Cyprus - Stroumpi walk.

 

Saturday's walk started in the Stroumpi village square, bordered by some rather ugly cement buildings and this beautiful church.

 

Last time I was in Cyprus I took some pottery classes from Julie, who is one of this Saturday group of walkers. She handed me a bag when we arrived and it was the tiles that I had been unable to pick up from her because lock down happened while she had them for firing. I couldn't believe that she has kept them for me, for 3 years! So kind.

Out of the village and into the countryside.

Past a kennel of hunting dogs who let us know, loudly, that they didn't appreciate us walking down their road.

A few of us made the short detour to visit "The Stroumpi Lion", a gypsum formation that looks (very vaguely) like a lion or sphinx. I was told that for initiation I had to pee on the lion. Everyone was aware that I had been looking for a place for "a comfort break". I manged to find some privacy close to the lion, that will have to do.

Wild onion?

A big sign describing a neolithic settlement and a ruined chapel but

this little metal shrine was all that we could see.

Lovely views over

a fertile valley.

The almond blossoms are white with just a touch of pink. We decided these were probably cherry. A little further on was an orchard with some of last years apples wizen on the branches.

As we walked back into the village

Craig pointed out these 2 water taps. He said that when the British controlled the island they ensured that every village had drinking water. He said the British "weren't all bad" (he's Scottish) but suggested I see the concentration camp on the way to the restaurant.

In front of the police station. Two of the memorials are for young men and dated 1974, so I assume they died during the troubles with Turkey.

Jimmy stopped on the way to the restaurant so I could jump out and take some pictures of the Polemi Detention Centre, right next to a big winery.

 

The Polemi Detention Center was one of eight British camps in Cyprus during the Cypriot War of Independence. From 1955 to 1959, the Ethniki Organosis Kyprion Agoniston (National Organisation of Cypriot Fighters), or EOKA, led an armed campaign against British colonial rule. Polemi opened near the end of the conflict and only operated for 102 days. But during that brief period, some 400 resistance fighters who were detained there experienced violence, cruelty, and torture. The camp was notorious for its horrific and inhumane conditions. In November 2017, 35 former EOKA fighters sought damages from the British government for the human rights abuses they experienced during the war. from AtlasObscura.com

We had lunch at the Olive Tree in Polemi which had an open kitchen so you could see the food cooking over charcoal grills.

Only 8 of us on this walk, a lot of people are away traveling. That's my Moussaka in the foreground.

When I got home I unwrapped my 4 tiles

and I love how the glaze has turned out.

I don't know what I am going to do with them when I get them home, or even which configuration I like best.