Cyprus - Kourion

 Cigi has been traveling now since Christmas Day and slept in many different places. She is finding it difficult to settle and sleep well at night and so we decided we would need to take it a bit easier on her...just do one thing a day, in the morning so she could have her afternoon nap, then some activity around the house and village, then supper, evening routine and bed. Hoping she will settle into the place better. So this morning we set off to Kourion, about half an hour East.

We drove along the B6 rather than the highway so I could show then the British Army Base, a little chapel and some coastal views. We stopped at the visitors centre for a map and brochure which Chris and Jason took turns reading from )depending who had Cigi at the time.

 

 First stop the large, covered Roman Villa with two rooms of mosaics.

It sat on the edge of the hill with lovely views of the fertile plain, long beach and the sea.

It doesn't matter how many times I see them, their detail

and survival, amaze me.

Because nature tries to take it back

and subsequent occupiers are rarely kind.

The Amphitheatre is still used for performances and what a view.

Chris, Jason and Cigi explored "The Earthquake House" that had been destroyed by an earthquake and never rebuilt so when it was excavated everything was as it had been that day...skeletons of the family and a donkey, household items etc. I sat it out as I have been to the site twice and wanted to rest my hips after yesterdays walk.

We started with CiGi in a stroller but soon realized that the site isn't entirely accessible so Jason used the chest carrier and sometimes she insisted on walking/running/climbing.

According to what we read, the city covered the hill, the sea side plain, the river valley and up towards the Trodos Mountains. We knew there were ruins beneath the paths we walked on and there is ample evidence of structures with columns and stones just lying around.

The ground isn't flat, its lumpy with stones peeking through

covered with grass, flowers, shrubs and trees (Carob and Olive)

Clambering in the Christian Basilica area.

We walked and we read

in the Agora,

the baths (cold, warm, hot and steam) and the cisterns. But turned around with out reaching the final 3 villas.

We had planned to eat at one of the restaurants down on the beach but thought it better to get home, eat lunch there and get Cigi down for her nap. Miraculously she didn't fall asleep in the car.

Cyprus - Elektora Walk

 Last time I was here, a neighbour, Jimmy, introduced me to a couple of walking groups. He was leading the walk today with the Wednesday Group and invited me to join in, even before I left Canada.

8 of us met and parked at the side of the road and set off along farm tracks

between fields of grass, bright with early Anemones,

grape vines,

some pruned and some not (we saw a number of fields with men pruning)

and Olive

trees.

At one point I followed the sound of a generator to see something that I have read about but never witnessed. Huge nets on the ground and the generator was powering something that shook the olive trees. Little green olives littered the nets.

Bags of olives, already collected.

The ones not yet harvested

weighing the trees down so they looked like Willows.

 

One of the other walkers explained that these little olives would be preserved in Oregano and Olive Oil and served up to accompany a beer or a meal at a restaurant. The black ones had been harvested earlier, before the rains started, as they would be pressed for olive oil

The Prickly Pear Cactus were also in fruit.

.

After the 8km walk we drove to the nearest village (Elektora), to a restaurant that Jimmy had arranged for lunch. Our long table was set out on the patio and we ordered drinks. We were joined by 5 other members who had been unable to walk for one reason or another but wanted the social component.

First came the salad with feta cheese, served family style and more than any of us could eat. Then sliced pita bread and 3 different dips (Humous, Tzatziki,and one other)

We had pre-ordered our main meals and, not realizing we would be served a salad, I had ordered Grilled Haloumi Cheese Salad. The salad part ended up in a Take Home box.

We finished off with some slices of Doukissa Cake. This is a Cypriot cake and when I looked up the recipe it is a no bake cake made with crushed biscuits, cocoa, melted chocolate and brandy and then put in the freezer. There was some left over (she bought out 2 huge plates of slices) so I bought some home for Chris and Jason. We all agreed it was delicious.

When I got home Cigi was just waking up from her nap and we drove to Larnaca to return the rental car as I have the use of a car with the house.

Cyprus - Aphrodite's Rock

Chris, Jason and Cigi have been traveling since Christmas Day so had quite a bit of laundry. So that was the first order of the day...3 loads.

At the back of the house there is a washer, in the cupboard above, a tumble dryer and along the wall and over the furnace, a clothes line. At this time of year the sun doesn't reach the back for very long so heavy stuff was also draped over chairs on the side patio.

I was offered a period of peace and quiet if I would deal with the laundry while Chris and Jason headed to Pissouri Bay to see the beach. It gave me time to sit in the sun and finish this book from the villa bookshelf. I thoroughly enjoyed it and the time to sit in the sun and read.

After lunch and nap time we drove to the next beach West

I'm not sure which one is Aphrodite's Rock

but legend has it that

she emerged from

the foaming sea here. It is also know as Petra tou Romiou (Rock of the Greek)

Jason skipped stones as many of them are smooth and flat here.

Chris built them into towers that Cigi knocked down

and then helped build back up.

She also got into the rock throwing.....finding the perfect rock,

here it is,

got a pretty good arm, for a toddler.

Photo by Chris.

Cyprus - arrival

 Flight from Toronto to London with a couple of hours sleep, 6 hour lay at Heathrow, met Christine, Jason and CiGi there and flew to Cyprus. Picked up a rental car which Jason drove (thank you) and we arrived at the house in Pissouri at about 9pm. The welcome package included bread, ham and cheese, wine and beer, so supper was covered. Short sleep and wide awake at 6:30 am.

I was greeted by beautiful low angle sun (this is the side patio of the house)

and a brilliant blue sky.

 I took a brief walk around the neighbourhood, warm, just a little breeze.

Front of the house.

The pool for the Sunrise development where we are located.

Looking down at the house. I don't have a view from this one, though Christine tells me that if you stand on the wall, you can see the sea.

Breakfast in the sun. When you are desperate for caffeine even instant coffee tastes great.

Later, cheese, cookie and applesauce

You can tell she had more sleep than the rest of us.

Taking her for a walk through the village and she loved the number of feral cats around.

 

The major achievement of the day was a huge grocery shop at Papas and lunch at Hali.

No bathtub in the house, unfortunately, and CiGi was not impressed with getting bathed in the sink.

Patricia Joan Joynes, 1932 - 2022

Mum, Dad, Myself and Aimee in Ceret, France.

My Mum loved to travel. George and I sometimes joined her and Dad on their winter sojourns to Florida, Mexico, France, Portugal, Spain and Cyprus. I have many happy memories of those times. Of sketching together (she pushed me to stop using pencil and move into pen), experimenting with local cuisine (what do we do with tomatillos, duck breast on sale lets find some recipes) playing kitchen bridge (because I wont take it seriously enough for the other 3) and searching for all the possible bakeries to purchase and taste test, croissant.

She loved to garden, even continuing with a raised garden and a balcony garden when they moved to an apartment. She enjoyed sketching and watercolour painting and for many years used those paintings as her Christmas cards to friends and family. She used to enjoy cross country skiing and playing tennis. She learned to type Braille and volunteered transcribing books.  Her strongest and most long standing passion was the theatre. She acted, directed and produced with Georgetown Little Theatre and Garrison Little Theatre, helping to found Garrison upon moving to the Fort Erie area. She acted professionally a number of times. She was involved with amateur theatre right up to the point that Covid put an end to it.

She had the courage to move to Canada, away from family and friends,with 4 young children, settling first in Quebec and then in Ontario. She hated cleaning and I remember her putting on a record to dance and sing to, while cleaning, making it more bearable. Taking the ferry from England to France made her nervous and she would stand on the stern until she could no longer see one country and move to the bow to get the first glimpse of the next, yet she took numerous cruise ship vacations.

She always wanted to open a Christmas present on Christmas Eve rather than wait another day. She could be bought to tears when we teased her about the day she ran over a nest of baby rabbits with the lawn mower. She loved all their dogs..Taffy, Patsy, Snoopy, Butch, Toffee, Molly and Rusty.

 She was 90 years old and had suffered from cognitive degeneration for the last couple of years.She passed away sometime in the night before New Years Eve, a few days after hip surgery due to a fall. She had had a full and interesting life and I will miss her.