Weather

The weather has been terrible now, off and on for several months.  This has been one of the wettest winters here for some time, completely different to last year, wetter yet not so cold.  As a result, the water levels in the reservoirs are much higher than this time last year, so hopefully we should not have to suffer the same drought conditions.  Driving in Limassol today, we encountered deeply flooded roads along the sea front, great fun for splashing through, but potentially tending toward becoming impassable in some places where the drains had backed up.  Kyle quite enjoyed the water lapping over the windscreen as we drove through it, but Elena was a little less happy with it.

This is without doubt the most rain I have seen for a year or more, though Elena tells me that it was this heavy for a week of sustained rain while I was away in Oman.Down by the old port there were some strange figures adorning the roundabout.  I have no idea what they were in celebration of, but I think another look is in order in better weather conditions, in order to capture some better pictures.

Cam’s busy day

We went to Curium and Elena took the kids to the ancients while I flew.  They had a lovely time, walking around the ruins and the amphitheatre, Kyle just about running everywhere and Cameron soaking it all up.   After that we all went down to the beach and had a long swim out to the buoys together, being very careful to all stay close together, Kyle with his armbands, Cam with the boogie board strapped to her wrist.  I think the only knackered ones were myself and Elena, trying to keep up!  We all had a lovely day and came home, were we all showered off the salt and sand and rounded the day off with a BBQ, which we almost managed to devour.  Very tired now, I must say!

Cyprus-London and back again

I went to pick Cam up from UK for her first visit with us here.  Above is a picture of her at the terminal at Luton on the dreary, rainy, 27th.  Four and a bit hours later and things were a tad bit different.  Apart from getting the chair that doesn’t recline, the journey was way better than the one out from Larnaca 24 hours previously.  I am sure I won’t be flying with Monarch again any time soon, unless there are no other choices.  On landing in Paphos, it was a balmy 30 something degrees of typical Cypriot stickiness.  That evening about 6pm we were all in the warm Mediterranean happy, but in my case knackered!

Alice

Last night (12th) was the Alice Cooper concert in Limassol – what a cracker!  Mano procured the tickets and doors opened at 1900.  We arrived about 1930 and found a beer and a place at front centre.  Alice is famous for his ‘shock rock’ shows, full of humour horror, executions, fake blood and all sorts of theatricals and tonight was no exception.  They played all the classics, like School’s out, Poison, Halo, No more Mr. nice guy and many more.  Mano and I were deep in the ‘mosh pit’, with all the great sweaty unwashed and needless to say we were very sweaty too by the end of it all, but it was brilliant from start to finish.  My favourite part would have to be when Alice drives a stake through the heart of a mock baby vampire and is then placed in a straight jacket and frogmarched up the scaffold to be hung.  the baby’s mother, played by Cooper’s real life daughter Callico Cooper, throws the lever to open the trap door and drop him!  I’d definitely go see AC perform again given half a chance!  here are a couple of pictures from the event: 

Photos by Mano

Below are some photos by Mike G.K.  You can see more of his work by following this link.  Thanks to Mike for kind permission!

Fire

Too windy to fly, but evidently quite a big one at the Aki plantation area!

Great meal

We went for a meal for Mike’s birthday at the Stonegrill in Dherynia.  The food was delicious and the company very good also.  A really nice meal was enjoyed by all and Kyle ate his, before moving to Kiddie-land upstairs for a play in the supervised play area, which was free for customers of the Stonegrill, which was a real bonus.  I had a really succulent fillet steak with tiger prawns, which were delivered on a pre-heated stone, sizzling away and smelling gorgeous.

The only peculiar, embarrassing thing about the whole affair, was being given a ‘Stonegrill’ bib to wear, which Elena of course found hilarious!  Nevertheless, this proved to be not a bad idea at all, as it did prevent me from dropping food on myself and marking my shirt as I would normally do.  Mike however, didn’t fare quite so well, since he was wearing white trousers as well, and managed to drop something in his uncovered lap.  Oh well, can’t win them all mate – thanks for inviting us, we had a great time!

28th – 29th May 2009

28th May 2009  We set off from Kyrenia in the morning, driving along the north coast road, with a slight detour via the Pentadactylos range affording stunning views out to the northern shores and southern plains.  It is a long arduous road along the north side and I begin to see why people from Kyrenia prefer to use the highway running east from Nicosia and then turn up north again.  We arrived in Dipkarpas at 3.10pm and 5 minutes later checked in to our prearranged accommodation at the Oasis, Ay Philon about 5km or so north of the town of Dipkarpas.  We were accommodated in one of the more expensive rooms, with en suite shower and wc, set off to one side.  These are priced at YTL100 (€45 approx) and consist of a single room with a bed, complete with mosquito net and wc/shower in one corner, basic but fully functional.  The cheaper accommodation is YTL15 cheaper and occupants share a communal shower block at the end, probably better for childless couples/singles.  We settled in, had a swim on the sandy beach there and then went for a fresh fish dinner, which was delicious.  Afterward, we went for a drive to the Golden Sands beach, so that Elena and Kyle could have a sneak peek, before returning to the hotel for a cup of tea before bed.

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29th May 2009  We got up, had a lovely breakfast and went for a walk to a nearby  sandy beach.  Kyle and dad had a dip there and dad went for a little snorkel, but there was nothing much of great note.  Afterwards we went back to the hotel, packed and left for the very end of the ‘pan handle’ of the peninsular.  We posed for some pics beside the two enormous flags there and then took a look at the very ‘underwhelming’ St Andreas Monastery.  Next we pottered down to Hasan’s Turtle Beach, where we checked ourselves in and set up tent ready for the night, before taking a look at the enormous and beautiful Golden Sands beach, where we swam, snorkelled, sunbathed and even walked for miles.  We wandered to the visible end of the beach some couple of kilometres south and up onto a high sand dune which, as it turned out was ideal for rolling down!  We strolled back again and collected our belongings from the beach where we’d left them and returned to the campsite, where we had a simple meal at the café.  It took a fair while coming, so we were quite hungry before it had arrived, but nevertheless we were satisfied and duly scuttled off to bed afterward.  Sleep was a bit intermittent, what with all the wildlife chirruping until the early hours, but some sleep was still had nonetheless.