Aug 28 2007 Leaving Cyprus for Comox Soon

Well this has been a fabulous week. Besides nest building, we have the car all spruced up and most importantly, met some wonderful new people. A church couple linked us to Linda who lives in our village and is a Scottish Expat with a husband in Bahrain much of the time. She is a joy to hang out with and we have now met many of her friends including our neighbours across the street. Mike and Roz have lived here for close to 30 years and planted all of the trees in their yard and many more up the lane. Hosting our first pool party was fun, but last night our invite to Jed and Margaret’s for a Meze feast in their historic Cypriot garden home was a real delight. We are learning that there is so much to see and do and with the right attitude, you can get by very well – you just have to be on Cypriot time???

I want to share what we did yesterday afternoon as it is a classic example of what we hear so much about. Taking an adventurous drive to the northern village of Polis, we spotted a lovely café with a fantastic view of the valleys below. After touring about and seeing a Byzantine Museum and a water reservoir dam, we retraced our route to the café. Searching for a seat with a view, we entered a patio area where the sole patron suggested that we would enjoy sitting in this section as it had a nice cross breeze, a great view of the scenery and of the pretty ladies in the kitchen. We chatted with him and he told us of how everyone who comes to Cyprus, loves it here. He is a builder and he took 5 years to complete his own stone house atop a hill peak. It sounded intriguing and he made several offers for us to follow him home to his place to see the view and his work. We were delighted to oblige and after a winding 15-minute drive we were in awe of the beauty of his property, his work and the view, which looked out on several different valleys and 13 villages. The stone wall up the side of his drive rivaled the pyramids in size and shape. His warmth and hospitality were so – Cypriot, and we are invited back to meet his wife and children. Before leaving he asked if we would like some grapes. His vineyard looked bizarre. White dusty clay and vines that were scattered like potato mounds. But the fruit! Cyprus grapes, he explained needed no watering except in the early winter and as such are not only hardy but also more flavourful. He was right. We marveled at our day as we made our way home, devouring the white and red grapes that literally tasted like candy. So, in the short afternoon, we saw historic sites, diverse country sides, and met a local Cypriot that expressed the type of warm hospitality that we are coming to enjoy.

Back home for a splash in the pool and off to the dinner party, which we described earlier and today we are out for fish’n’chips then to a bridge club night with our neighbours, Mike and Roz.

We will likely be off the blog for a while, as we head home to Comox on Friday. We are really excited about seeing Joel in Vancouver, then our family and great friends on the other wonderful island that we have always loved. Hope this finds you all well and blessed and we look forward to talking to many of you in Comox next week!