Bye Cyprus

That is the last post on this blog - bye Cyprus - I will miss u...

Kato Drys -Little Paris of Cyprus

I counted and it was my 10th village visited in a year (happy aniversary!!;))) . There are so many left and I will have no time to discover them! Kato Drys is an amazing, cute village. The difference between other villages I saw and this one is that in Kato Drys EVERY house is built/renovated the traditional way. It is a normal residential area, not a ‘theme park’. Its just that the residents take care of maintaining the uniqueness of the old rural architecture. It is a mixture of village and city architecture - this due to some Italian and French influence in the area. Due to these frenchie elements the village is called The Little Paris (ok, that is a bit of an overstatement). We also had a yummy lunch in a local tavern, then wandered for really long around the little streets and ended up in a dodgy kafeneio and hosted with a coffee on the house. I will really miss these Sunday escapades...

Lythrodontas

When all men are gone from the village main square coffee place - the square looks so sad.

Trip to Jordan

The best for des(s)ert (for Polish readers only):

A na tym zdjeciu (jak sie dowiedzialam) sa 2 pasztety ;))))))))))

Old Nicosia - October

On Sunday went for a walk in the Old Town of Nicosia with friends who came here for holidays. Again I found lots of peculiar things, despite the fact that I had been there so many times.


Check out the woman hanging the laundry on the roof overseeing the whole old town:

The areas closest to the buffer zone (the line dividing the Island in two) looks

like in war time - completely deserted and sad.

Autumn in Cyprus

Ridley Trophy 2007 Lythrodontas

That was such a cool 3 days weekend in the mountains!

The organizer of the Ridley 2007 Trophy: http://www.gregorybikes.com.cy

The dirt looked like snow in some places (due to high content of calcium and chalk I guess).

Profitis Elias Monastery somewhere lost in the mountains

We made it!

A quad can be handy in many ways - I personally found the mirrors very useful.

Wish it was really mine ...

why I DO like my job

Facing crisis about the nature of my job I actually realized that the package itself is really good and I actually found a couple of reasons why I DO like my job:

• I can wake up at 8.50 : ))))))))))))))))))
  
• I have 2 minutes to go to the office and come back
  
• Once a week I finish work at 13.00 and have the entire afternoon for myself!
  
• I can come dressed in baggy trousers and sneakers if I do not feel like dressing up and no one cares
  
• I can enjoy speaking 3 languages at work (English, Spanish and Greek)
  
• I work with people from all around the world. This teaches distance to distances (geographical, cultural and hierarchical)
  
• Some colleagues at the office are so much fun
  
• And on top of that I get good money for that!

Cypriot orthodox wedding

Went to a weeding of a friend this weekend.
In the church it was really beautiful - the church itself was and the ancient greek chant by the choir. But for the bride and the groom it is 1,5 standing (they do not sit).

Then reception (at a hotel). The bride and groom stand and people (about 1500 on average as here they invite almost everyone) queue to give an envelope with money and a short handshake. There is no time for wishes just 1-2 seconds handshake and next one. It is terrible for the couple (but on the other hand 20 000 pounds they can get just like that one evening). This lasts even up to 4 hours (just handshaking!!).
Only then there is a proper wedding dinner. Anyway -it was fun!:)

Back to the island

Back to the love island! And also a windy one. Last weekend was a great, windy weather and waves were enormous even at the western coast in Agia Napa (where they are very scarce). On the beach almost only foreigners - the summer for Cypriots is over (after 15.08 hardly anyone goes to the beach, because it is almost winter ;)

Only the port was quiet.
Chicks on the beach:)

And a fisherman looking maybe at the sea, maybe for chicks ;)

15 August - Giorti tis Panagias

Yesterday was off and firstly we went to M. house in the mountain for a traditional lunch - souvla. It was soooo good!

Then in the afternoon came back quote early to avoid trafiic and went for a stroll in the old Nicosia. It is a very small area but every time I go I find some picturesque or just weird buildings or details I had not seen before.

Other than that everyone is on holidays for next 2 weeks and the city is deserted. Most shops and restaurants closed, no trafiic. Great!

Roof party

On Sunday night went for a small party at the roof of the building of friends office.
We planned to see the meteor shower. Ok this was far from a shower but I saw 4 ‘falling starts’. And made a wish! The neck hurts badly if you bend the head backwards constantly for 10 minutes. But it was worth it!

The roof had a specvial illumination for this event:

View to the west


Do not look down!
You see any meteors?

Open air cinema Konstantia

It is the most laid back place for a summer evening. In the old area of Nicosia -Palouriotissa, an old open air cinema, an old ticket box guy. Good films, sometimes quite cheesy. There ain't anything nicer than sit outdoors, have a drink or smoke and watch a film on a big screen. One of my favourite places for summer evenings.

Yesterday we watched A night in Casablanca of the Marx brothers from 1940. I was laughing my brains out.

The guy who takes care of the cinema (on the left) is as old as the venue. But therefore fits in the place perfectly.

Actually there are plenty of old open air cinemas in Cyprus. That is really a phenomenon.

Hot hot hot

Last 5 days were the hottest in last 10 years at least. 44-45 degrees officially (imagine how much in the sun)! So of course everyone who can stays indoors with the AC on. This caused a major energy shortage and on 2 days the Electricty Authority cut off all AC appliances. Almost all rooms in my office except for one* were without AC on 2 afternoons. It was so damn hot that HR had mercy and sent the following email:
''As the Electricity Authority has cut off the Air conditions in our Area and the heat is unbearable in some of our offices you may leave if you find it difficult to cope''
[ after that even those who could easily cope made an effort to find it difficult to cope to go home!].

* Of course it was my office that had the AC, which was good as I did not suffer the heat, but because of that I was not eligible for extra afternoons off :(

Madeira sounds in Kaimakli

Went with colleagues to a concert of a portugese folk band that came all the way from Madeira. The concert was on a very cosy square outside the Agios Barnabas church in Kaimakli – a farther, old district of Nikosia where somehow I have never been to. It was a nice discovery – the place is really charming, lots of nice restored houses, the square. Nice place for a walk. It was just so damn hot although it was late at night.

The band (if someone knows what Marios looks like – I couldn’t stop staring at the guitar player, he looked exactly like him!!!)
Spot the difference…