Up One Side and Down the Other

 We've spent the last two days exploring the coast of Cyprus from Larnaca east and then west into the island. The Mediterranean on Sunday was perfectly blue and clear.

The Love Bridge

The Sea Caves

We explored the coast and the small churches that dot it as well as an international sculpture garden. And everywhere we went we were greeted by cats. These cats are supposed descendants of the cats brought to Cyprus by St. Helena, mother of Constantine I. Excuse me, if I mangle the story a bit but Helena was a very busy lady. First she went on a journey to find the true cross. An angel appeared, so I've been told, that advised her to follow the smoke. She then found the cross and gave bits of it to all the known Christian churches in the world at the time. Cyprus has such a relic as does the Orthodox church in Ethiopia. 

St. Helena then visited Cyprus only to find the island was plagued by snakes. In order to help the islanders, she had over 300 cats sent from Egypt to Cyprus to rid the island of the snakes. So, I haven't seen a snake, a mouse or a rat since we've been here but we have certainly met many friendly cats--on tours, in restaurants, in markets, along the street. There are many places where the cats are fed and it's not a bad idea to carry a little kibble with you.

Sunday ended with sculptures and flamingoes.

It was a wonderful day followed by a Monday that was just as lovely. We visited St. Lazarus Cathedral and a mosque and the small town of Lefkara which is filled with filigreed jewelry and handmade lace with Emmy. The cathedral is built over what was the tomb of Lazarus. After Jesus raised him from the dead he settled in Cyprus.

The bones of Saint Lazarus

The tomb of St. Lazarus who is now interred in Constantinople

After the Cathedral we went on to the mosque. We were joined by our usual cat friends who have a building all to themselves where they are feed and cared for.

And now off to Lefkara...

And then, yes there's more...an organic Olive producer and a winery!

And soon the sun was setting behind the aqueduct...it wasn't the only thing that was fading!

Another cheekier perspective--

The "Jefa" (boss) handed me a pencil and notebook with a command--write! So I guess it's my turn. Traveling east from Larnaca, we first stopped in Agia Napa, the party/beach town of the area in summer. Since we're here in winter, many times we were riding through the streets alone. Most of the 5-10 story hotels were closed and vacant until spring. It was great! Our guide Robert said starting in April the hotels and beaches will be filled with thousands of tourists and driving, walking, and especially parking will be problematic. We were alone and able to enjoy every bit of it, at our leisure. 

Gillian, Robert, Dennis

Robert took us further east to Cape Gkreko, the farthest point you can access in southern Cyprus. Again, beautiful. Heading back west to Larnaca, Robert stopped at "Salt Lake," a protected marsh on the migratory bird route that includes flamingos of which there are hundreds. We did much more on our 8 ½ hour tour but I'll stop here.

I can't say enough about Robert. If you ever decide to visit Cyprus and the area around Larnaca, call us and we'll (that'd be Cindy) give you his contact information. To sum up, if you want to party and enjoy being in the company of thousands of tourists with temps up to 100℉, come to Cyprus in April through November. If you prefer being able to see all the majesty of sun, sea, and antiquity in 60℉ - 70℉ daytime temps, with little to no tourists, January - March should be your choice. I won't tell you what to do...(pick the later!!) 😁

Yesterday our tour guide, east, was Robert and as I said he was great! Today our guide, Emmy, concentrated on Larnaca and west toward Lefkara where the craftsmen specialize in lace and silver and gold filigree. A short sidebar on our tour guide and MY opinion: please remember it's only my opinion and like "a-holes," everybody's got one. 😏We've rented cars, we've been on tour buses with 20-40 other people and we've had personal tours like these. If you're spending a good portion of your sheckles getting here and can budget for it, get a personal tour guide. You'll be much more comfortable, can ask questions and will learn so much more. This comes from a guy who still has pants, shirts, and underwear from 20 years ago in his bedroom and buys $10 vodka at Kroger's. Also, see my name following cheap in the dictionary.

On to Emmy. She took us all around our neighborhood in Larnaca, including the Tomb of Lazarus. You know the guy Jesus raised from the dead in Jerusalem. He finally died again but in Cyprus. We then drove west and up into the Troodos Mountains to a small town called Lefkara of about 1,000 people. This is where for hundreds of years people made lace. As before, it was great! Roads were empty, few tourists and the town, churches and shops were happy to see us. Plus this is January and everything is 30 - 50% off! 

With us here too.

Next we visited an olive farm in business for 8 generations and on to a vineyard with 6 wines to sample with a charcuterie platter. 

Emmy ended our tour at the aqueducts because Cindy had mentioned earlier in the day she would like to see them. Emmy remembered. Our tour was again about 8  ½  hours. While driving it was so interesting to learn how and why Emmy came to Cyprus from her native Hungary. Another plug for a personal guide. Man, I'm gabby. Hang in there, until next time--Denny Baby 

Olepάdiko—I love you!

Our days have been full with explorations and the time just seems to be flying by though we certainly have been relaxing. We’ve had a few adventures, not gotten too lost and have found that with persistence there are tours and events open even though it is the low season. For one thing, January is the TIME of sales and I have found some great buys, even Dennis bought a new hat. For another there are few tourists and American tourists seem to be a most unusual species. Today we walked to the market. They had some lovely fruit and quite a few other goodies. I was gazing at a bakery's ware and wishing I could just have a bite of everything there.

We came home with grapes, olives, clementines, and a pumpkin empanada.

The history here goes back way beyond our two hundred years. The island has seen about 9,000 years of civilizations beginning around 7,000 BC. We got a small taste of it at the Pierides Museum, just a short walk away from here. Dennis spent time learning about the civilizations and I spent time getting ideas for paintings.

Everything is a work in progress and won't be finished until I am home and back in the studio.

The other day we walked down the Promenade to the medieval fort and castle. We spent some time walking around and again learning about how old everything is, making two 80 year old ones seem absolutely youthful.

The mosque behind the fort

The highlight of the last couple of days, has to be our dinner last night. We ate at Olepάdiko  or I love you if Google translate is accurate. It would seem an apt name as we certainly loved the food and the liveliness of the place. They served Meze, a meal of about 20 dishes beginning with a salad, fresh pita, dips, vegetables, French Fries, several types of kabobs as well as plates of lamb, pork and chicken, impossible to finish. I think pictures in this case are worth more than a thousand words.

And now from the guy who recently said, "I actually like writing the blog..." 

I have to laugh! To clarify, Cindy mentioned "sales, shopping and even Dennis bought a hat." As if I like shopping. Actually, I hate shopping. When I need underwear, I don't shop. I go in a store, buy the underwear, and leave. If that makes me a shopper, I stand corrected...😄

Waiting while someone is shopping!

But I did like walking the streets, taking in the sights, sounds and people. Does that make me a street walker? And that's what we've been doing. Not a lot of formal tours, just enjoying the city. It's been great! If I had more guts, I'd rent a car and drive around town (there's only about 150 K people in Larnaca but it's still bustling, streets don't run parallel, most road signs are in Greek and they drive on the left side of the street, like in England. Scares the B'Jesus out of me, to be honest. When Jerry and Marietta get here in a few days, maybe he'll prove to have bigger balls than me. I'll keep you posted, until then, I'll be bipedal unless I'm in a cab, bus or other vehicle that someone else is piloting.

Until later...

PS regarding the B'Jesus comment, we've taken in a number of old churches, Does that mean I'm religious? Ha, ha...