Cyprus - Limnatis Almond Festival.

Originally our plan had been for a relaxing, stay at home day on Sunday. Laundry and preparing for company coming for dinner. However, on Saturday, I saw an Almond Festival, in a village called Limnatis, advertised on Facebook. Change of plan.

 

It was about an hours drive. A6 highway to Limassol and then up into the foothills of the Troodos Mountains. A lovely, sometimes windy, road with great valley views as we got away from the coast.

As we approached the village we were directed

to park in a big field and

a bus took us up to the edge of the village. On the bus we met an Austrian woman who was a tour guide for the cruise boats that stop at Limassol. She said she had already got 50 tours booked for this year when the season starts in April.

At the top of a small rise we were greeted by an ice cream truck (Gelato actually) and a "bouncy castle". Cater to the kids first.

Chairs and tables (enough for hundreds) were in the middle of the field, surrounded by booths, a stage and the food area. We checked out the handicraft section first.

Making, and selling, baskets out of strips of bamboo.

These bunches of dried flowers

were cleverly knotted together at the base.

Looking at the rope seats on chairs it looks like quite a simple weave but watching him made me realize that it is far from simple.

Next it was on to the produce booths. We sampled a sweet almond liquor as we came in

the all kinds of almond based products (most of which we didn't like much)

We saw them making Halloumi cheese and it tasted really good, but we already had some at home.

Almond cookies.

Marzipan confectionery.

These look like wax candles but are Shoushoukos. A string of almonds dipped many times into a vat of gelatinous grape juice. The "sausages" are then sliced into candies, each with a piece of nut in the centre.

The Pomegranate juice was delicious but the wine a little too sweet for my liking. I did buy honey roasted almonds, carob syrup and figs.

The traditional dancers were waiting by the stage and I just wanted a photo of the embroidery

but they insisted on posing.

Mostly men by the beer truck but they were all drinking tiny cups of thick black coffee.

Honey balls (Lokmades) were in full production. She squeezed the dough up through her fist and scooped it into the oil with a melon baller. They are then drizzled with honey (they tasted as if there was a little lemon juice in the honey too and 1 of the recipes I read included some cinnamon).

We had got there at about 11, when it started, and it was now noon and we couldn't resist the smell of grilling meat that wafted across the festival.

We bought a ticket for one pita and one honey balls. The grilled pita was chock full of grilled pork, thinly sliced cabbage, tomatoes and cucumber. So full that stuff fell out every time you picked it up. We shared one and couldn't finish it.

We wanted to walk it off so walked into the village searching for Almond blossom. The trees around the festival site were in bud but most were not yet in blossom.

Last years crop, left on the tree.

A tree just dripping with lemons.

Lunch on a much smaller grill. Some of them have little electric motors to turn the spits.

Oleander seeds ready to fly.

When we got back to the festival there were far more people there

and the dancers were on the stage. We bought our honey balls and sat down to watch a bit of the show.

We skipped the bus and walked back down the hill to the car.

 Drove home and had Nikki, John, Kay and Jimmy for dinner. So nice to have a place that is large enough and well enough equipped to do that.