Pissouri, Cyprus - working out the "buddy" system

I was again planning on going for a walk today and contacted Kay to let her know where I was going and how long I planned on being. As we discussed my route it became clear that we have different ways of identifying the village landmarks.

I call this "the destroyed road behind Sunrise" or "Cemetery Rd" because the cemetery is on it and Jimmy had called it that once. Kay calls it "Kapsalion", which is its official name but as there are no street signs on it I had no way of knowing that.

At the top of that road is what I call "Pissouri Village development" and what Kay calls "the Leptos development"

After a lot of back and forth on Messenger we were pretty sure we had my route sorted but we are going to have to get a better system. I set out with the intention of about a 2 hour walk and that I would text Kay if I was going to be any longer than that.

Another kind of yellow flower in bloom now. There must be about 10 different yellow wildflowers.

More of the pink Crepe Myrtle is in bloom.

Looking back and down to the Sunrise development and off in the distance, the Troodos Mountains.

Past "Leptos Pissouri Village", down this road and

then I am out on the track, away from people. (not that I saw anybody on my way to this point)

There was a constant whispering buzz in the air and I thought it was bees but now I look at this photo I don't think they are.

The first time I did this walk I took the track to the left but didn't go far. The second time I took the path up to the right and it ended at the abandoned goat farm. This time I took the track to the left with the intention of following it further.

As some of the flowers have now finished there are more seed heads around.

They just keep coming. I will have to come back to see what these look like when they open.

Where the track went over rock there were lizards basking. These large ones tended to be alone

and would leave the track to go under a bush or rock in a leisurely fashion. Predominately brown and green, a Spiny Footed Lizard.

Daniele asked me the other day if I could smell the sea and I tried to identify what I could smell now. Still not the sea. I could smell warm rock with a slight herb scent, nothing as strong as fresh mown grass and not that singular a smell, more a mixture of warm green foliage. Along with the buzz of insects there is now far more bird song and bird chatter.

The track has obviously been driven on relatively recently because, where there is grass, it has been crushed.

The double path turns into a single, heading gently downhill.

I thought these were Crepe Myrtle too, just white ones.

Although they have the same shape they don't have that crepe paper look. They are of the same genus.

Cistus salviifolius, common names sage-leaved rock-rose,^[1] salvia cistus^[2] or Gallipoli rose, is a perennial ligneous plant of the family Cistaceae. from wiki

I sat on a rock, contemplated this view and had a drink of water. There was the hint of a path descending further but when I looked at my watch I had been gone an hour, so I texted Kay that I was turning back

and somehow that "gentle downhill" had become a steep uphill.

These tend to be sunning themselves in 3s and 4s and as they become aware of me they all skitter off in different directions.

It was quite a challenge to get a photo of them. They all had that sort of orangy coloured tail and I saw a couple with stumps rather than tails. I think they are just young versions of the other one in this blog post, Spiny Footed Lizard.

A huge thistle.

A Kotschys Gecko

Back down that crazy road to home and I Messaged Kay I was back.

I think this may be the solution to Kay and my translation issues. Screenshot of Google Earth, downloaded into my computer, moved into a photo file, using the pen in the editing tool I can mark my route and then email it to Kay. I will try that out next time I take a walk.

Pissouri, Cyprus - must avoid that bakery!

It was basically a stay at home day. I changed the bed linen, did laundry, you know the kind of day. We all know the kind of day. I was nearly out of milk (could have been another coffee crisis) so walked up to the Village Square supermarket.

There is a plot of land next to Pissouriana Hotel and the trees in it were pruned about a month ago. They are now in blossom. Not Almond. Don't know what they are; Apple? Pear?

In the square there was a lineup for the ATM and people were keeping more than 8ft apart. Better than they are at the lineup at Paps.Only one person in the supermarket and the usual sanitizers, gloves and tapping the credit card myself.

I decided to walk back along the "lower road" for a change.

Cats will inherit the earth. They were everywhere and not bothered. Could lie in the street, on the cafe patios, wherever they wanted.

I have walked this way a number of times but there hasn't been much activity at the bakery. It was probably in the afternoon. Today the bakery van was there and the smells dragged me through the door.

Inside were lots of trays of fresh baked bread. It is very definitely a commercial bakery but you can just step in the door and purchase too. I bought 4 rolls that looked like bagels but I knew they weren't. They were still warm!

It wasn't a baguette, but I felt a little French, strolling along, eating my fresh roll out of a white paper bag

Unusual cones on a Conifer at the side of the road. Looked it up and it is an Italian Cyprus.

In one of my previous posts, Heather commented about me calling a plant a weed rather than a wild flower. We then talked about how the wild flowers could break up asphalt and return the land to its original state. Here's another wild flower doing just that.

With tiny little flowers.

Almonds already growing.

Hoopoe on the road ahead of me.

Light and doughy with a slight sesame flavour. Delicious!

In January, when visiting Kay, we went through her watercolour supplies and she lent me a brush and a book. She had also offered me some watercolour paper. Today  I asked her if I could take her up on that and she left it out on her garden wall for me to pick it up.

One of the reasons that I had wanted the paper was that Nicola had nudged me about the Olive tree painting and I needed a large piece of paper for this picture.

This will be a multi day project.

One of the few positives with the current situation is that I am talking to family more frequently than I usually do while I am away. I talk to Nicola almost every day, Chris a few times a week, Mike about once a week and Aimee sends me videos of Maya and Avery. I have been getting emails from Si and Dan and today video called with Mark, Emma and Sarah (and Monte, the dog)

Sarah told me about a recipe she had made and sent me the link. It looks delicious!
https://www.instagram.com/p/B-dROhDhE71/?igshid=1e4kiu1vpyf81

Daniele sent me photos of Fiona's painting project:

So creative

Now I want her to paint on my jeans.

Finally; from a Facebook link, posted by Jim Minns, about the process of dealing with and taking the time to adjust to a different world. Reacting to colleagues pushing themselves to be as productive or more productive while in social isolation.
"Understand that this is a marathon. If you sprint at the beginning, you will vomit all over your shoes at the end of the month." Aisha Ahmad, Assistant Prof at U of T.

Pissouri, Cyprus - Prophet Elias Chapel

Rain was forecast for this afternoon so right after breakfast I messaged Kay that I was leaving, told her where I planned to walk and that I hoped to be back in about an hour.

There's a lot of twittering and tweeting going on around. Lots of nest building.

That tall stalk and yellow flower is a Fennel plant. I looked it up. You can't eat them.

I don't know how many times I have walked up and down this road and I don't know how I could have missed this road up to the chapel that I have been curious about for months. The gate was open but the chapel was locked.

The Panayia Akonopetra Chapel

 was built in 1996,

on land owned by the church,

with donations from the residents of Pissouri

and is dedicated to the Virgin Mary. But this was not the chapel I had set out to find.

I continued up through the village, seeing no-one and being passed by a few speeding cars, taking advantage of the lack of traffic. I don't think I had posted a photo yet of the completed bus shelters.

Past the school and up the track below the water reservoir and half way up the track there is a street sign!?

Now I knew where to look I could see the chapel on the hillside just below the goat farm.

Past the horses

One of the barns had beams with these perfect little Sparrow homes and there was a bird peaking out of each one.

Another sign. I spend too much time looking down at flowers, I miss these.

Down a steep road with a couple of hairpin bends

with banks covered in flowers because its on the sheltered side of the hill.

The Anemones are looking a bit the worse for wear.

You approach from above

turn a corner and there is the gate. No lock so I just opened the latch

but the chapel was locked.

This ornate tray, outside, enables the lighting of a votive.

The chapel was originally in a cavern, with murals on the walls and ceiling, however there was a cave in and only part remains. The chapel was built in 1960 and renovated in 2002.

Elijah (/ɪˈlaɪdʒə/ ih-LY-jə; Hebrew: אֵלִיָּהוּ, Eliyahu, meaning "My God is Yahweh^[1]/YHWH"^[2][3]) or latinized form Elias (/ɪˈlaɪəs/ ih-LY-əs)^[a] was, according to the Books of Kings in the Hebrew Bible, a prophet and a miracle worker who lived in the northern kingdom of Israel^[4] during the reign of King Ahab (9th century BC).
In Greece, chapels and monasteries dedicated to Prophet Elias (Προφήτης Ηλίας) are often found on mountaintops, which themselves are often named after him.  from Wikipedia

It is a lovely, peaceful spot

disturbed only by the chugging of the tractor down in the valley.

Back to looking at flowers.

Curious but shy.

I wasn't going to make it back within the hour and the chapel had relaxed me so I didn't rush on the way back as much as I had on the way.

Another ornamental tree, no idea what it is.

The walk ended up taking me about and hour and a half. It would have been a little less if I hadn't checked out that first chapel. I vowed however that I wouldn't rush my walks. I don't mind walking a bit faster, that will actually help with the exercise component of the walk, but rushing or worrying about what time it is defeats the mental health aspect of the walk. I spend very little time walking through the residential areas and actually on this walk I only saw one person on foot and he was just coming out of the goat farm and heading to his car.