Wednesday, March 8/2017

Positively hot at the beach, and for that matter on the way down. Can still pick up a breeze, and might conceivably be chilly in a very shady spot. Beach getting tourist crowded. See that boat on the pier at the marina is now in business, doing lunches with a limited menu every day and staying open in the evening on weekends.

Tuesday, March 7/2017

Bill over in the morning as the plan is to work on J's suitcase, the wheels of which keep sticking. Side trip (J and B) to Andrews hardware store, conveniently round the corner from us. Then second side trip to Bill's favourite butcher, almost equally close to order lamb for Sunday's barbecue. After which Jane, who has been at her painting group down at the Flamingo Hotel, joins us for lunch. We do a spaghetti carbonara with added mushrooms and shrimp. And local strawberries for dessert.

Monday, March 6/2017

Spot an Ian Rankin book that we haven't read at St Helena's charity shop and am compelled to buy it. There must be close to a dozen books here that we haven't read. This is insane. The electronic books are all chosen - and can come with us - but hard copy?!

Sunday, March 5/2017

Our alternate Sunday lunch search takes us to Kiti and the Landmark Restaurant. Larnaca itself pretty crowded on a sunny Sunday and traffic almost at a standstill. We pass a rather sad memorial, hand painted in black on a sheet, on Makarios near the bus station, obviously a tribute to the seventeen year old boy who was killed there a week ago when his motorcycle hit a bus that was making a right hand turn (equivalent to a left hand turn in North America or continental Europe). 

Very slow along the busy beach, which is full of tourists and kiosks, but then we cut up to the motorway. Kiti was a tiny village, and it still has an old village heart, but its outer area has sprawled urbanly and is full of the same supermarkets and services as the city. The Landmark is in the cobbled centre, opposite a bakery, as the woman told Jane it would be - although the bakery is so tiny that we overlook it at first. 

Not full, but filling up a bit as we eat. We order the meze and it's quite good. Particularly impressed by the scrambled egg with wild asparagus. Scrambled egg with a veggie - like spinach or mushroom - is not unusual in a meze, but wild asparagus is a rare treat. Also a treat is the little Greek pastries they bring us at the end of the meal with our coffee. 

Stop after the meal at Angeloktisti Church, the name meaning "built by the angels." Jane is doing a painting of it and wants a photo of the entry way for reference. We've been there before, but probably about fifteen years ago. There's a stunning mosaic inside - sixth century - I and the church itself is probably thirteenth and fourteenth century. A kind man who must be local tells us about it and about the 800 year old trees outside.

Saturday, March 4/2017

We notice simultaneously that we have no internet connection. Actually reasonably unusual, compared to simply having a poor connection. Then discover there is no electricity, which is even more unusual. So, good time to head out. No lift, of course, so we walk down the four flights, read the notice saying that the lift is not working due to lack of electricity, and out into the sunlight and light breeze. Past the spot where yesterday's caterpillars were swarming - now no longer in evidence. The intersection just past Carrefour looks different. Turns out the lights are off and a policeman is directing traffic. So power outage is fairly widespread. The stores seem to be functioning, possibly on alternative electrical supply. So a kilo of mature cheddar at Carrefour and local strawberries at Prinos - €0.95 for half a kilo. When we get home all has been restored and we don't have to walk up.

Friday, March 3/2017

Spot a small swarm of caterpillars in the grass on the way to the supermarket. A tight circle about eight inches in diameter of dozens of constantly wriggling tent caterpillar style creatures. Very strange. And no camera.

Thursday, March 2/2017

To Famagusta with Jane and Bill. Right upper bridge came out, but Fehmi, our dentist resecures it. Good, because I had feared that I'd broken a tooth and it would prove impossible to fix. Then to the Thursday market in its new location, as large and colourful as ever. Beautiful fruit and vegetables, mostly at good, though not ridiculously good, prices- you do have to know what they'd be in the south. We get dried apricots, broccoli, tomatoes, oranges, and almonds. Actually, it's almond blossom time here now, with flowering trees near the road. Stop on the way back, in the south, for a latish lunch. Roadside café that grew from a mobile canteen with additions, the eating area essentially a large tent with windows and doors. Order the special for four and it's super. Chicken and pork kabobs, pita bread, chips, and a large salad. All of them excellent and more than we can hold. Luckily for me this is Cyprus. Everything cooked from scratch after we ordered it - no microwaving - so I'm well past the dentist's two hours without food by the time we eat.

 

Wednesday, March 1/2017

Notice in the paper that motor vehicle tax for the year is due by next Saturday. Late payment brings a fine of €10 plus 10% of amount due. After three years of non payment the vehicle is removed from the register and cannot legally be driven. The difficulty is that there is no visible sign that a vehicle is registered and the fee paid, such as a sticker on the licence plate or a disk, so that only a random check or investment in an accident would bring a delinquent owner to official attention - and apparently unpaid registrations are very common. Joke among UK expats living here: of course they won't send us back- we're the only ones paying our taxes.

Tuesday, February 28/2017

Jane arrives with mobile which I dropped in the back seat of their car yesterday. Thoight it was there but happy to have it confirmed. Not a smart phone, but handy for local calls and texts here and in the UK. For a tiny fraction of what we would pay in Canada for much worse service. Bought in Damascus duty free in 2011. A €10 card lasts us all winter here and only requires topping up annually.

Monday, February 27/2017

Kite flying, Agia Anna

Green Monday. Jane's plan is to go on our second annual outing to Harry's cabin, to help him out and have a picnic. So take hamburgers, beer and a large salad and drive to Agia Anna, a village a few miles outside the city. Jane and I paint boards, Joe sprays weed killer and the guys make part of a complicated addition to the back of the cabin, which is supposed to become a pergola with both shade and a means of locking up the outside things safely.

 This last of some importance, as Harry has had problems with theft, both premeditated (an expensive stove) and casual (locally based soldiers "borrowing" chairs and leaving them down the road). Also unbelievable claims of having believed the cabin to be abandoned! Lovely day. Can see the improvements in the cabin since last year. Neighbours also in holiday mode, with kids flying a kite and families eating outside. Bells sound in the late afternoon as the goatherd bringing his charges down from the hills behind the cabin.

Sunday, February 26/2017

Cambanella's for lunch and then a walk along the beach. One or two people with kites, which are traditional for Green Monday. We've recently seen some fairly cool stone art online and the beach has an abundance of suitable stones so we try out a little kid version. Has possibilities, but can see that, as with most of life, making anything good would take time as well as talent. Could be fun, though. But clearly not a project for those travelling light.

Saturday, February 25/2017

This time it really is the Saturday before Green Monday, and the supermarkets and greengrocers are busy. Traditional food for the day includes vegetables and seafood, and according to one survey Cypriot prices are up. General rise or taking advantage of the season? Though the comparison is with the same time last year:

"The price of cucumbers has doubled year-on-year, according to a price survey carried out by the consumer protection service ahead of Green Monday.  Compared with prices at this time of year in 2016, cucumbers recorded the highest increase at 101.16 per cent – from €1.60 per kilo to €3.22...The price of tomatoes was also high in large supermarkets, recording an 85.7 per cent rise to €1.80 per kilo compared with €0.58 last year...and [bunches of] leafy vegetables between €0.21 and €0.50...Shrimp, squid, and cuttlefish were more expensive in larger supermarkets compared with last year. Halvah was cheaper with prices in small and larger supermarkets ranging between €1.45 per 400 grammes and €5.69 per 400 grammes." 

Does lead me to think that  some people are shopping in the wrong places, because we generally do quite a bit better than they suggest, though no doubt, as in Canada, the villages have higher prices than the cities.  We do stock up on fruit and veg, though not seafood. Not true traditionalists. If we were Green Monday would be salads and seafood and Lent would mean no meat and no dairy.

Friday, February 24/2017

Another dispute with Cyprus taxi drivers, loved by no one. They've met with the transport minister. "At the meeting, the two sides discussed long-standing problems faced by urban taxi drivers; taxi licences, piracy, and not enough taxi ranks. Taxi drivers have been striking or threatening to strike over the last few years over these issues." [Cyprus Mail] A bit difficult to sort out. Too many taxi licences but not enough taxi ranks? Taxi rates here are extremely high, given local cost of living, petrol prices, etc. They work very hard at maintaining a monopoly - preventimg shared taxi services, threatening violence to unofficial taxi drivers, etc. Doesn't seem to register that if taxi drivers were more pleasant and taxis were cheaper, more people would take them, and more frequently.

Thursday, February 23/2017

"Our" team lost last night's football game. No, we don't actually follow local soccer. Wouldn't know any of the players, etc. The winning team was originally from Famagusta, but relocated after 1974. Which brings us to reunification talks, which appear to have broken down again, in part down to the new legislation re commemorating Enosis in the schools. Well, that was highly predictable.

Wednesday, February 22/2017

Last Wednesday of the month is always book sale in the courtyard at St Helena's Anglican. Hundreds of books, almost all in English and most previously owned by people of our age, which often makes good pickings. Not overwhelming today, although that may in part be because we're not very early, having passed the convent on the way, dropped in on their charity shop and got involved in conversation with a nun and two volunteers, all very friendly. We're far from desperate for more books, with three ebooks alternating on our read aloud plan as well as books we're reading separately. But, like true addicts, we can't simply walk away either. So: 1) How to be Good- light novel by Nick Hornby. 2) Home to Roost - light reminiscences by Deborah Devonshire, youngest of the Mitford sisters. Intro by Alan Bennett is recommendation enough. 3) Caedmon's Song - mystery set in Yorkshire, by Peter Robinson, UK cum Canadian detective fiction writer. If he turns out to be good there's plenty more in his publication list. 4) Finding Poland - a search for family history across Poland, Kazakhstan, Iran, India, and England. 5) Jams, Pickles & Chutneys - recipes, obviously. Had thought to copy a couple of the best and then pass the book on to Bill and Jane, who might want to do the same, but so many of them look good that I'm wavering....

Football is huge here, and the pub down the road seems to be a gathering spot for fans, often audible through closed balcony doors. Tonight there's a pre-game rally complete with songs, chants, firecrackers and flares. The road completely blocked off, which seems to offend nobody. This goes on for about an hour before the assembled fans head off for the game. 

I make spaghetti for dinner. Spaghetti and sauce are fine, but I succeed in burning a pristine stainless steel frying pan before I begin and smash a dinner plate into more tiny fragments than I would have thought possible (and of course am not equipped with broom, let alone dustpan). Don't dare pour wine until everything else finished. 

Tuesday, February 21/2017

Jane's birthday and we're invited to Cambanella's in the evening. Harry and Ailsa too. It's our usual spot for Sunday lunch, but classier in the evening, with piano music playing in the background. Not crowded, and the table is oval, so it's easy to converse. Their specialty is steak but J goes for the lamb kleftiko anyway and says it has the same butter melting goodness of Sunday's. I have a chicken dish. My best, though, was the starter, with bruschetta topped with cheese and avocado and a little sweet hot chilli sauce. Delicious. Intend to replicate it, although Sioux Lookout avocados in comparatively short supply, less appealing, and more expensive than those here. Lovely evening and Harry and Ailsa kindly give us a lift home.

Monday, February 20/2017

Seems to be spring, although perhaps unwise to say so aloud. J and I meet at St Helena's charity shop and pick up short sleeved shirts that can always be redonated later. Conversation with Liz who runs the shop about what we all perceive as the unlikelihood of Cyprus reunification, given (among other things) that the government has recently passed legislation requiring schools to commemorate Enosis (with a holiday?) considering the number of Turkish Cypriot deaths associated with the Enosis movement (an attempt to force political union with Greece), this has naturally triggered huge Turkish protest. Liz says that she lived in Cyprus during the sixties, when her husband was in the British forces. This, of course being well before the Turkish invasion (or intervention, depending on which side is providing the narrative). She remembers when the British provided convoy escorts to take people from Nicosia to Kyrenia because Turks were likely to throw stones at the vehicles on the road. On the other hand, she also remembers General Grivas [Greek] entering a village with soldiers and killing women, children, and the old.

Sunday, February 20/2017

To Kofinou with Jane and Bill. It's a village a bit south of Larnaca, known for its several restaurants serving lamb kleftiko, traditionally cooked in clay pots in the beehive shaped outdoor ovens. Our place is busy - in fact a bus load of people arrive just as we do. Bill parks next to an almond tree in full flower (though next to a flowerless one still bearing a few of last year's nuts). Nice windowside table overlooking the garden. We all order rhe kleftiko and it's perfect - like butter melting in the mouth.

Saturday, February 18/2017

Under the impression that this is a long weekend, with Monday being Green (or clean) Monday in the Orthodox calendar. So three grocery stops. First at Saris, probably the most local of the supermarkets and usually the best prices. Not especially bilingual, and sometimes the translations are not so much inaccurate as unfortunate. Thus the food freezer includes meat labelled "rabbit carcass frozen". No doubt. 

First suspicion that this is not Green Monday weekend dawns at Prinos Greengrocer, which is not, as one would have expected, unusually busy. Humus, onions, potatoes, oranges, tomatoes, bananas, carrots, and a very small cauliflower for a grand total of €3.50 ($4.88 CAD, £3). All local and fresh. Google Green Monday (a moveable feast as it signals the beginning of Orthodox Lent) when we get home and find it's next week. Well, we won't go hungry.

Friday, February 17/2017

Stop at Micro, the little offshoot of Alpha Mega Supermarkets. Large display of Valentine cards as we walk in. Don't seem to have been reduced in price. J asks (me) if they know the day has past. Worse, in the refrigerated display case there are Valentine cakes with cream piping. Must be at least three days old. Also unreduced, although that's not their least appealing quality. 

Also stop at Maris Studio, newly opened in December. Owner artist Maria Aristidou is engaging and the shop funky and fun. Images not exactly original - Mona Lisa, Ellen Degeneris, Peter Rabbit, etc - but work in coffee, and occasionally tea, intriguing. Would it last well?

Thursday, February 16/2017

Meet J for coffee, this time taking the alternate route, parallel to Makarios Avenue, the main street. It follows the sea, with the port area fenced off between the sea and the road, and more than fenced - barricaded with rolls of razor wire on top of the wire fencing. It should be nasty and depressing but, oddly, it isn't. For one thing, it's quiet, unlike Makarios, which is noisy and polluted. A block away the street feels almost village like. A few business establishments but many homes - small apartments and houses. Gardens and flowers. The feel is village, despite its running beside a commercial port. This ends with a large dirt-surfaced parking lot adjacent to the marina and then the municipal bus depot, newly paved. And then the promenade. Pleasant walk, and about five minutes shorter than our usual route.

Wednesday, February 15/2017

Meet J for coffee, this time taking the alternate route, parallel to Makarios Avenue, the main street. It follows the sea, with the port area fenced off between the sea and the road, and more than fenced - barricaded with rolls of razor wire on top of the wire fencing. It should be nasty and depressing but, oddly, it isn't. For one thing, it's quiet, unlike Makarios, which is noisy and polluted. A block away the street feels almost village like. A few business establishments but many homes - small apartments and houses. Gardens and flowers. The feel is village, despite its running beside a commercial port. This ends with a large dirt-surfaced parking lot adjacent to the marina and then the municipal bus depot, newly paved. And then the promenade. Pleasant walk, and about five minutes shorter than our usual route.

Tuesday, February 14/2017

Wake up about half past seven. Listen to the radio while picking up the morning news, editorials, etc online. No hurry - J always gets up first and makes coffee. Engrossed surfing but eventually realise it's ten o'clock. Can't actually remember J having slept this late before. Occurs to me that I haven't really looked to see if he's breathing (in the other bed). He is. Can imagine having to explain that I have no idea when my husband stopped breathing as I was busy surfing the net. Yes, could have been any time after midnight. Obviously not the worst aspect of the situation, but possibly the least explicable. J wakes up about 10:15. No drama.

Maggi stops in the afternoon. First time in ages so lots of filling in. You did expect me to do most of the talking, she says cheerfully. Cypriot brandy time.

Monday, February 13/2017

Meet J at the beach for coffee. Huge oil rig (or liquid natural gas?) anchored in the bay. Harry says they have large crews and this one doesn't seem to be doing much at the moment - which still requires a basic crew. Harry, in his pre-retirement incarnation, captained commercial ships, a job which always seems to involve massive consequence of error - my view from having been a job analyst in previous incarnation).

Sunday, February 12/2017

Have just finished a not insubstantial breakfast when Jane phones and invites us to lunch. And do we have any cooking apples. No, but we do have one pink lady left and we can bring it. We do, and take advantage of the sun to have sherry and starters (pastries with cheese made by the Bulgarian next door neighbour) outside. Then move in for the main event - saganaki. Sounds Japanese, but is actually Greek - shrimp in a spicy tomato sauce, usually with feta. Very nice. And baked apples for dessert, with some of the last of the mincemeat. The microwave does these much better than one might have thought. Then watch Scotland vs France in Six Nations rugby. What a brutal sport!

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.