After a pretty good flight on Easy Jet, we arrived in Cyprus and were collected from the airport by Julie. It is lovely when you meet people that you have been connected with for a while on-line and you feel like you know them. Iain and Julie have welcomed us into their home and we are quite relaxed here. We were invited to come a few days early which worked in really well with picking up a flight deal. We have met Bailey, Brandy, and Peep – our ‘woof’ friends 🐕 and then Tigger, Boisy, Marley and Grace – our ‘meow’ friends 🐈. Iain and Colin get on pretty well, both having the same sense of humour and both loving pie and chips [and a generous drink!]. Julie and I both enjoy a ‘Rose’ or three and together the four of us have had plenty of laughs.
Iain and Julie live in the village of Tala, Paphos which has a laxidasical and enchanting feel about it. They have wined and dined us, and we have been out to all hours of the morning!, as well many conversations around the fire place or with a meal [and a wine!]. Of course we are here to learn the ropes with our new menagerie. Bailey is a wee disabled dog who has ‘wheels’ for walks, otherwise just pulls herself around. She is the sweetest wee dog. Brandy is a pretty smart girl and seems to know where Baileys injury is and every night gives her a wee massage by licking ‘the’ spot. Peep is from next door but just loves hanging out with her furry neighbours, so she come for walks as well [actually she hardly goes home – the more the merrier!]
As part of this assignment we have a vehicle, as we need to transport the dogs for walks. We are free to use it locally, so have made the most so far of visiting Coral Beach [OMG the rubbish!!] and have done a trip to Polis. What we have seen of Cyprus [which has history dating back thousands of years] so far has been pretty laid back! The winding roads and crazy driving will take a bit of getting used to, but at least we are on the ‘right’ [left] side of the road.
We have visited the town of Polis [which is Greek and simply means ‘town’] on a beautiful day. It is a small village with ancient history. Like the ‘gods’ before us [think Aphrodite, Apollo, Zeus, Dionysus] we roamed the village and the beaches soaking up history that is had to even imagine.
Driving back to Tala, through the hills you see carob trees, orange groves, grapes and olive trees all adding to the lush green feel this end of the island has. As you drive up and over the hills you can see the alluring waters of the Mediterranean, sparkling in the distance. Cyprus is the third largest island in the Mediterranean.
While we were on the beach there was a ‘modern’ armament on the beach which reminded you that there has been much unrest on the small island in years gone by [actually it is still under conflict with Turkey who illegally invaded the northern shores in 1974 – this part is not part of the EU!]. Anyway Colin thought that he would stand on it and waited for the tide to recede before he launched himself upon it, only to discover it was slippery and he ended up in the water getting his shoes and jeans wet!! Would have been fine if we had done this on our way back, but we visited the beach first! He squelched his way around the rest of our visit!! I [of course] had jandals on, so was able to have a much better go at it than him, although even in bare feet it was nearly impossible to climb 😂
We visited this funny little private ‘ethnographic’ museum which had an eclectic mix of treasures from years gone by. Items dating back to the 2nd and 3rd century, 17th century clothing, kitchen items, pottery items, a olive mill, tombs and ovens all ‘housed’ in a quirky building from the late 1800’s. In the ‘garden’ are original tombs dating back to the beginning of the 3rd century BC. There were coins from 4BC, pottery urns from the Hellenistic and Chalcolithic periods, wine jugs from 6BC [wishing now I had done history at school !!] and a beautiful ’empire era’ crystal mirror. There were so many other fascinating items, but all poorly displayed which made it difficult to view them.
This is the olive mill, with the press behind it.
We had a relaxed lunch and then headed to the small fishing village of Latchi/Lakki where we walked through the fishing village / marina. There were lots of small fishing vessels, some fancy private boats and 1 wreck! I thought it was past restoration but then you never know!
So that is week one [of three] done and dusted. We have had thunder and lightening storms, torrential rain, gorgeous sunny days and cold nights [need a fire]. The weather reminds us of home [Auckland], so we are feeling pretty relaxed here 🌞
“Life is not what you achieve … but how you live it”
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