5/30/10 - Sunday - The Dark Side

5/30/10 - Sunday - The Dark Side

So, today we took a trip to the north.

For the uninitiated, Wikipedia has a pretty good summary of the dispute here. And for the baptized, as a review this is the reason we're all living where we do today.

Sort of an eerie feeling traveling the country knowing your relatives lived in these houses, worshiped in these churches and worked these fields. I tried to be dispassionate about it, but a little pang of anger invaded my cheery disposition.

I followed Theodoros (Pepa & Nitsa's borther) who knows the area in the beast.

Here are some pictures




I may add some more commentary later, but as of right now, I have nothing more to say.

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

5/29/10 - Saturday - Tombs of the Kings, Gonia tou Anastasi

5/29/10 - Saturday - Tombs of the Kings, Gonia tou Anastasi So, today I went to the Tombs of the Kings in Paphos (map). This is another UNESCO world heritage site, but then again, the whole city of Paphos is... I don't know what to say about this site other than, wow. A whole necropolis, carved out of solid rock, dating back 2400 years to explore. There are still ongoing excavations at the site. No kings were buried here (only local aristocrats), but the name comes from the magnificence of the tombs and location. I think it's better to post links than try to describe it. Link 1, LInk2.

Here are some of the several hundred pictures I took.
These are thumbnails. Click for larger versions.

This is either an ongoing excavation site, or protection from a zombie attack.

For dinner, we went to Gonia to Anastasi. This is advertised as a restaurant that serves meze prepared in the old way. It's one of the 10 restaurants that is part of the Vakis project which certifies authenticity as to food prep going back 100 years. As it also happens, it is located in Tseri (village dad was from). We had:
KEO Beer
Salad
Tahini
Talatouri
Tsakkistes
Sauteed black olives
Halloumi and Tomato
more KEO Beer - Dang, I missed the stuff
Grilled mushrooms
Loukanika
Sheftallies
Afelia
Pagidakia (Pork Spare ribs)
fried Potatoes
Still More KEO Beer
Zivania
Bourgouri
Home made Yogurt
Karaolous - grilled escargot
Quail on the grill
Souvlakia
Bourekia
Fruit
I'm sure I'm forgetting something, but those are the basics. I was adamant about going to this place, and I'm glad we did. The tastes were all familiar, but I still enjoyed the presentation, pacing and company. Bear in mind that the links are adequate representations of the recipes. As always, mine are better. As always, the company was great.

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

5/28/10 - Friday - Cousin Mike's wedding

5/28/10 - Friday - Cousin Mike's wedding

So, today Cousin Mike (Bobbe's brother) got married.

Reception was held at a restaurant in Agios Theodoros.

Here are some pictures.

Pepa, Mom, Androulla, Nitsa

Argument ensues about who's taller.

Argument settled.

Georgia and your blogger.

Christina and the other Bobbe
The happy couple.

Me, the bride, THE Bobbe and mom.

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

5/27/10 - Thursday - Leventio Museum, Cypriot sushi and Chinese

5/27/10 - Thursday - Leventio Museum, Cypriot sushi and Chinese

So, today I finally got off my butt and went into Nicosia to take some decent pictures in the Leventio Museum (earlier post). I took about 300 pictures, mostly pottery and ancient things.

Here are a few. It's mostly pottery. What do you expect? I'm a potter... If anyone wants to see the rest, buy me a beer and I'll bring the laptop.

These are thumbnails - click for larger versions.

You walk over this when entering. An actual excavation site left intact.

After the obligatory "rest" period, Mom, Poly and I went to have mahalepi. Now, for the uninitiated, it's a custardy thing, that can be made with or without milk. The water (nonmilk based one looks like this when properly flavored with triantafyllo (rose cordial), and rose water.
The milk based one, looks like any other custard. Here's picture of the one before I ate all of it. Sprinkles on top are cinnamon.



For dinner, Christoulla and Haritini took me to Pagoda. A Chinese restaurant that also serves sushi. We had a combo of the Maki rolls. Christoulla and I enjoyed them, but I think Haritini was wanting something different. The fish was good, but the rice was not prepared correctly. Too sweet, I think. Preparation and presentation was pretty good tho. For dinner we ordered crispy pork, noddles with veggies and fried prawns. Pork was really good. Noodles with veggies left something to be desired as the egg noodles did not match well with the veggies. Fried prawns were more like medium sized (25-30 count) shrimp butterflied pounded flat, fried, sprinkled with pepper flakes - meh... On the bright side, company and conversation were outstanding.

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