Drouseia Day Out - second leg...

As I said we made our way from Kritou Tera across country to Polis and then along the coast towards Gialia leaving the smoke and the fire-fighting helicopters behind us.  This stretch of the coastline is incredibly beautiful although somewhat more developed than when we first made that journey 25+ years ago (Argaka now sports not one but two petrol stations).  On a bright day the colour of the sea is breathtaking and when the conditions are right the mountains of Turkey are clearly visible.

As a treat for the boys we stopped for a drink at the Turtle Tavern which used to be located right at the end of Argaka with the main part on the road side and then some benches on the sea side where you could sit and admire the view whilst having a pretty good breakfast.  We did it with Janet and Hadge one year when we were having a day out.  I am not entirely sure what happened but the Turtle Tavern was forced to move and someone took over the original venue - I don't know whether it actually opened but if it did it shut pretty quickly thereafter.  The pallet furniture remains on the coast side.

The Turtle Tavern is now in a very unassuming building which sadly has no view except of the main road and is not normally the sort of establishment we frequent here on the island, preferring more traditional Cypriot establishments but I knew that John wanted to check out the Real Ales that it sells and he and the Bobster were ecstatic to find a very decent pint of Old Speckled Hen on offer for the discerning beer drinker at a very reasonable price too.  This watering hole may well be marked down as a stopping off point for future travels particularly when our neighbour George declared his love of that particular brew.  He and Pam will have to hurry back next year as we already have a list of things that we plan to do together or that they can do themselves or with whichever members of their family come out on holiday.

After the pint stop we carried on along the coast and then turned off up towards the forest taking the signs for Gialia which is an interesting village which sits either side of a valley where, in the winter, a river flows.  For keen walkers there is a nature trail that takes you up the right side, then across and down the left.  We weren't tackling this today but I had chosen the village with the intention of having lunch at the Mylos Taverna there - John and I had a meal their with Mum and Dad the first year we were living here permanently to celebrate our wedding anniversary.  En route to the taverna (which used to be the old school) you pass some pretty fascinating properties - before the invasion with was a Turkish village and the majority of the permanent residents now are refugees from the north.

Fortunately we were driving slowly through the village being nosey when our path was crossed by a chameleon who was making its way from one side of the road to the other.  

We watched it scramble up the rocks into a spindly little bush and then with the help of its tail swing Tarzan-like from one bush to the other and then to safety.  I just love these creatures - they seem so slow and deliberate until they have to put a shufty on and then they morph into Usain Bolt.

Di and Rob had not been up this road and so therefore had not been to the taverna before.  It is the old Turkish Cypriot school building which was abandoned in 1974 and then in 1999 after being left to deteriorate a family took it on and restored it and opened it as a taverna where all the food is home-cooked by Mrs Chrysoula.

Do not come here if you are wanting a quick snack as everything is prepared to order and cooked fresh.  But then again if you walk through the main part of the restaurant and sit on the terrace which overlooks the valley below why would you want to rush anyway?

The gardens house a pretty impressive selection of cacti and succulents.  The Bobster used to have a collection of these back in the UK so he was interested to see what they were growing.  

When the younger children returned from school they donned the mantles of waiters and our food began to arrive.  

As promised the food was cooked fresh - clearly to some old family recipes as Rob's moussaka was a little on the unusual side although he said it tasted nice - I hope he wasn't just being polite!  

John ordered pork chop and instead of having one of the huge dinosaur bone types he had not one but three smaller offerings.  I chose stifado which was actually very nice with beautifully tender meat and absolutely no fat but it was cooked with carrot or sweet potato - I wasn't sure which but whatever it was it was nice.  Di had chicken kebab which looked nice and the chunks of meat were separated by bits of red pepper.

We were joined by a resident cat - a ginger and white Tom with a massive head and little body which looked quite a bruiser.  It was obviously our day for cats and he was lucky as he benefited from some leftovers.

Unusually on a Yiannis' Tour we didn't rush over lunch - John is trying hard not to be so time orientated but a lifetime in the Navy makes that difficult!

It was around about 4.00pm when we moved on to the next part of our trip and only did so then because the days are getting shorter and I had planned a stop on the way home where we might catch a decent sunset.