Pissouri, Cyprus - Pissouriana

Last night was more thunderstorms and pounding rain. The wind was blowing it directly against the back wall and made the kitchen window leak on to the counter. About half an hour after I had asked Mick (via WhatsApp) if they ever had power outages here, the power went out. Luckily when he replied "yes" I had put the flashlight in my pocket. He reminded me that some parts of Cyprus only got electricity in the 1950s. It was 10:30pm so I just went to bed, sleeping fitfully through the thunderstorms and the power came back on some time during the night.

I was getting cabin fever so as soon as there was a break between showers I walked up to the Internet Cafe to ask about the bus. Of course it was after 1pm so they were closed. I assume these are their winter hours.

I walked down into the village square only to find that the supermarket there is closed from 1pm to 3pm. Well now I know.

The rain had started to get more serious again so I stepped into the Pissouriana, to wait for the next break, and ordered a coffee. This is what I got. I had forgotten that a lot of English people like instant coffee. Oh well, its not as bad as American coffee.

This would be a lovely place to spend some time on a nice sunny day. Beautiful views down the valley to the sea. But today I was able to gauge the rain from the patterns of drops in the pool. It didn't let up so I ordered an omelette. Shortly after a couple came in and sat next to me to watch the test match on TV (cricket, England playing South Africa). Elaine introduced herself, and Peter, and told me that she had lived in Cyprus for 20 years and never had as wet a winter. They were going to escape for a holiday in Thailand. She said she wasn't concerned about the impact of Brexit as she didn't believe the European countries would do anything to make the ex-pats lives difficult because they need them here.

It backed off to a drizzle and I headed home

Another YouTube tutorial. This one on washes.

I tried out some different techniques

on the clouds in my painting

and started filling in some of the greenery. All this rain has made for lots of greenery.

Pissouri, Cyprus - Watercolour 101

Houses around the Mediterranean are not built for cold weather. They are built for the predominate weather, hot. They are built from cement, with tile floors and no central heating. Luckily Mick and Anne must have spent some winter months here. They have provided heat in every room. The bathroom has a heater and both bedrooms have combination air conditioner/heaters. Without central heating the technique is to just heat the room that I am currently occupying.

Overnight there was a thunderstorm and the wind picked up.

The rain and wind continued all day and the sea kicked up into big white rollers

So; a tour of the bottom floor of the house.

Front door and the stairs up to the living area.

The bathroom has a nice deep bathtub and is the only room I leave the heat on all day (when I am home all day). No-one likes a cold toilet seat!

This bedroom opens onto the front patio area

Both bedrooms have these full wall closets.

This is the room I am sleeping in,

which opens up into a small back courtyard with a clothes line.

I wake up to this every morning.

In the house all day I decided to watch some watercolour lessons on YouTube.

One tutorial suggested practicing taking each tube of paint from its most intense colour to its palest. It was presented as a lesson in transparency. It was useful for me as I now have a colour guide of some of my paints. Before, I was just guessing that, for instance, Raw Sienna was the colour I wanted. In the tutorial they used a #14 round brush so I also used a round brush and practiced brush control. I still prefer either a straight brush or a small pointed brush but most tutorials use a round brush and they must have a reason.

Then I started to paint one of the photos I took on my walk to Pissouri Beach.

The weather forecast is much the same for tomorrow so I will work some more on the painting then. The rest of the week is supposed to be warmer, sunnier and just the occasional shower.

Pissouri, Cyprus - walk to Papantoniou

On the balcony I am at bird height, near the top of the surrounding trees, giving me a chance to see some of the European birds. Then of course I have a struggle to identify them especially as Cyrprus is on a migratory path.

From the balcony this morning. He may be a Eurasian Blackcap, a winter visitor.

The blackboard outside the Pissouriana hotel which has a bar/restaurant shows the importance of the British expat community to the village.

My agenda for the day was to try again to find the bus stop and I also needed milk. I checked at the small supermarket in the village square but it was closed. It is Sunday after all. I decided to walk to the big supermarket at the bottom of the hill, Papantoniou. The same as yesterday, the walk down was fine.

There is no recycling pick up at the house and I haven't seen bins anywhere around the neighbourhood but I was happy to see I could bring glass down to the depot next to the supermarket and it looked like there were bins for other recyclables at the pharmacy next door.

I have seen old boats used as garden planters but I think this is the first time I have seen a car used for that purpose.

Near the bottom of the hill, as I was walking back up, I found a bus stop. The schedule posted inside was for Pissouri to Limassol, 3 times a day.

I took advantage of the bench half way up the hill but really the walk back from the supermarket is not as long or as steep as the one I was doing in Funchal last year. If I do this regularly though I should be in good shape for the Bruce trail hiking in the spring.

Success! I found another bus stop, in the village, opposite the internet cafe and there was a schedule for both Limassol and Paphos. The first bus to Paphos leaves at 7:40. Weather depending, I will try for that one on Wednesday (the next day without 100% chance of rain in the forecast)

One advantage to the living areas on the 2nd floor is the great expanse of sky.

The sun goes down behind the hill that is behind me, well before official sunset, but still lights up the clouds

and this evening also provided a rainbow.

Pissouri Beach, Cyprus

Finally, it stopped raining.
Last night the gas fire went out and after consulting with Mick I tried to relight it, thinking there might have been air in the line. No luck, so decided to wait until this morning to deal with it.

I wrestled with trying to connect the cylinder on the left, assuming the one on the right was empty after using the fire place for 2 days. In the end, Colin, who looks after the house for Mick and Anne when they are not here, came over and attached it and relit the fireplace. He also showed me how to work the TV.

Breakfast on the balcony. It faces southeast so there is sun on it until about 11:30 at this point. It may be sunny longer when the sun is higher in the sky.

It is amazingly quiet here. I am in a row of 6 houses. At this point none of the others are occupied. There are rows down the hill in front of me and few of them seem to be occupied. I have heard a dog barking once. I heard someone sweeping this morning - its that quiet. I realized that in both places in Mallorca I was right in the village so there was some traffic and always people walking by. In Madeira I was in Funchal so there was the constant noise of the buses, people dropping their children off at the daycare down the street and the horns of the cruise ships coming in and out of the harbour. Here I am not even in the village. I am sure as the months progress more people will occupy the houses around me and I will welcome that but right now I am loving the peace.

The weather was lovely, 15, sunny and 0% chance of rain in the forecast so I decided to walk down to the beach. Initially it was through more development, some quite large with balconies, patios, palm trees,

flowers and swimming pools

Soon I was into countryside. Fields of grass (looks like they are just used for hay) with irrigation pipes leading to them.

Every now and then, a bench, at the side of the road, under a tree. I figured I would need these on the way back. Pissouri Village is 500 ft above sea level and 3 km from Pissouri Beach. The walk down was no trouble at all!

Cactus and olive trees.

There were some vestiges of terraces on the hillsides but they weren't being farmed so had fallen into disrepair.

Olive trees, the only thing missing was grape vines but I know there are some not far as the wine I am drinking is local.

Closer to the coast the hills got more rugged

and there was evidence that mudslides had been cleared off the road.

Pissouri Beach community came into sight.

Pissouri Beach looking east-ish.

Pissouri Beach looking west-ish.

I treated myself to my first meal out, sitting on the patio of The Captains Table, right beside the beach.

The breeze off the ocean was too cool so I moved to a table out of the wind but still in the sun.

I was told that the Moussaka, that I ordered first, would take half an hour and I was too hungry to wait for it, so settled on Kalamari. When asked "fries or a jacket?", I took the jacket.

After lunch I wandered the village a bit, not much open but I suspect that the same as other places I have visited in the off season, they will open up as the tourists come back. Starting back up the hill I was greeted

by this and the first sprinkles of rain.

A kind young Cypriot couple stopped and offered me a ride up the hill shortly after and dropped me in the village. So just a short walk back down to the house and I didn't get very wet. Memo to self - in January, in Cyprus, always take a raincoat!

Opened this wine tonight, Loucas' recommendation.

Its a bit too sweet for me but probably the nicest sweet wine I have ever had.