Pissouri, Cyprus - domestic day

I had one of those days with no real agenda that ended up being quite full. The only thing I knew I needed to do was to get a hair cut. It has been 5 weeks and my hair is starting to bug me. So after a leisurely breakfast and coffees I walked up to the village to book a haircut.

It wasn't the shortest way but I like walking through the village square. Even the ATM has flowers.

and, of course, a sleeping cat.

There isn't really a shopping area in the village, just random shops in random locations. Fiona's hair salon is about a block  up the street from here (and I use the term "block" loosely as there is no grid to the streets) and she said I should come back at 3.

Rather than walk back home and then back up the hill, I did some more exploring in the village. This is the courtyard of The Bunch of Grapes restaurant. Not open right now but looks like it will be lovely when it is. A man there said  "Pissouri is sad now, don't you think, when everything is closed, Pissouri is sad". He said his name was Perry, short for Pericles.

I managed to find some streets and little alleyways that I hadn't walked before. Going down one a man got out of a car ahead of me, turned and said hello. He was from one of the walking groups. We re-introduced each other, as neither could remember the others name, and he invited me in to meet his wife and see his house.

It is just on the edge of the old part of Pissouri.

Liz and Barney bought this "hovel" (Liz's word) when they were in their 20s. Part of it was a donkey stable and another a chicken coop. The actual accommodation was just a couple of the rooms.

Over the years they have gradually modernized, renovated and added to the original structure to make a charming, if quirky, art filled home, with wonderful balconies and terraces with views across the valley to the sea.

When the adjoining house came up for sale they bought it, more for the gardens than the building, but have found it cooler than their house in the summer so tend to spend more time there. The additional rooms have also been useful for when family and friends visit. This photo is of the original ceiling that is still in one of the guest bedrooms.

With the second house they inherited all the furnishings and found this threshing board or sledge.

It would be pulled by a donkey with a man standing on the dark wood piece and the flints side down.

The threshing board with its jagged stones was used in farming to separate the grain from the chaff at harvest. Placed stone side down, the board was pulled by oxen or mules over the wheat or other cereal on a threshing floor, separating out the straw without damaging the seed. (from Wiki). The article goes on to say that these boards were used all around the Mediterranean from Biblical times up into the 20th century.

The garden with the second house was overgrown and steeply sloping but it has been Barney's project. Liz is not sure it will ever be completed. That tree is a "Monkey puzzle Tree", native to South America. Liz asked if I would like some lemons and picked 3 huge ones of a nearby tree. More Lemon Curd in my future. She also had a piece of that interesting crystalline rock from yesterdays post and told me it was Gypsum. I thanked her profusely for the tour and will see her at the walking group in a weeks time.

Their house and terraced gardens, taken from the amphitheatre.

When I first started e-mailing with Mick about renting the house, he and Anne were eating out at Two Friends Tavern, and I had been meaning to check it out. Today seemed like a good day for it. This was the view from my table. I had grilled mushrooms and they came in a very flavourful cream sauce, bread, tahini and olives, a glass of red, a cappuccino and cheesecake. It was 15 Euro. Very reasonable.

A mural on one of the walls. I have just looked it up on TripAdvisor and Two Friends rates #4 of 30 restaurants in Pissouri. Ahead of it are Michael's Steak House (pricey), Hillview Restaurant (where I was for the Aircrew lunch, also pricey) and the Pissouri Bay Bar (this was recommended by someone I have talked to but isn't open right now).

I made my way through the village back up to Fiona's and got my hair cut. The waiter from Two Friends also came in for a cut.

The rose is nearly out.

That's a good sized orange and Liz's lemons dwarf it.

Jimmy had sent me a recipe for an orange cake that uses no flour. I tried it out tonight but although it is delicious, the bottom burned and I don't think the consistency is right. So until I get it right I am not going to post the recipe. The recipe is in grams and so I was just guessing how many cups that was (no way to measure weight here) but I have since found a web site that indicates I should have used 2 cups of ground almonds not 1. My other problem is never having used a gas oven before. On the plus side I found an immersion blender in the top of one of the cupboards that had a chopping attachment so I didn't have to use the mortar and pestle, that I had borrowed, to grind the almonds.