Day 90...

Those of you who are ardent followers will know that yesterday we went to the wedding of  Xaroula who is the elder daughter of Alkisti and Cristos who run our nearest Taverna. 

So far John and I have not experienced the delights of a traditional Cypriot wedding so we were keen to go to it all - starting with the house in the village. 

It was fascinating...  The house was decked out with a gazebo (which blocked off the road - causing chaos to any driver who was unaware).  The gazebo housed family members, the vicar and a fiddler with a young lad playing the guitar.  Alkisti looked a picture in red and was happy and smiling although she must have had such a long day (and an expensive one!!!).  There were all sorts of traditions upheld like the unmarried girls putting their names on the soles of the brides shoes so that whoever's got scuffed out first would be the one to be married next!!  The shoes were covered and placed in a basket and then the women-folk took turns to dance round the bride with the basket.

There was also some sort of ceremony that involved passing a red ribbon round the bride's waist three times and then knotting it, then taking it off and then handing over some cash which seemed to be paying for the services of the fiddler whose songs all seemed to sound the same and which (judging by the sheet music) had 30 or so verses!  In fact most of the day seemed to involve money being handed over for one thing or another.

Having said all that it was still wonderful to watch and both Alkisti's daughters looked stunning.  

We had to laugh at the attendees - there were a lot of Amy Winehouse lookalikes - big black hairdo's and flicky black eyeliner being the order of the day.  Lots of bodies squeezed into nylon (unpleasantly so bearing in the mind the temperatures) and some very very very high shoes.  All the girls were checking each other out!!!  Some of the more closely related members of the village pitched up - John refers to them as the Dick Emery sisters with teeth like 'sugar puffs at half arm intervals', one of whom appeared to be wearing nothing more than a nightie!!

We left the house celebrations and headed off to the church in Paphos where the service was being held at 6.00pm but we couldnt quite work out how as the festivities in the village were still in full swing when we left at 5.00pm!!  We managed to find the church without problem and were the first to arrive (no surprise there!!) so settled into some seats in the back to observe the proceedings. 

The service was absolute bedlam - people wandered in and out of the service at random.  Most ignored the proceedings carrying on their own conversations, texting, phoning and queueing up to purchase the replicas of the bride's shoes at €10 a throw!!  Kids ran round unfettered and one even took a huge flower arrangement out at one point.  The photographer and person with the video camera where all over the place - even elbowing the vicars out of the way to get a better shot.  The whole service was sung in ancient greek and no-one seemed to know what was going on least of all the happy couple.  This all took the best part of an hour - I was absolutely fascinated and determined to see it through to the end - there was so much people watching to do...  The groom looked like he was a throw back to the 1970s - John Travolta eat your heart out - he was even wearing white patent leather shoes!!!  The photographer kept wanting to drag me up to the front so that I could take better pictures but I declined because it seemed so inappropriate!

On leaving the church we had a cone of fresh rose petals thrust into our hands by a little  Sri Lankan girl.  These were for showering the bride and groom when they eventually emerged from the Church - I half expected to have to pay for them as everything else seemed to have a price tag on it.  We beat a hasty retreat and went home to Mum and Dad's to grab a cold drink and to change into fresh clothes - being trussed up like a turkey is not recommended when the temperature is well into the 30s!

The reception was being held at the Monte Lisa in Paphos and Dad kindly dropped us off.  We arrived at about 8.00 and only had to queue about 20 minutes before we passed the welcoming party of the Bride and Groom, Best Man and Matron of Honour and parents of the Bride and Groom.  I dutifully handed over the card that I had made along with the Euros we were donating and headed off to check out the buffet and grab ourselves a free drink.  The food was excellent and the bar never ending.  We managed to find an empty table and sat down to watch what was going on.  We think the venue held a good 5,000 and people seemed to be coming in and out regularly - the queue for the food never waning all the time we were there.  Eventually we were joined by the bride's uncle, his wife and father and mother in law.  Father in law Rionous so reminded me of Dad - he was a man in his 80s and such a gentleman with a really good command of English (Rionous that is Dad can speak English like a native obviously!!).  He did his absolute best to make sure that we were included and understood what was going on.  His brother arrived together with his English wife of 40 years who originally came from Halifax so Yorkshire woman chatted happily to Yorkshire man and it transpired that her brother had at some point lived in Yeovil.

The welcoming party stood for the whole time we were there welcoming the guests - apparently this was the coming together of four villages so all the inhabitants had been invited and I would hazard a guess that they all arrived!!  We think that possibly up to 10,000 people passed through the doors last night eating and drinking.  It begs the question how much does this costs???? and more to the question how much money was handed over to the bride and groom.

By 11.00 we thought it reasonable to leave although we could have stayed and 'enjoyed' the entertainment - Cypriot guy and girl belting out some Cypriot classics.  Dad dancing at weddings is the same the world over as two or three gentlemen the wrong side of 65 took to the dancefloor.  The bar was still free and people were still filing in getting food.  The welcoming party looked like they were done in and we never got to see the first dance or any money being pinned on the bride's dress - we understand that this probably didnt start to happen until the small hours of the morning.

Outside the venue was the most beautiful brand new black BMW all wrapped up in a bow with Panayiotis and Xaroula's names where the number plate would normally be - we think this was probably a gift!!

What a day - so glad we got to experience it all and got home unscathed.  Dad provided an excellent taxi service.

PS dont forget you click on the photographs and enlarge them - click on the back button to return to the blog.

Day 89...

A short post today because later on we are going (along with 4,998 others) to the wedding of Xaroula and Panayiotis which is down in Paphos.  Full post on all the events will follow tomorrow.

I must have had a bang on the head during the night as I woke up and decided (even though it is well over 30 degrees inside) that I would do some ironing.  Either that or it was guilt,  guilt because my laundry basket is full to overflowing and poor John roots around inside and pulls out some creased and crumpled garment and wistfully looks at me and says "do you think I can get away with wearing this without ironing it?" and then he stoically gets out the ironing board and iron and does the job himself.  I have always maintained that that is one of the plus sides to marrying a man in the military - and believe me John does hold the highest honour for his ironing skills.  A couple of times of putting tram lines down his uniform sleeves and he soon took the iron off of me!!

So here I am caught in the act and please dont mention the bingo wings!!  Before you ask if that pink top is the only thing I have to wear (because I seem to be in it all the time) let me tell you that if you are going to get hot and sweaty you really dont want to wear anything too much so what started out as my Wii fit attire will now be Wii fit and ironing and it washes and dries in seconds - and doesnt need ironing!!!

I was getting on quite well until John stuck his head in the window and asked if it would be rude of him to give me some tips on ironing shirts.  Lets just say he beat a hasty retreat otherwise he would have found the Proelectric Steam Station shoved up his a**e!

As I say if he thinks he can do it better (which he can) then he will have to do it himself - me I am going to resort to clothes that dont require ironing just like Mrs Spears - what a great idea that is!

Day 88...

OMG as they say - did we have the best meal last night or what??? We went to our neighbours and they had invited the lady next door and the two grandchildren and we had Kleftiko and roast potatoes and pastichio and salad and pickled cardomom leaves... It was all beautiful and we had to say goodnight at 12pm because we were afraid that we might outstay our welcome. They are a really lovely family and sadly they are going back to Nicosia on Sunday so we may not see them much - maybe odd weekends.

Unfortunately the cake I baked was a complete disaster because I decided to cook it in the microwave which I never do and forgot to put it on a rack so its bum got burned well and truely.  We managed to salvage the top part so John will have this for pudding but it wasnt good enough to give to someone.  We ended up buying sweets from Morello's instead. 

I did make Galadia a necklace as she told me she liked to make Jewelry - she might think is was hideous but it is the thought that counts.  She tells me she has captured two tree frogs and wants to take them back to Nicosia as pets - they will die for certain!

Today didnt quite pan out as expected as first of all the new teasmade went off at the right time but didnt produce any hot water it was a case of RTFM - read the f*****g manual which of course we didnt!!  Anyway we managed to override the alarm and savoured the luxury of a hot cuppa in bed without having to treck across the patio!!!

No sign of Savvas today - we have a sneaky feeling we wont actually see him and that he will have telephoned into the electricity inspector that all is ok.  We will give it a week or two before we start putting things back the way we want them.

The mystery of the Berlin Wall has been solved - the weird looking garage is not a garage at all but a refridgerated unit as the guy is a butcher - albeit from Larnaca.  Ollie across the way has been to the community office to tell them about it - it is wrong for all sorts of reasons but apparently as it does not directly affect him or us we cannot complain - well we will if it houses meat that smells!!!

We decided to go into Polis this morning - I needed to collect my eternity ring that I had broken and which the lady could not fix and I also wanted to do a bit of shopping in Orphanides and check out the villa where our friends Simon, Lou and the kids will be staying in a couple of weeks.  It was a really good excuse for John and I to take some time out as we went in search of the Villa (which we didnt find) and then in search of the beach which Galadia told us about which we did find and which was beautiful.  We stopped off in Latchi to have a beer in the Elia Sports Tavern which John thinks he will use to watch the footie in the winter.

We swang round to Polis to collect my ring - I had gone last week and the lady didnt have it in the shop so I was a little worried.  I was driving so John jumped out to pick it up and came back to the car with a huge smile on his face.  Although last time I saw her she said the ring could not be fixed she had managed to make it good and for the princely sum of €5!!!  Now I can see where it has been repaired but a blind man would be glad to see it and she may have had all the diamonds removed and replaced with cubic zirconia but I really dont care it is lovely to have my ring back - although I nearly lost it when I was about to put it on outside Orphanides and it fell out of the bag!!  Still I have it and it feels good and that is all that matters.

John and I have had a completely chilled afternoon - no DIY, no Wii, no nothing and it has been fab.  I have been fiddling about with the invitation for Dad's 80th Birthday Open House (cant show you yet as it hasnt had the ok from Dad).

This evening we took a walk down the village to see Alkisti to wish her well before her daughter's wedding tomorrow (to which we have been invited).  We have also been invited to the house beforehand to see the traditional preparations - the man gets shaved and the fiddler walks them through the streets - we want to go because it will be an experience for us and hopefully provide some piccies for the blog!!! 

We have walked home and are sitting in the garden - it is half past ten and it is quiet (apart from the tree frogs) and warm.  My regular tree frog has been joined by a much much smaller one which you can see sitting on the gardenia plant.  He/she then decided to go for a swim in the pool.  We had to hook her/him out as the chemicals would have been bad for it and anyway I like having them in the garden because they eat all the bugs.

We have lit the garden with candles and solar lights and put on the pool light.  We have eaten Mum's curry that we should have had for lunch yesterday and which was really yummy and we are going to have a late night swim so that we cool down before we go to bed.  It is times like this that I realise how lucky we are.

One last thing - we have been in touch with our god-daughters mum Gemma - haven't heard from her for a while but it was so good that Facebook has enabled us to get back in touch again.  The wonders of modern technology heh???

So just before I skinny dip in the pool - goodnight to all our friends, family and god children xxx

Day 87...

Today we were going down to Paphos to have lunch with Mum and Dad because we are going round to our neighbours for tea (Kleftiko) later this evening.

We got up early on the off chance that Savvas would actually pitch up at 8.00am but he didnt so we decided to go down early and do some shopping - we are looking for a Barbecue now that we know for certain that Vix and Trev are coming over.  We are talking about the housing rather than the barbeque itself although we are going to need that as well but that is going to be an early Christmas present from Mum and Dad.

So we rushed out forgetting both the pastichio for Mum to try and the sander that Dad wanted to sand down the outside furniture before he treats it.  Honestly what are we like??  and what is our excuse - it is not like we have anything else much to think about is it??

So we did a trawl of all the cast-concrete places that we could find and eventually found one in the shop down past Geophra's which was half the price of anywhere else and which is going to be delivered in the next couple of days.  It comes in bits and John will have to erect it and paint it and tile the base before it can be used.  Another little job to add to his to-do list!!

We managed to find the main sorting office in Paphos and collected the parcel that John's Mum & Hadge had sent us for our anniversary.  There was a huge amount of childish shaking and squeezing - reminiscent of Christmas morning before John declared that we would wait and open it when we got to my Mum's.  We had also received our anniversary card from John sister Janice - it was lovely of them to remember us and better late than never. 

(Blaming the post not Janice this time!!!)

So with much anticipation we opened the parcel and we are now proud owners of a very 21st century tea/coffee maker which we can have in the bedroom with us and which will mean that there is no longer a debate about whose turn it is to get out of bed and run over to the other building - how we will appreciate this in winter when it is piddling down outside and we are warm and toasty inside.  So thanks even though we saw how much the postage cost (extortionate) for the lovely gift and for thinking of us xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Lunch at Mum's was a bit of a disaster as we decided to go out and see if we could get a new fan for our bedroom as last night I was kept awake by some rattling sound coming from the condenser or something or other - it doesnt bother John in the least as he could sleep through an earthquake but it did my head in and it was the choice between irritating noise or stifling bedroom.  Anyway we looked in a couple of places and then went back to the man where we got the fan in the lounge and decided to go for the same one.  We arrived back at Emba to find that there was a powercut so Mum couldnt cook the lunch.  We had to go out - and so headed down to Sayyias (great roast potatoes!!). 

Those of you concerned about Missy (the cat) will be pleased to know that she is still around - although hiding from us in the lounge because once power was restored Mum and Dad had a fan on and she most definitely doesnt like fans.  She has eaten some soft food but still cant tackle her normal biscuits but then I doubt I would if I had had that many teeth removed!!!

John decided to give our car a treat whilst I was next door giving Rosie and Dave their computer lesson and took it for a clean inside and out - do you know it is Blue??  It certainly looks better for it and €6 is a bargain!!

We came back home quite early as we are going out tonight - there is great excitement and consternation on the estate as the woman up the road is having a 'garage' erected on the hardstanding outside her villa.  It is nothing like any garage we have ever seen and is totally out of keeping with the rest of the buildings and probably being erected without planning permission.  We are guessing it will be the topic of conversation tonight.  The little Sri Lankan's have been building it all day and say that they will finish it tomorrow.  The Mukhtar may well have a view on it but it is probably here to stay.  It makes a great blank canvas for any grafitti artists to use - which is a bit of a problem in and around Cyprus.  It doesnt affect us as we are tucked in behind but it is a bit of a shock when you drive round the corner - the Berlin Wall springs to mind!!

Day 86...

Well my little Blogeroonies the wind has been completely taken out of my sails - I was just about to do my normal little blog when an email came in from Vix and Trev to say that they have booked to come over to see us at the end of September - John is leaping about the room - he cant wait for his Mucker to arrive and I am feeling very very emotional already - I dont think we had realised how much we have missed our friends back in the UK.  We are already planning what we are going to do and what jobs we need to complete before they arrive...

... back to the blog then - and last night we had the pastichio which Galadia had sent round and it was absolutely fantastic - far too much so Mum will get to taste a bit tomorrow! 

On walking across to go to bed this little fellow was trying to jump through the glass doors - he is a tree frog - one of the noisy little buggers that strike up the chorus at about 8.00pm each evening and he is only the size of a cocktail sausage.  I hadnt managed to see one before and they are charming.  We opened the door and let him out into the front garden.  Hopefully he will find a new home away from the birds.

We were staying in today because we were expecting Savvas the electrician (the man of few words) to come today to do the remedial work in order for the inspection to be completed.  Not much to do really it was only to put some insulation between the fan cabling and the wooden ceilings in case heat is generated and starts a fire.  John decided that he would do the job himself so that he had some control over the finished product and also took the opportunity to balance the fans to try and make them as quiet as possible.  You can tell by the way I said 'were expecting' that we waited all day and Savvas did not turn up - he may come tomorrow early or late or possibly Friday ... welcome to Cyprus timescales!!

Because we couldn't go very far and didn't want to do any DIY jobs which relied on electricity (just in case Savvas turned up) we filled our time doing exercise.  Wimbledon has nothing on the Wiseman Wii tennis challenge!!!

In the middle of the singles final we had a phone call from Charalambous inviting us to go for supper tomorrow night as they are lighting the 'house oven' which is the Kleftiko oven which slow roasts hunks of lamb to the point where it just falls off the bone.  They did invite us a couple of weekends ago but we couldn't go because Nicky and Mark were visiting so we were delighted to accept as both John and I really like a good Kleftiko and if her pastichio is anything to go by then it will be fantastic.  We had to rearrange our visit to Mum and Dad tomorrow and so will be going for lunch rather than dinner.

Another little job that we did was to get 'Joani and Roger' planted in the garden as the roots were bursting through the pot.

We hope J&R will like its new home which is at the edge of the outside shower.  We have chosen this spot because this plant likes water and it should benefit from water soaking away when someone showers.  Fingers crossed that it will settle in as it is really beautiful when it flowers and withe the leaves can look a bit ragged sometimes.

I also planted my home grown Morning Glory along the back fence to meet up with the Bourgainvillea - purple and shocking pink together - that should look interesting!

Whilst moving the plants this little fella appeared - I have no idea whether it is the same one as appeared last night.  What is certain is that I had to move this one along as it was right outside our bedroom door and for a wee little thing it can make one hell of a racket!!  It is probably just as well we cover the pool at nights now otherwise he would probably set up home there!

We had planned to walk into the village this evening but what with one thing and another time has run out on us and we are gonig to have a drink or two at home and start our visitor planning!

Day 85 with Day 84 Catchup...

So where were we...  Oh yes we were getting ready for our Cypriot neighbours to come round for drinks and nibbles (only trouble is that nibbles probably does not translate so we weren't sure quite what they would be expecting!!!).  John said that they would be coming at 7.30pm so we got little canapes and nuts and crisps and dips and crudites etc etc just in case... 

Well 7.30pm came and went and then 8.00pm came and went and then we started questioning whether or not we understood one another so that when they said Sunday they didnt actually specify which one!  John says I should have gone with him so that we would both have witnessed the conversation and probably still been as much in the dark as he was! 

Anyway - dont panic Mr Mainwaring - in typical Cypriot style they pitched up at about 8.30pm with Galadia bearing a gift (which turned out to be a pair of very pretty blue ceramic tealight holders in the shape of starfish).  What a lovely family, Charalambous is an accountant, Galadia was an accountant but gave up work to become permanent Taxi Driver to her two children, Elena (about 16 and doing her 'A' levels at an English school in Nicosia) and George (about 12 and also at the English school in Nicosia).  They stayed a good two hours and conversation never seemed to get difficult. 

Charalambous was very keen to see what we had done to the house and was very impressed and couldnt get over how much bigger ours seems than theirs.  Galadia is keen on gardening, making jewelry and other crafts just like I am and the children were a delight to have even though it must have been quite boring listening to the adults talk. 

Anyway today (Tuesday) Charalambous has been round with a plate of Pastichio which Galadia has baked fresh and which they thought we might like to enjoy.  We have eaten it before but couldnt guarantee it was as fresh as what we have just been given so we will be sampling it for our tea tonight.  It is a bit like Lasagne but made with pasta tubes instead of sheets along with minced meat and herbs topped with a cheesy bechamel sauce.  Looking forward to it already!!

Back to yesterday I got up early to go down to Emba to Nicky's as I was accompanying her on a wedding photo-shoot in Ayia Napa.  I called in via Mum and Dad's where Missy the cat was in the wars as she has been to the vets again and had even more teeth removed.  Poor thing she was frothing at the mouth and very distressed.  They are hoping that this will sort out her not eating (she hasn't eaten for a week).  The next course of action is to remove her last remaining teeth - hopefully it wont come to this.

Nicky and I had lunch and she packed us up some sarnies as it was going to be a long day.  The wedding was mid afternoon and they wanted photographs of the service, on the beach, at sunset and then for their first dance.  We were not likely to get back to Emba until 11.00-11.30pm so I was planning to sleep over at Mum and Dad's rather than drive all the way back to Droushia.  We arrived a little early so Nicky kindly took me to see Nissi Beach which is 'the' beach at Ayia Napa.  The sea was really the most fantastic colour but the beach was packed and would have been John's worst nightmare!!  Bloody hell it was hot down there - made the mistake of taking off my shoes to walk on the beach and regretted it.

The wedding was being held at the Nissi Beach Hotel.  The grounds are lovely and there is a purpose built gazebo right overlooking the sea for the ceremony and a rotunda down at the beach edge for the reception.

Nicky had been recommended as the photographer by a relative of one of the girls that was attending but was amazed when she realised that she knew the groom's father!

There was a second wedding that had taken place that morning I was absolutely gob-smacked because it was like an episode from My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding - seriously folks - I had to pick my chin off the floor and stop staring - there was that much bri-nylon knocking about I am surprised my  hair wasnt standing on end.

Anyway back to the wedding we were attending - I was just staying in the background and observing Nicky at work (obviously doing something she is very good at and really enjoys) and getting to grips with the camera in fully automatic mode. 

I am shamelessly going to plug Nicky's website http://www.cyprusimages.co.uk/ and say that if you know anyone looking for a wedding photographer in Cyprus she is your 'man'.  Seriously though I had a great time - and hope I didn't get in her way too much - I took some nice shots that I am quite pleased with.  I wont publish any of the bride and groom and guests just yet because it doesn't seem fair for others to see them before the happy couple do but I dont think there is any harm in showing these two.

It was a very happy wedding - as all weddings should be - but this was a bunch of people who obviously got on particularly well and made Nicky and I (and the lady taking the video) feel included in it all - to the point where we were asked to have some of the buffet dinner which was brilliant as it was about 8.00pm and we hadn't had our sarnies at that point!

We eventually left at 9.30pm and headed back to Paphos - the trip included an impromptu visit to Ikea when we took a wrong turning on the motorway and headed for Nicosia!  No harm done we made it back to Emba by just after 11.30pm.

An action packed day which I thoroughly enjoyed even though it was knackering!!

This morning I packed up my things and headed home calling into the post office pleased to see that we had a notice from the sorting office in Paphos to say that there was a parcel waiting for us which will be the one which John's Mum sent for our anniversary and which we were worried had got lost.  We also had a DVD from Greg of Only Fools and Horses which we will settle down and watch one evening - he regularly sends us DVD's so we will think of him in the winter when the TV becomes more important to us.

On leaving the post office I bumped into Electrician Savvas (the man of few words) who told me that everything was ok with regard to the electricity inspection - this was not quite the way that John told it when I got home - he had had to fend off having a telegraph pole slapped in the garden, had had to take down the specially purchased bathroom light because it does not comply with their regulations - like they really care - have you seen some of the electrics that are used in outside tavernas which are open to all the elements?? and there was to be something between the electric cabling for the fan and the wooden ceilings.  Hopefully Savvas is returning tomorrow to do the remedial work and to phone the inspector and that should then be enough for the rubber stamp of approval - but, as Savvas says that the inspector is crazy, more likely we will need a re-inspection.  The saga continues, however we are connected and the meter is working - whizzing at some speed at times and John is giving regular updates on units used - Glen Roberts would be so proud of him but then Glen gets a nosebleed when the kettle is switched on!

To alleviate John's stress levels we decided to dip into the 'going-out' fund and have an all-day breakfast at Karithea Taverna just down the road.  Not very Cypriot I know but sometimes only a huge dollop of saturated fats will suffice and let's just say it hit the mark.

Driving back to the village on the Scooter we did a little detour to have a look at the Tritonia development which is just below us.   Now we thought we had a bit of a damp problem but let's just say it is nothing compared to plaster falling off 6-8ft up the outside walls.  Currently there are so many empty old properties and empty new-builds in Droushia we cant believe that the field next to us will be developed anytime soon - but then we aren't ever that lucky!  On coming back up the hill to our place we were thrilled when a Hoopoo flew across directly in front of us.  These are fantastic looking birds about the size of a large woodpecker - shame I didnt have my camera with me but then it was probably a bit fast for me.

Chilling out - swim - trash TV - pastichio for tea - all good in the Wiseman household.

P.S. we are now up to 16 official followers - Joani (and Roger) have nailed their colours to the mast - do you like the nautical reference - well they do live right on the coast a spit from Plymouth Sound.

Day 83...

I have just been looking at photographs of Catherine and Steven Wilson taken at last night's Summer Ball both scrubbed up nicely and Catherine looking very elegant and I was remembering a time when I used to wear something other than flip-flops and shorts!!  In fact I am panicking that I wont get the new shoes on that I have bought for Ellie's wedding at the end of August - who in their right mind buys brand-new court shoes without breaking them in???

Anyway back to today and we have our Cypriot neighbours coming round for a drink this evening which will be challenging!!

Our first job of today was to finish the shower screen and to prove that it now affords privacy you can see just my feet and the very top of my head!! 

I think John has made an excellent job of this and apart from a catch to stop the wind making it bang when it is folded back and not in use it is finished and ready to go.

We decided that we would do some exploring today on the bike and John was keen to go to a taverna he had seen advertised in the local PALS magazine at Miliou called O Pangratios. 

We took the road out of the village and headed to Kritou Terra and across country - we never saw another car until we got to the main Stroumbi/Polis Road but we did see a Black Snake which was crossing the road and we were tootling along by the side of it before we realised that is was a snake and not just a black mark on the road.  It must have been 5-6ft long!!!  Black Snakes are fine (apparently!!) but even so this one was a little too close for comfort.

Turning off the main road and heading for Miliou takes us past the new and very exclusive Ayii Anargyri spa and resort.  It is all but hidden from the road but the little bit that we could see looked absolutely fabulous - who knows perhaps if we win the lottery we might get to see inside (not likely as we dont do the lottery!!!).  Anyway if you want to know more check out the website http://www.ayiianargyrisparesort.com/

We made our way up the snaking road (bit of a pun - do you like that???) to the top and the village of Miliou and found the taverna which was all laid up for Sunday lunch and inside was all hustle and bustle.

It was a really really lovely place which we are determined to go back to for a meal one evening.  I was peering through the window because I could see that there was some sort of football match on and the 'landlord' came out to tell us that it was Chelsea playing some Far East team.  He introduced himself as Neofytos and told us that his day job was Marine Police at Latchi - not busy but has the best veranda in Cyprus!!! His wife came out - she is called Katarina and she explained that they had taken on the Taverna around Christmas time - her day job was working for her father George who made double glazing in Paphos - in fact the same George who made our double glazing and it transpires that she had been up to our house in Droushia to measure-up so knew exactly where we lived. 

They were the most welcoming couple who have two young boys Charalambous (Harry) and George and they all currently live in Kissonerga but are hoping to rent out their house so that they can move and be closer to the business.  Two beers cost us €5.00 which is the going rate - John and I are going to keep a journal of tavernas, their hospitality and the cost of two beers so that when we have visitors we will know where is good and where is not!!!

We slowly made our way back via Kato Akourdalia where we came upon the Amarakos Farmhouse.  Ever on the look-out for places for people to stay if they cant face staying with us we called in and had a drink - it was a lovely courtyarded building that had letting rooms and a villa with pool for rent.  We would have recommended it for location and ambiance but having checked it out on the web see that cost per room per night is quite high or at least we think it is €92 per night for a double room B&B - sounds a lot to us but then perhaps we are out of touch??

Just taking five minutes to finish this before getting ready for our guests and we have just had a lovely phone call from Laura and Mark - it was good to hear from them and they both sound chipper - let's hope that they are able to come out and see us - there are so many places we would like to take them and experiences we would like to share.

May not have time to do the blog tomorrow as I am going across to Ayia Napa with Nicky who is photographing a wedding.  I am going along for the ride and to see a part of the island I have never seen before.  It is going to be a long day and I think it is unlikely I will be back very early so may stay over at Mum and Dad's.

You never know John might feel inclined to do a day's Blog for me!!