't know what we did before ebooks, but I do - hauled around heavy books.

Tuesday, January 31/2016

Out for dinner with Jane and Bill, Ailsa and Harry. This time meze at the AEK sports club, the initials standing, I think, for a Greek football team. Certainly there's a soccer game playing on the tv. Screen largish, but behind me. Odd comments from those at the other side of our table who can see the largish screen suggesting that those faking injuries could well dive for Cyprus. Good meal, and far more than enough of it - Plenty of leftovers for A and H's dogs and cats. Extremely noisy, as in most Cypriot restaurants, and not particularly down to the football game. Greek speakers simply do, disproportionately, talk loudly. Never had the benefit of Kieran's pre-school teacher explaining about using the indoor voice.

Monday, January 30/2017

Obviously no vote in the Cypriot reunification referendum, which we assume will be a no regardless of the terms of the final agreement. If we did, though, would be in the not unfamiliar position where our view of the ultimate universal good (reunification) would be at odds with our own personal advantage. As long as Cyprus is divided it is unlikely to join the Schengen Union. Schengen countries only allow non Citizens who are non Schengen and non EU to stay for 3 months out of any 6 in the whole Schengen area - which is most of Europe. So far Cyprus has argued, with limited justice, that the intractable North makes securing the border impossible. It has also been to their advantage to make entry easy for Russian tourists, to say nothing of Sri Lankan and Philippino domestic workers. Also increasing numbers of other Asian and Africans visible on the streets in recent years, some possibly students, although foreign students seen to have an easier time registering in the North. 

Sunday, January 29/2017

 

In the afternoon over to the British cemetery. We often pass it, but usually when carrying groceries, or at least rye bread from the bakery. It's a small graveyard and sunny. Some corner of a foreign field that is forever England? Not quite, but close. Some Scots and probably the occasional UK spouse. The oldest graves late 19th century - so far from the onetime home - and the most recent this month. A couple of excavations not yet filled. Even personal, as J spots the headstone of John, chief volunteer at the animal shelter charity shop we frequent, who died the summer before last. And there are a couple of graves belonging to men whose widows we know. Saddest, as always, are the small children, but there aren't many, as this is largely a cemetery of expats, though many died younger than they should have. It's moving, but not without charm. No regimented rows and many individual touches, like the tiny dinghy forming the outline of a grave or the small (often cheerfully painted) stones carrying names of survivors or beloved mourners. 

Saturday, January 28/2017

Ementine season ending, being replaced by mandarin oranges. Seedier and not as nice. Regular oranges still excellent though, and €0.50 ($0.70 CAD, £0.43) a kilo.

Through the night reports keep coming of those with green cards and other long term US visas stranded around the world or held incommunicado in American airports, as Trump's ill-conceived immigration ban plays out. Listen to the radio in bed at night to go back to sleep. This isn't doing it.

Friday, January 28/2017

Back to Famagusta, where Jane has her return dental visit, stopping en route at Cessac café next to the British army base, where the specialty is fish and chips. And excellent they are. Actually J and I could well have split an order - as I think we say each time we're there. 

Early for the dental appointment. Put down to the north/south time difference, but suspect the mistake was the dentist's. Anyway, gives us time for a pleasant cup of coffee (me) or hot chocolate (the others). Nice, on what has become a day that is wet as well as chilly. Restaurant warm inside, although in better weather can eat outside, where the sign advertises "sheperd lamb in iron plate" - the plate more intriguing than the lamb. Jane gets a pass - tooth not to be fixed until later. J's x-rays less than happy, but fingers crossed. We'll stay in Famagusta at the end of March.

Thursday, January 27/2017

Prime Minister May's official visit to The US, brought to us courtesy of BBC radio and, in part, Eoronews on TV. UK does have a problem re uncertainty post-Brexit, but it seems a bit embarrassingly over the top cngratulating DT on his "stunning" electoral victory. Considering the popular vote and the calibre of the candidate himself, the stunning element seems to have been the fact of his win, although presumably that was not the intended message.

Wednesday, January 25/2017

Government warning at 1 pm today about high levels of dust particles in the air, suggesting vulnerable and elderly people remain inside. Notice the warning about 8:30 pm. Fortunately we don't consider ourselves elderly or vulnerable. And, in the couldn't make it up department, the following story from the Cyprus Mail, in its entirety:

"The post office said on Wednesday that mail stolen by a worker over an 18-month period until October last year was now being delivered after police gave the go-ahead.

“We started sending the mail to recipients on Monday following permission being granted by the police,” superintendent Paris Vouniotis told the Cyprus Mail.

“We invite the public to call us if they have yet to receive something they may have been expecting since the middle of 2015.”

Vouniotis said that some of the several thousand pieces of mail, including photographs, personal documents and cheques had been taken out of their envelopes resulting in the postal services not knowing who they were addressed to.

Members of the public are urged to call 22805745 or 22805761 with any queries they may have concerning undelivered mail.

Author Colin Smith was among those who finally received mail on Monday when a letter from his publisher in the UK was finally delivered 18 months late. The postmark was dated June 26, 2015. Nicosa-based Smith described the delivery event as “some kind of record”.

The trial of the 37-year-old male postal office worker believed responsible for stealing the more than 200 mail sacks with undelivered letters and small packages, will begin on April 3, Larnaca court ruled on Wednesday.

The suspect, who was employed at the mail sorting office at the old airport in Larnaca, was investigated for offences including theft, illegal possession of property and abuse of power.

Police apprehended the man, who had been under surveillance following a tip off, after officers located a bag, three mail sacks with undelivered letters and five empty mail sacks during a search of his car.

Police say he admitted stealing the items found in his car from his workplace.

Another 217 mail sacks with undelivered letters and packages were located in his house, along with a number of empty ones.

During his remand hearing, police told Larnaca court that the suspect said stealing was a vice of his and that he knew it was wrong.

Police transported the stolen items, estimated at tens of thousands of letters and several hundred parcels and small packages, to their Larnaca headquarters to be recorded.

The man admitted to stealing mail sacks from his workplace over a one-and-a-half-year period. He told officers that after the first theft went unnoticed he continued stealing.

The suspect told police that sometimes he found money in various currencies, amounting in total to around €1,000. The 37-year-old, who appeared before court without a lawyer, admitted that from that point on he became addicted to stealing the sacks.

The theft concerned mail sacks to and from Cyprus.

The completion of the investigation has allowed the postal service to take measures to cover blind spots as regards the surveillance system and the procedures followed."

Tuesday, January 24/2017

Unhappy fallout from the problems of Erdogan and the Turkish government is the drop in the value of the Turkish lira, for which the somewhat ironic abbreviation is TRY. In the past six months the dollar has increased 31% against the lira and the euro 26%. In the past year electricity has gone up 21% and petrol 20%. Small business owners are desperate. Rents and vehicles are priced in foreign currency but people are paid in lira. We did notice yesterday that there was a significant difference at the restaurant in paying in lira versus euros, the latter making the meal quite a bit more expensive, and presumably giving the restaurateurs a fair profit on the currency exchange if not on the meal. Fortunately for us, if not them, we had Turkish lira.

Monday, January 23/2017

Jane has a dental appointment in Famagusta, so we tag along. Looking at maybe spending a few days there before we leave Cyprus, enjoying living in the old city and J getting some dental work done. Dentist sends J for x-ray and blocks him some time in late March. X-ray at local clinic. Charge 60: Turkish lira (€15, $20.55 CAD). And done with no appointment and no wait. We do a bit of looking for a place to stay. The old problem in North Cyprus. Most costs are lower, but not accommodation. Visit a lovely guest house; clean, pretty, and very welcoming. We're given coffee and pastry in the garden. Also look at a hotel, which is not as sparkly but would be fine. J bargains to have breakfast included. So there are possibilities. Lunch outside at a restaurant we've been to before. This time, as I'm not visiting the dentist, I have the very nice curry and a local beer without fear of exhaling same in the dental chair. Super weather.

"Police booked 3,220 drivers for speeding in one week between January 9 and 15, it was announced on Monday," says the Cyprus Mail. Hard to believe that they found that many non-residents to charge and harder to believe that they would have charged that many residents. Ah, but were they charged or only warned?

Sunday, January 22/2017

Sunday lunch at Cambanella's. Sun through the windows. Sunday roasts. Wine. Lovely. And a walk afterward along the walkway that follows the bay behind the hotels and condos. There's a bit of walled pool that should join up with the sea but doesn't quite. Fish and rushes and moorhens. 

Saturday, January 21/2017

And in the only in Cyprus department: "The Department of Agriculture was trying to investigate the possibility of exports to Korea, but a letter addressed by mistake to North Korea last month raised doubts over the competence of government officials.

It turns out the letter was never actually delivered to Pyongyang, according to media sources, after a diligent official in China realised it was addressed to North Korea, instead of South Korea." [Cyprus Weekly]

Friday, January 20/2017

J and I to Mario the tailor. My new jacket has a couple of stitches missing on the pocket. And we had hopes that he'd make J a pair of trousers. Turns out he doesn't do men's tailoring. But long and interesting political discussion ranging from Libya to Brexit. And it turns out that Mario is intrigued by the romance of the wilderness, so give him a standing invitation. Watch inauguration in the evening, despite not wishing to contribute to DT's bigly audience.

Thursday, January 19/2017

The news carries an article on the catastrophic rise in the price of medicine in the north due to the fall in value of the Turkish lira. True, the currency is dropping, but the price of drugs remains much lower than on the Greek side, where it is one of the highest in the EU.

Wednesday, January 18/2017

With Jane and Bill to To Kozane, a little restaurant in the outskirts of Larnaca. Probably technically in Aridipou, the next village over, as they run together. Charming little place, family run. It takes some finding in the tiny dark lanes that run like a maze.

 Warm welcome and physically warm too, thanks to the little woodstove that we're seated near. Meze a little different here, with caper leaves (beware the thorns) and brawn as well as the more usual offerings. Jane and I have chicken, Bill and J enormous pork chops. Greek pastries and coffee at the end. Not busy as it's a week night, but very cosy.

Tuesday, January 17/2017

Make a small jar of lemon curd in the morning with one of Bill's enormous fresh lemons. Involves translating UK recipe from grams to cups (for the sugar and butter) and from ml to TB (for the lemon juice. Then, assuming our dessert spoons to be approximately 2 teaspoons and knowing there to be 12 teaspoons to a quarter cup....Not finished yet - I only want to make a third of the recipe. Write down the final calculations before beginning. Fortunately - for this purpose at least - an egg is an egg is an egg. Results thoroughly justify efforts.

In today's Cyprus Mail: The number of visitors [specifically tourists] rose 20 per cent last year, to a record 3,186,53, with arrivals from all major markets rising at a double-digit rate, the statistical. Our question always is how do they know. Not everyone carrying a non-Cypriot passport is a visitor. Many are permanent residents, such as the British ex-pats. Others may be business people residing on a temporary basis. Even those here for short term business are not technically tourists. Suspect most Cypriot statistics of being opportunistic.

Monday, January 16/2017

J and I meet for coffee. Quite a few people sunning themselves on the beach and a couple of them bravely swimming. J has been walking laps on the beach before I arrive and has had a chat with a British Airway employee on a week's holiday. Cuts in personnel and salary and major demoralisation there. He's surprised when J tells him that I always had a fondness for BA. I did. Despite ageing planes, the crew were always super, the food ok and the drink good - and they were neither mean nor Puritanical about it. But now, with no free food or drink and prices £100 more than the competition ONE WAY on the London Cyprus run - well, there's not much left to like.

Sunday, January 15/2017

Sun day. Living room full of sun. Jazz CDs playing. Scrambled eggs and bacon so lean we have to add olive oil to the pan. No fat remaining at the end. Fresh coffee. Newspaper. Well, international papers online and Cyprus Sunday Mail physically present. It's pretty skinny, and if you were to remove advertising, pseudo-advertising, and (inaccurate) television listings it would be even skinnier. Some interesting opinion pieces, though, including one today on the inordinate control of the Orthodox archbishop over the ministry of education, source of a great deal of ethnic bias in the system.

Saturday, January 14/2017

Geneva talks on reunification of Cyprus have broken (though presumably not broken down) for the weekend. Difficult to imagine a positive result, though. International commentators talk cheerfully about remaining details to be filled in but fail to really see the bone deep hostility in much of the Greek Cypriot community, much of it based on a deeply flawed knowledge of history. What to an outsider is a question of land exchanges and boundaries is to many Greek Cypriots my father's stolen house. They probably don't know and certainly wouldn't care that many, many other Europeans have had to rise above the traumatic aftermath of war and occupation, and that no justice is ever precise. Meanwhile sanctions continue to cripple the future of the north. If and when there is an agreement, it is to be followed by referenda on each side. Not much cause for optimism.

Friday, January 13/2017

J and Bill transplant a mulberry tree from its large pot to the hole Bill has dug for it in the adjoining park. A male tree, Bill says, so that it won't cover the ground with an endless mess of berries. Then a lunch barbecue with skewers of marinated pork fillet and veg. Cypriot barbecues are normally fitted with grooves for several skewers and a small motor so that they turn as the meat is cooking. Dessert is oranges picked fresh from the tree after we've finished eating the kabobs. Lovely. As soon as the sun goes down B takes out his telescope and we take turns looking at Venus, bright in the sky but much larger and more complex through the lens. They drive us home and stop in for a bowl of soup, which J fortunately made yesterday.

Thursday, January 12/2017

Dinner with Harry and Ailsa, Jane and Bill, for the first time since Christmas. Harry has suggested Lysia, next door to Cambanella's. We start by inquiring about moussaka and find there is none, but things look up from there - there is klefyiko, tavas, beef stifado, roast chicken are all in good supply. They're good, and it's easy to talk round the table, which is not always the case in Cypriot restaurants. Without wishing to stereotype, Greek diners seem to engage in pretty high volume conversation. Or maybe it's  lack of insulation and high ceilings. Have to suspect that part of the good accoustics is down to the fact that the restaurant isn't very full. Maybe just because it's a week night, as the food is quite good, although not the same over the top number of meze starter dishes as at Vlachos. Not that either J or I require massive amounts of food, but there is that sense of overwhelming Cypriot hospitality. Harry and Ailsa kindly take us home.

Wednesday, January 11/2017

Moved basin catching ceiling drip last night and adjusted the position of J's bed to its original under-drip spot, as problem seemed to be over. Possibly roof has been repaired, although. That would seem to suggest undue haste. And indeed, we observe this morning that drip has resumed on duvet. Emergency measures in place again.

Book four day trip to Crete. Essentially a visa run, as we get 90 days here. Since it's not a Schengen country, any absence lets us start our 90 days over again. And we're lucky, as there is, for the first time in our memory, a direct flight from Larnaca to Heraklion - with Cobalt, Cyprus's new(ish) Cobalt Air. A pretty affordable €70 return). J has been before but I haven't, although we both spent a week in Chania at the other end of Crete a couple of years back.

Tuesday, January 10/2017

As always in Cyprus, what feels like excess rain is highly valuable. Reports are that the first nine days of January saw "8,245 million cubic metres" of water accumulating in the reservoirs, noting that the situation remains critical. Hard to have any idea how much is needed, but it is further noted that the accumulation of the first nine days of January is half of the total accumulation since October.

Monday, January 9/2016

Watch battery dies, so decision made on where to have coffee, as Harry's Café immediately opposite our regular watchmaker. He has a minute shop- guessing about ten feet by eight - for which he pays an astonishing €10 a month. Less, he tells J than he pays for garbage collection. European of some sort, but he's lived in Cyprus for forty years. Coffee in the sun, along with the treat of the day, a small slice of chocolate cake each. Totally unnecessary post-Christmas, and my telling myself that the kind owner would be hurt if we refused almost certainly simple self-deception. Then a new battery as well as an adjustment to J's old watch.

Sunday, January 8/2016

J wakes up in the early hours to find that the rain has worked its way through the ceiling, this being the top floor, and is dripping slowly but relentlessly on the foot of his bed. Not soaked, so bed moved, tub placed under drip, and we double up in my single bed - cosy but adequate. Mr Andreas apologises profusely in the morning- but he can't do anything until it's dry. Of the four hotels that we've stayed in for a season or more in Larnaca, three have developed ceiling leaks. Elsewhere, in the whole of my life, I've experienced one ceiling leak. Rains all day, so the when it's dry bit won't be soon. Our wettest winter? 

Saturday, January 7/2016

New York Times now connected on all four tablets. Wifi remains a bit reluctant, which means that we do have access to world news, but sl-ow-ly. Mostly go through to the bedroom and download several articles to read offline. Have to say, though, that our connectedness was undreamt of when we retired in 2000. Thought then that we were very lucky to have started our travels in the days of internet cafés - grubby keyboards and teenage boys playing online games, often loudly. Sometimes strange keyboards - Turkey, Tunisia - that only approximated intended words. Backpacker haven in Earl's Court, London for £1 an hour. Pay telephones available for long distance calls. Can't remember the price in Larnaca except that it was less "for girls" and I always paid them the "girls" rate, knowing that I was not the female client type they were hoping for and that they wouldn't be able to bring themselves to explain that I would never lure in teenage boys. 

And then the first hotels with internet in the lobby. Very quickly taken for granted. Not universal in our accommodation. And here there is some irony. Yes, expensive hotels usually have good wifi, but they often charge (and indeed overcharge) for it. Some probably think that no one minds a few extra dollars on the bill. Wrongly in our case, and we can't be the only people who are enraged by nickel and diming. Charges for wifi are as annoying as they would be for tv or soap. Other classy hotels assume that most guests are on expense accounts and don't care. Interestingly, the hostels usually have free wifi, knowing that for their demographic lack of internet is often a deal breaker.

Friday, January 6/2016

Feast of the Epiphany, which is in Cyprus an extremely important holiday. There will be a parade to the beach with a marching band and the usual disturbing mixture of icons and vestments with military display - both cadets in uniform and soldiers carrying what I take to be sub machine guns. The bishop (or, judging by vestments at least an archbishop) will then throw the cross from the pier into the water and several young men will dive in vying for the honour of retrieving it. The cross, having been attached to a string, is always duly salvaged, and the day at the waterfront continues with kiosks featurinf ice cream, nuts, helium filled balloons, games of chance, popcorn, etc. 

Usually we go down to see what's going on, but Jane has suggested we come to them for coffee, as she's pretty much confined to base with the lung infection that she had at Christmas, although now with doctor's attention, medication, nebuliser, etc. We're invited for coffee but arrive to find that Bill has made a pasta dish for lunch. Delicious with red wine, sitting out in the sun on their patio. Jane said that the temperature in the sun yesterday was 31 and it's probably similar today. Lots of free vitamin D and good company. 🍷

Thursday, January 5/2016

Have discovered new possible career, or at least minor source of pocket money. Many Cypriot signs, advertisements, menu items, etc are translated into English, sometimes helpfully, sometimes puzzlingly, often amusingly.  So bilingual take away menu from Zafiris Restaurant down the road (featuring such delicacies as 1/2 lamb's head for a modest €6 - £5.13, $8.38 CAD) lists ΠΑΓΙΔΑΚΙΑ XOIPINA . XOIPINA, I know, is pork, and indeed the menu translates the phrase as "pork cattle". Cattle? So what is ΠΑΓΙΔΑΚΙΑ? First task is transliteration, giving  PAGIDAKIA, but dictionaries not too helpful. Googling suggests cutlets. Yes, plausible. Most likely Cypriot term, as the Greek/English dictionaries claim no knowledge of it.

Some letters simply have no direct equivalent, so, for example, the Greek gamma is replaced somewhat randomly with G or K. Hence Carrefour's unhappily labelled hot gross buns. I put this down to the brother-in-law factor - supposing that spelling and translation errors are mostly down to the task being assigned to a friend or relative who purports to be fluent in English, and imagine advertisements for my new career, along the lines of "your brother-in-law is a great drinking mate, not a great translator. Don't let people laugh when you advertise your goods: professional proofreader will translate into perfect English." Of course I can't translate more than a few words of Greek, but usually the business knows roughly what should be said, the problem is that the "brother-in-law" doesn't get it right enough.

Wednesday, January 4/2017

The day of the newspapers. NY Times account now active. And then there's the Guardian Weekly. Back in September there was a widely advertised (well, popped up frequently on the ipad anyway) special offering a  six week trial subscription to the GW for varying amounts in the neighbourhood of €6, depending on the country at which the ad was aimed. Well under the cover price of £2.90/€5.50. (Yes, those are not close to being equivalent amounts). The real sweetener, though, was the bonus of a £25 gift card for John Lewis stores. Much correspondence followed in which various confused but extremely polite and quite willing employees eventually confirmed that the subscription could be paid with a Canadian credit card and delivered to a Cypriot address and that the gift card could be used either in the John Lewis department stores or with an online order from JL. The agreed starting date was with the December 2-8 issue. Credit card duly charged, confirmation received, and everything in place - except for the actual physical receipt of said newspaper and gift card as December 2, December 8, Christmas. new Year's Day came and went. And so I am, with the usual reluctance of the procrastinator, finally drafting a letter to the GW to explain the situation when Kiki arrives at the door with a plastic wrapped newspaper. Pleased, and at this point surprised to see it. Unfortunately the newspaper is indeed the one for December 2-8 and the news pretty elderly at this point. Entirely possible that the Cypriot postal service has played some - perhaps the major - part in the delay, but still not entirely satisfactory. And there is the small matter of the gift card - primary reason for the whole enterprise - to resolve. And back to enjoying the very current NY Times.

Tuesday, January 3/2016

J for long walk. Then us to Lidl for bread. Very busy as others are out after the holiday as well. Still excellent price on good quality gin, but no immediate need. Liquor shelf remains in good state, and in fact wine has expanded to make inroads on cupboard floor. But this is not Canada - not going to be making own bread (or wine for that matter - couldn't match local prices or quality) and Lidl's multigrain bread quite nice. 🍷

Monday, January 2/2016

LEMONS!

Back to ordinary time. Though it's a holiday, New Year's Day having been on Sunday. Pretty much everything closed. Admiring the fruit we brought back from Bill's garden

Sunday, January 1/2016

New Year's Day. Jane well enough for breakfast, the room all sunshine and glass. Then back through the Pyla crossing to J&B's for coffee. Their orange and lemon trees in full fruit and we leave with a bag of fruit and fragrant garden herbs. Lovely. Sunday lunch at Cambanellas, where the lady of the house is, as usual, disappointed that we don't eat more. The archetypal Mama.

Saturday, December 31/2016

Can faintly hear the sound of the muezzin's call just before 6:30 AM. The country is mainly Muslim, and there are mosques in every village, but it's much more secular than Turkey. Hijabs are very rare and alcohol freely available, and not just in tourist spots. 

Our last day, and we decide to check out a historic site four km east of Girne (Kyrenia). But four km starting from where? We do spot the sign, with some difficulty as officialdom seems to be saving money by posting one sign exactly at the turning point rather than having signs before the turn off on each side of the road. The site appears at first to be inaccessible as there  is mud and major landscaping. In fact the uneven dirt track we take in is forbidding enough that in most countries the site would have been closed. Here we have the other half of yesterday's story, from the point of view of the Arabs whose ships the Byzantines on Saint Hilarion wished to prevent. The Byzantines won this round, and the historic building, a small mosque on the edge of the sea contains the coffins of Omer, companion of the prophet Mohammed and six of his companions, "martyred" here, and not much else. Will be a lovely spot when they finish the park, though. 

A short but winding drive up into the mountains in search of coffee brings us to a tiny village where we spot the outside tables of a tiny local café. Full of locals, plus two non-local blokes on motorcycles. Unfortunately, the tables are full when we arrive, leading all the old guys to give up their chairs simultaneously, leaving us enjoying good Cypriot coffee - but alone. 

It's New Year's Eve and special dinner, but Jane's bronchitis is worsening and, sadly, she and Bill give dinner a miss. We enjoy the meze table and choose the kleftiko. The belly dancer from Christmas Eve makes an appearance and there's a live singer. Very nice, but we don't stay until midnight. Back to the room, a glass or two of wine and the New Year on the television from points east.

Friday, December 30/2016

St Hilarion. Ruined castle in the mountains above our hotel. A lookout that oversees not only Kyrenia and the surrounding area but well out to sea. When the skies are clear you can see Turkey. And during the Arab raids of the 7th to 10th century the castle was a valuable lookout to spot approaching Arab ships. Byzantine, but there seems to be some confusion about actual construction date, although given the difficulties of hauling chisels and such up the rough stone mountainside (730 metres above sea level), the construction "date" is likely to have been a longish period. We turn off the Nicosia motorway and drive up the narrow mountainous road, much of it fenced off military land with signs instructing us not to stop the car or take photographs. There are spectacular views up to the castle and down to the port but the camera doesn't do them justice, as tends to be the case with the commercial photos as well. We stop for coffee at the parking lot but forgo the steep climb to the castle ruins themselves. Another time. We've timed this well - we leave and the clouds return to the mountain peaks.

Thursday, December 29/2016

Starts with spotty bits of rain but clears so Bill suggests we go up to Bellapais (a shortened corruption of Abbaye de la Paix) while it's still nice. And it remains sunny with the panoramic views of Kyrenia far below as we remember them. It's two years almost to the day since we were here last and little has changed, although Durrell's Tree of Idleness appears less healthy, possibly down to its imprisonment in a sort of cage, protecting it from vandals and admirers alike. Lawrence would, no doubt, be appalled by the large tacky poster next to the tree advertising Tree of Idleness Take Away Doner - no ploy too cheap for the unidle restaurant and shop owners wringing every last lira out of the visitor. But it's hard to really feel for Durrell as the tree made its appearance in Bitter Lemons of Cyprus, with bitter being an appropriate reader response to the shamefully biased version of political events in Cyprus. Lunch at the restaurant and then a very pleasant coffee in the sunshine above the abbey with stray dogs at a respectful but hopeful distance and sparrows competing for our biscuit crumbs and broken peanuts. History of the abbey has not, of course, changed in the past two years, so the following comes from this blog for December 30/2014:

We go to Bellapais, site of spectacular abbey ruins and former home of Lawrence Durrell, whose book, Bitter Lemons of Cyprus, is a fair disappointment to anyone enchanted by his Alexandria Quartet. The abbey was founded in the thirteenth century for the Augustinian monks who had left Jerusalem following its fall to the Saracens in 1187. Soon after (and almost certainly before the abbey had been finished in those far off days of hammer and chisel) the Augustinians were replaced by the Norbertine order (1206).

The story from that point is a variation on the familiar tale of wealth and power - noble and royal patronage ( Hugh III gave the abbots of Bellapais the privilege of wearing a mitre, bearing a gilded sword and wearing golden spurs) and disputes with the archbishop of Nicosia necessitating papal intervention - followed by a sad, and indeed scandalous, decay. Genoese marauders robbed the abbey of any riches that could be removed, and by the middle of the 16th century the rule had been pretty well abandoned and monks were not only marrying but accepting only their own children as novices.

The abbey was given to the Orthodox after the Turks took over the island in 1570, but deteriorated, continuing to be used as a village church, with many of its stones liberated for use in building local houses - for the descendants of the monks? A further incarnation in the late nineteenth century saw its use as a military hospital. Now, slightly restored, it remains a romantic ruin with impressive views, and a summer home to concerts.

Wednesday, December 28/2016

Jane and Bill's 40th anniversary. Not bad going, considering Bill's boys were in their late teens when they married. Jane sporting lovely ruby earrings this morning. Cloudy but no rain, yet at least, so we drive in to town equipped with both sunglasses and umbrellas to cover all eventualities. Coffee at the Six Brothers Restaurant. Jane inquires, and indeed five of the six brothers are still in residence. Pick up a city map from the tourist office in the old city wall and stroll along the harbour. Boats on one side and restaurants on the other, most with owners working very hard at attracting the few tourists in sight. One of several stray dogs accompanies us on our walk. Jane and I eventually successfully wooed by Habib, who not only describes his fish dishes enticingly but says they will all be deboned and the coffee and brandy will be free. So we sit on his verandah and enjoy a meal of grouper, caught off the coast of Cyprus. A bottle of bubbly in J&B's room before dinner and to the inn for dinner and a sit by the fireplace.

Tuesday, December 27/2016

Our original plan is to go to Bellapais today, but early bits of sunshine are unable to survive against the dark threatening rain clouds moving in from the east. So Bill suggests we go west instead and visit Morphou (Guzelyurt in Turkish) instead. Morphou is in the North but claimed by the South and possession of its territory is one of the stubborn outstanding issues in reunification talks. We do well staying ahead of the rain and travel most of the length of the island before turning north past a reservoir deep in the valley below us and on past orange groves to Morphou. 

The old part of the city is a labyrinth of narrow roads but Bill finds a car park and we stop at a small café a couple of blocks away. Attractive even before we spot - and smell - the flowering basil hedge in front. Only a couple of customers and a handwritten menu on the wall in smallish Turkish script but the place is clean and the owner friendly so we stop and order sandwiches. Toasted pita with shredded chicken and cheese? Sounds good. Fresh squeezed orange juice? Yes, please. They come with four little dishes of lovely pickles. Everything delicious and extremely cheap. A lovely find. 

Stroll down the street after lunch. Its narrow lanes and shops are reminiscent of old city centres throughout the Middle East, goods on display on the pavement as well as in the windows and proprietors standing in front, catching the sun as well as keeping an eye on the stock and chatting up potential customers. Interestingly, the political situation doesn't seem to be a taboo subject. Two brothers have differing opinions on whether Cypriot reunification would be a good thing. Another man favours keeping the present border but as an open border with free crossing - let us live in peace but not together. He has good reason to be wary of his southern neighbours. As a teenage boy in Limassol he was held hostage for ninety-six days during the hostilities in 1974. Calm now and smiling, but not naïve. No knowing the future, but on the way home we're followed by a rainbow.

Monday, December 26/2016

Delighted to discover that it's not raining, although still pretty damp. On the way to breakfast we pass the tennis courts where two men are actually playing amidst the puddles. Must make for some nasty splats. 

Back to yesterday's museum, named, in Orwellian fashion, the Peace and Freedom Museum. It's not large and consists mostly of names and photographs of Turkish and Turkish Cypriot soldiers killed during the invasion, as well as weapons and some maps and paintings of the invasion itself. Like James Wolfe's historic attack on Quebec, the invasion succeeded in part because it took place at a landing location more difficult and therefore less likely, than would have been expected. The paintings prove more poignant than photographs would have been and we're struck with the difficulty of beginning the advance in the dark, soaked to the waist and carrying weapons. There are also quotations from the British press, including both Guardian and Telegraph, from the time, suggesting that support for the Turkish position covered a broad political spectrum. Then over to the cemetery, and the graves of those who died in the first few days. We meet the young soldier that we ran into yesterday. He's here doing his national service and is counting the days - 24 now - until he's finished and can join his wife in Istanbul where he will be teaching English. He gives us a brief explanation of what happened, points out the actual landing spots, and answers our questions. Interestingly, he uses the term martyrs for those soldiers who died, as did the written material at the museum. It's a word that has pretty well disappeared from modern secular discourse, in the west at least. Is this a question of translation or is the view of military conflict different in this part of the world? It certainly has a counterpart in the Greek rhetoric. 

Stop for lunch and shortly after we get back encounter Harry and Elsa, who have come for a brief visit. Actually very brief, because with diversions and some unhelpful directions they arrive late enough that they only actually have about an hour to visit before they have to leave to go back. Drinks in Jane and Bill's room and then dinner and a chat by the fire.

Sunday, December 25/2016

Christmas Day. Still very wet on the walkways round the pool and over to the inn. And not dry in the inn, either. At 8:30 there are five Asian employees moving furniture and busy with brooms and mops clearing water off the floor in reception. But how did it get there? No signs of leaking ceilings. Under the doors? Breakfast buffet and a waiter taking orders for omelettes and bacon.

Our outing for the day is meant to be a visit to the museum commemorating the landing of Turkish troops in 1974. A landing known to Greek Cypriots as the invasion and to Turkish Cypriots as the intervention, as it occurred in reaction to Enosis, the plan to overthrow the Cypriot government and make Cyprus a part of Greece. The museum turns out to be closed, which is not entirely surprising, but as the country is primarily Moslem it was hard to predict whether Christmas would be a holiday. So we have coffee at a little place on the grounds and then check out the surrounding tanks and trucks, Russian made military vehicles captured in battle.

In to Kyrenia for lunch and a walk through the old city. Park next to an old bush covered with dozens of snails. Must have delicious leaves. Walk down past the round tower. Some parts of the old city walls remain intact, and there are also buildings with very old hand crafted wooden doors and stone work. As we return to the car park, we notice a wall with a variety of shoes and handbags attached to it. Also, bizarrely, two wooden arms reach out. Did the stone work once include a head? Clearly there is some sort of symbolic meaning, and not only historic - the shoes and handbags are hardly ancient.

Christmas dinner in the evening. The floor is dryer, though not yet completely dry. Four choices for dinner, and quite nice starters. We choose the smoked salmon and shrimp. And dinner followed by music and dancing. We're struck by a couple jiving - must be in their eighties and they're very good! And followed by the belly dancer. She's not bad herself, though suspect there aren't really enough of us here to make it worth her while. Nice evening.

Saturday, December 24/2016

Christmas Eve. Bill and Jane collect us and we head north across the border into North Cyprus for a week. Spotty bits of rain but we're cheerful. Drive through fields of artichokes and head east to the coast where we stop at Bogaz for a fish lunch. Light rain now, and a large golden lab looks sadly through the restaurant's glass doors at us as we eat - but is not, of course, invited in. Back inland and through a pass near the eastern end of the mountain range. Super quality new road. Then we follow the coast heading west for Kyrenia - Girne in Turkish. The sea is grey and the sky above the mountain range on our left becoming dark and threatening. 

Shortly after we arrive at Ship Inn the rain begins - a torrential downpour. We're warm inside but outside there's wind and heavy rain and at times hail hitting our balcony. A cosy drink with Jane and Bill in the ground floor room below ours and then over to the inn for dinner. It's still raining, with torrents of water coming down the road. Much of the area around the pool between our garden cottages and the main building is marble tiled, slippery at the best of times and hazardous in the dark rain. We expect the wet marble steps at the entry but are surprised to find the floors awash, not only in the lobby but through much of the dining room. Fortunately we're wearing pretty sturdy footwear, although rubber boots wouldn't have come amiss, and we find a table in a pretty dry spot. A mystery as to where all the water is coming from, though. The ceilings are dry but the bulding is flooded. Doesn't appear to be seeping up through the floor. Can it really all have come under the doors. Staff certainly busy sweeping it back out. But nice warm seafood casserole and a bottle of wine and a fire in the stone fireplace. Lovely.

Friday, December 23/2016

To cash point this morning and not quick enough to prevent receipt being sucked slowly back into the works. Inquire within and they kindly retrieve it. Have never actually been in this bank before, though it is our most convenient cash point. Now notice table in an alcove by the door, laden with a cocktail assortment of mixed nuts, dried fruit and crisps. Would I like some wine? I hesitate. Not quite 10 AM. Sun not only not over the yard arm but not in evidence at all. It's raining. But I should have a drink to warm up, they say. So I accept a small glass. In addition to wine there is zivania (local spirit) and two kinds of whisky on the table. Much laughter amongst the staff when I tell them that in Canada banks regard coffee and biscuits as a treat, and they repeat this bit of amusing trivia to each other. "Here we do it for the customers on Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve." Indeed.

Thursday, December 22/2016

The week of rain. I take an umbrella (actually we have five, two minis that we travel with and three larger ones - 2 from London and one from Rome - that J has rescued and repaired as people frequently abandon them in the street if they blow inside out). Out along Dhekelia Road to the tailor's where my jacket is ready. Really pleased with it. I opted for long - almost coat length - because it gives me more options re formality and shirts and also because one can always shorten - but not lengthen - it later. Fits perfectly. Mario and I chat for fifteen minutes or so, which leaves me perfectly timed to catch the bus back. 

J and I to Carrefour in the afternoon, again equipped with umbrellas. As we leave Chris asks if we are going for a walk, no doubt thinking that the English are crazy. When we say no, to Carrefour, he looks relieved. Needing food regardless of rain is normal. Actually, we don't need much food, as we'll be gone for Christmas week, but are getting blue cheese (on sale) and milk for tonight's chowder. Then spot Jagermeister on sale for €10.70 (£9.12, $15.11 CAD) and buy it for Christmas. In Cyprus liquor sales, at least at the supermarkets, are real sales, with as much as 50% off. No 2% discount and five free air miles. Annd when we come home there's a rainbow in the sky.

Wednesday, December 21/2016

(Winter solstice pic from our balcony)

Cyprus is a small country (240 km east to west, 100 km north to south) but varied. The Troodos Mountains have weather that is totally different from the coastal areas. So the showers we are getting here translate in the mountains to roads closed to vehicles other than four wheel drives or those with chains. Cloudburst here to celebrate the winter solstice - in the Troodos a different story.

(Troodos photo from Cyprus Mail)

Tuesday, December 20/2016

Haircut day. Not raining, though it's cool, and expect that it will be crazy busy by the end of the week, and Thursdays hair dressers and barbers in Cyprus are closed, by legislation it seems. Am prepared with reading material for a long wait but it's dead. No sign of the owner and his wife and one of the two assistants are conspicuously underoccupied. Which leaves me with a dilemma, as I'm obliged to ask the wife if her husband is about. Seems rude, and there was some difficulty about the initial communication which discourages me from adding half-hearted apologies and explanations. But he appears, presumably from the coffee shop and cuts my hair. By the time I leave there are actually four clients for the four staff members. Not busy? People wait - till Friday and Saturday. No doubt. 

Beautiful day.  Meet J at the beach where it's actually hot in the full sun. Someone in wading. Feels like ice cream weather, but we stop at the watch repair shop and then cross the road for coffee at Harry's. The watch shop is tiny, maybe 15 feet by ten, possibly less, but the owner has told J that he only pays €10 a month in rent - more than that for rubbish collection. Stop on the way back at the deli in the market square, to find that their already ridiculously cheap - and perfectly drinkable - Greek cabernet, syrah and merlot are actually on sale, for €2.18 ($3.03 CAD, £1.83) a bottle. Right, so the only question is how much can we carry. We must be a mile and a half from home.