Lake Pictiures

Pictures from Lake Lanier

In various images, you'll see Petros, Amy, Androulla, Noris and Christina.

These were taken on Wednesday, August 4, 2010. Most are from us being pulled on a tube behind Petros' boat.





















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6/06/10 - Pervolia, last call

6/06/10 - Pervolia, last call

So, today we were invited to go to Pervolia (Larnaca) to have lunch with the relatives there, courtesy of uncle Christodoulos. We went to a place near McKenzie beach. We ate souvla, joked and laughed for a few hours. Cousin Petros and Bridgitte were there. I was not my usual effusive as I was sad I'd not be seeing everyone for a few more years. Ahh well, it was great company again.

We went back to aunt Maria's house, had coffee and watermelon, and chatted for a couple of hours before returning home to take a nap.

For dinner, we went to Androulla's (K) house. We had kleftiko, KEO beer, good conversation and played cards.

Time to get energized and pack... Mental note - keep the bag under 50lbs...

That's all for now... Stay tuned...

6/05/10 - Saturday - Gettin' ready

6/05/10 - Saturday - Gettin' ready

So, today we officially started getting ready for the trip back. I got the Haloumia vacuum packed thanks to the local butcher and his nifty machine. Olives were sealed, Commandaria and Zivania bubble wrapped, lists were double checked and any remaining items acquired.

We went to a place called Jumbo. It's, well, Jumbo for Cyprus. It's pretty big. We strolled around fighting the madness of kids and adults, finally emerging with a few of the last things mom deemed necessary.

I started feeling a bit sad because the all the good times I've had were coming to an end. Excitement about returning home has begun to flicker.

We had dinner with Revekka (O) and family again tonight. Good food was eaten, stories were told, laughs were had. Made some final notes on Androulla's visit next month, and went home for sleep.

That's all for now... Stay tuned...

6/04/10 - Friday - Paphos, Take two, The Pope

6/04/10 - Friday - Paphos, Take two, The Pope

So, today I went to Paphos to see the last items on my list (current) of ancient ruins. There are more things I'd like to see, but I sort of ran out of days having to divide between sightseeing and family.

I didn't know exactly where everything was, so I went to the Tombs of the Kings site and asked there. The guard was a friendly sort. We chatted a bit about where I was from, his visit to Washington DC and how to get to the site. On the way back to the car, I found a 2€ coin (bonus!) in the parking lot.

After getting lost only once, I found the place, parked the car by the castle, and walked up.

Said castle

This place is another UNESCO world heritage site. The mosaics (discovered by accident in the 1960s) are amazing. Here, take a look for yourselves.
As always, these are thumbnails. Click for full versions.

The MOST famous mosaic of the first wine drinkers.

More scenery from the site.




After walking around for a few hours, I got hungry and stopped for lunch at the port.
This was my view as I slowly drank a frosty KEO and enjoyed a souvlaki.
I overheard that the Pope was going to visit and that the roads would be closed. I made it out of town with a few minutes to spare.

We had dinner @ cousin Julie's house. Swordfish kebabs with all the accouterments. As usual, it was delicious and the company outstanding.

That's all for now... Stay tuned...

6/03/10 - Thursday - Kykkos Monastery

6/03/10 - Thursday - Kykkos Monastery

So, today we went to The Holy, Royal and Stavropegic Monastery of Kykkos (official name and museum link). In brief, it was founded in the 11th century, partially destroyed, and rebuilt a few times. Click the museum link to read the story of its founding. It is the largest and wealthiest monastery in Cyprus. Click here for a cool interactive virtual tour of the museum. Some more pictures can be found here.

The bells of the monastery

Archbishop Makarios III (first president of the republic) is buried here. He begun his education and was later ordained deacon at the monastery. Additional info can also be found here. This massive statue of Makarios was moved here from Nicosia after it was deemed too large for its location (really it overwhelmed the building).

Yours truly standing next to it for scale purposes.

Makarios' tomb - yes, that's a live guard at attention.

On the other side of the statue is the Throni. Story goes this is where "the" icon of the Virgin Mary of Kykkos was located. Now it's a small outdoor worship area.
If you noticed, from the first statue picture, there are paths left and right of the statue. This is a circular walkway studded with little alcoves where mosaics of saints are in the process of being made. One of them is of Saint Evanthia. Here you can see Evanthia with Saint Evanthia.

More views from the circular walkway

After we were done with the outdoor activities, we went inside the monastry. Since I was wearing shorts, I had to dress the part. Here I am in the proscribed purple robe, appropriately solemn.


Pictures of mosaics inside the church courtyard. They were so many, I'm only posting a small sample. Let me know if you want to see more.

One of the services the monastery provides is a free bed for visitors to sleep in. So if you go up there and want to spend the night, you can at no cost. Mom said they went on a school trip and stayed overnight (back then it took many hours to get there). The class used the two rooms on the top left. Neat!
We came home, took the obligatory nap, cooked some baked Kolokasi and had a visit with Revekka (O) till late night.

That's all for now... Stay tuned...

6/02/10 - Wednesday - Preparations for departure, Pervolia

6/02/10 - Wednesday - Preparations for departure, Pervolia

So, today we officially started getting ready for the return trip. We went shopping for booze and other non perishables that will end up in the suitcases. There was a lot of running around. Much was spent, and much was discussed. I don't remember where we had lunch, therefore, it must not have been memorable.

We headed down to Pervolia for coffee and an early dinner with Nico, Maria and Chrystodoulos. Pleasant company and delicious food as always. On the return, we stopped by Kyrillis Loukoumades and Shamishi (no appropriate link - fried custard is still the best description). It was outstanding. Shamishi as I remember it and loukoumades as they should be.

Back to the house for recharging...

That's all for now... Stay tuned...

6/01/10 - Tuesday - And then, Goats!

6/01/10 - Tuesday - And then, Goats!

So, today I decided to go visit Lofou and Lania. Lofou and Lania, per your required reading (links) are old type villages in the mountains outside Lemesos.


View Larger Map

I'm driving along in the mountains enjoying the scenery for a while when all of a sudden, I see a man running wildly up the road. He doesn't motion for me to stop, or slow down, or anything. The dude is just booking it. I slowed down for a sharp turn, look up and see this.

Goats everywhere!

I'm glad I wasn't going faster or we'd be eating goat meat for the rest of our stay. I'm left to assume the running man was the goat herd(er?). I creep along, taking pictures as the sea of goats slowly splits and allows passage for the beast. They seemed more interested in the local flora than me or the running man.

Moving on, I drove through Lofou and Lania. The houses were built in the old style with rock and mortar, but most were new. Disappointed, I didn't stop to scamper about on foot. Since I was close to cousin Petros, I called him up and invited myself over.

I show up at his house after about an hour and he's making Koupes. If you'll remember from earlier posts, these are dang tasty. I watched for a bit and decided to help.
Here I am attempting to apply the filling. This is more difficult than it would seem. There's a whole lot of shaking involved to get it to settle. If you push with your finger too hard the skin splits.
After making a dozen or so and mucking up 1/2 of them, I left the job to the Pros.
Bridgitte closing the open ends after the filling is applied.

Petros is into flying RC planes and helicopters. Here are some gratuitous RC toy shots he requested I post.



After screwing up the koupes, I went along on a job with Petros. We show up at the customer's house and he wants crown molding installed. Styrofoam molding and silicone caulking for applying (concrete walls) are waiting for us. Petros and his partner (Kostas) start applying on a straight line. I discretely point out that they're about to apply it upside down. They don't pay attention and continue. After considerable difficulty in cutting a corner, they continue to the other side of the wall. I (less discretely) point out they're applying it upside down - again. Nobody pays me any attention. They come up against the 2nd corner and they finally figure out it's being applied upside down.

At this point, I suddenly become the crown molding expert (this is a very dynamic crew). The already applied molding is now quickly scraped to be used again correctly. We start under my direction to do this correctly. We do about a wall and a half when it's coffee time. We break for coffee and biscuits discussing paint options. It's now about 4pm, so it's decided to break for lunch and continue the job in a couple of days.

Back at Petros' house, we dine on louvi and leftover souvla. We chat for a bit and then I have to return home. On the way out I spot this.
It's an old British fire engine Petros converted into a crane. He uses it for jobs and also rents it as a platform for filming (mostly soccer matches).

Oh BTW, the AC in my room went on the blink again. Called the guy (Kypros Pilakoutas) who "fixed" it before on Friday. He said he's waiting for some gas and he should be by on Monday/Tuesday to fix it again. Called him again on Monday AM and PM. Also Tuesday AM, but still got the same answer. We figured he's taken us for a ride, and it's not worth it chasing him down. Found another local professional who came by AFTER WORK to take a look and actually repair the unit. He didn't want any money after the unit worked. So, anyone out there, even thinking of calling Kypros Pilakoutas for ANY repair, don't do it. He'll take your money and run. I thought I could trust the guy, but even the mighty me, can sometimes go wrong in reading someone. So, to review, hanging out with me, no problem... Calling Kypros Pilakoutas for ANY work, problems galore. This paragraph was updated a week after Kypros Pilakoutas said he's searching for refrigerant.

I am now off the soap box, hoping the Google bots pick this entry up.

For dinner, we had some more kleftiko @ Deftera. It was very good as usual, but I'm sort of getting tired of it. I vote for a menu change!

That's all for now... Stay tuned...