Today we were catching up with Carole and Paul who are regular visitors to the island and staying at the Souli hotel in Latchi - we met them in person for the first time last year.  They wanted to grab some lunch with us and not having been to Fitos but having passed it and heard about it we were happy to oblige.  The weather was quite'iffy' and storms had been forecast so this was a good way of spending the day.

We had our favourite table (No 1) and the food did not disappoint - I opted for the stifado but really need the Bobster with me to help finish it - it was a mega plateful and so rich and tender - I did my best but it beat me!  We had the standard salad and dips to start and then some cakey things after our main meal - I had to wave the white flag - I couldn't manage my cake but Paul stepped in and did the honours.

Over lunch we had been talking about various places we visit which were unfamiliar to Paul and Carole and so we offered for them to come back for coffee but we would visit the little church in Arodes which has the old church in the cave behind Panayia Chrysospiliotissa.

The little churches in Cyprus are beautiful and thankfully many remain unlocked so that you can go inside to see all the beautiful icons.  This particular church is tiny and was almost full with the four of us inside.  We are not sure why some of the icons were covered over with lace - we think they were icons of Mary but cannot be sure - maybe someone reading this can enlighten me?

We then went into the cave church - this is an amazing little place.  I had not noticed the cross and the hearts above the door before - clearly something had been happening there fairly recently as the door frame was surrounded by dried flowers.

Inside is dark and dank so we left the door open - if you are planning on going in take a torch with you otherwise you will miss all the nooks and crannies - I still cannot get my head round the rather creepy wax babies in the form of a candle.  I think there are now many more icons inside than there were when we first came across this site for which I think we have to thank Sheila and Klaus who told us all about it.

We invited Carole and Paul back for coffee and so that Carole could meet the cats.  I don't think Charlie is overly impressed by the looks of this photograph but he should be grateful because our guests brought a gift of our favourite bottle of wine and some treats for the cats!

We had a lovely few hours with them and plan to catch up again next Friday before they return home - we have loaned Paul a tellytubby snorkel mask - he has the perfect head for one - no hair to get trapped and cause a leak - we shall be interested to learn how he gets on!

Lovely to catch up again and thanks for the gifts -  hope your holiday will have been a good one and see you next year !!!!!