Yianni's Tour...

Early Morning Swim - TICK!!

Today we were taking Amanda (an old schoolfriend of John's from the tender age of five) and her partner Jay, on one of Yianni's Tours.  Amanda and Jay are staying at the Olympic Lagoon in Paphos (formerly the Amathus).  They are only here for a week celebrating Jay's 50th birthday and Amanda and John have only recently got back in touch with one another via the tintyweb when they were both intending to attend a significant school reunion.  She contacted us to ask what November would be like here on the Island - that is very difficult to answer - if the weather is nice it is nice, if it is not then it really isn't!  Some things have started to close for the season but at least down in the more touristy areas this isn't so noticeable.  Having said that John and I had great discussions on the way down to pick them up as to where we should go and eventually decided to start the tour with a drive along the coast and then up through Peyia taking in the view with a coffee at the Green Hills which was unexpectedly SHUT!

We decided to have coffee at the Droushia Heights and then made our way back to Villa 10b where we persuaded Amanda to get up onto the roof terrace but only after we had convinced her that she wasn't going to come to a sticky end by climbing up the ladder.  She had to admit that the view was worth it and although she feared for John's safety when he came bounding up with the Coffee Tray laden with drinkies she soon relaxed and we spent a very pleasant couple of hours sat up top chatting and getting to know one another.

We decided to mooch on down to Latchi to take a wander from La Plage to the Harbour and have a spot of lunch at Molos.  You see familiar haunts through different eyes when you are visiting with visitors and it makes you realise just how lucky you are to be able to do this anytime you like.  We stopped at Molos and sat half in the sun (for the tourists) and half in the shade (for us residents) and had a very nice snack lunch - John and I opting for our favourite steak baguettes!

We then decided to take a walk along the coast, it was quite windy and the sea was rough and there were no mad souls taking a dip although having stuck our hands in the water it felt really quite warm - well warm compared to our pool!

We had thought we might have a drink on the beach at Yiallos but were surprised to find it was shut even though he seems to have prepared the dining space for the winter by enclosing it with plastic blinds.  Maybe he was just shut for a while now and then opening up again but it looked really packed up which was a shame so Amanda and I just took advantage of the swings, Amanda said she was doing a Shirley Valentine!

We then made our way back to the car because we wanted to get to the Winery in Kathikas in time for the sunset and we had checked on the internet and found that it would be about 4.30pm and we weren't sure how good it was going to be because there is still a lot of sand in the atmosphere.

They loved the winery, having sampled the wines they opted for our favourite Agios Onoufrious and we sat outside on the terrace to watch the sun slip down bathing the surrounding autumnal vines in an orange glow.  Amanda decided that her mum would love a bottle and so got one gift packed to take home with her.

We made our way back to the Olympic Lagoon in time for them to have an evening meal (they are all inclusive at the hotel) and made our way back to Droushia - it had been a lovely day and nice to spend it with people that we didn't really know but who we got on with really well - they are hoping to return next year and we shall no doubt see them again then.