Nicosia

Backdoor tip #1, whatever you do, don't take a room with this kind of view!

Backdoor tip #2, make sure you visit Stavros at his barber shop just down from the post office. Cleaned me up well and gave me my first straight razor trim ever!

Backdoor tip #3, if you need an American experience while you are
in Nicosia, try TGI Fridays!  I thought it was better than those in the
states since the vegetables seem so much better and the Cypriot
seasonings.  The only downside was the margaritas are pretty
expensive and not what we expect in California.  The beer is cheap.

My cab driver friend Peter, a New Zealander who we met in Nicosia trying to get back to Alampra one evening.  He saw me in Nicosia and wanted to know what I was up to. I explained and he said that he would drive me to Limassol and help me find a inexpensive rental car. We stopped at about 10 different ones before I had to stop him or I would never get where I was going.

He had me follow him for a while to get used to driving on the left
and then we had a beer to settle my nerves. It worked perfectly!

Finally on my own and off to the Polis region. Got there around 3 and looking around found the perfect place for exploring this region just
by following the signs.

What luck, I found a really nice place with a reasonable and nice studio and lovely gardens and a great pool!

After a cooling swim, leaving the apartment, I met this couple working in their adjacent field.

The farmer Costas wanted to talk and have me take more pictures.  The big news he had was that President Clinton had said after talks with the leader of Cyprus that they should be able to complete the solution to the Cyprus/Turkey problem within the year.  He spoke quite good English and I hope he is not disappointed.

He and his wife gave me some of the beans that they were picking to taste...quite tasty as almost all the vegetables here are.

I drove out to the Aphrodite's bath area where the Cyprus Tourism Agency has an open air pavilion with a restaurant and bar with a great view!

The walk to the baths is paved and well traveled by tourists, fortunately
I arrived there pretty late on Sunday and most had left.

I met this priest by the entrance to the walkway from the San Andreas Church in Polis.  He was peeling and giving oranges away to everyone who expressed an interest.  We talked but when he found out I was from America, his first question was "Is Henry Kissinger still alive?"  He then
repeated several times "America BULLY BULLY" and I couldn't argue with him. Maybe Clinton can make a difference in this individuals opinion
if he can  help to broker a Cyprus/Turkey resolution over the divided island.

Well I finally got to the "bath".  A depression in the rocks with water falling from the ceiling.  It has the appearance of a cave, especially from the precipitated travertine on the sides.  It was certainly a cool and inviting place to take a bath...but the signs say it is polluted most likely to keep the tourists out!  There are a lot of pigeons hanging out there however.

I walked a little further west and ran across a rock familiar to all in Marin.  Note its green, serpent color!

A little better clue, you can see almost identical pieces of serpentinite on Ring Mountain!

I found a place to set the camera and took this shot of Chrysochou Bay from the Akamas Peninsula.

I returned and stopped at the harbor for the Polis area (Latchi) and walked around a while, enjoyed the sunset

And had a great meal with shrimp, mussels, little crabs, two species of fish, octopus, and squid, cauliflower and chips to end my first day completely alone in my travels!  Oh yes, the ever present Keo beer which I am developing quite a taste for.  May not be able to go back to Guiness after this experience!

An olive crusher and press in a farmers field

The grape harvest was underway.

Mario, one of two brothers who were working in the field.
When I asked to take some pictures, I was told by his brother that it would cost me 5 pounds. When I started to walk away, Mario called out "my friend you can take my picture!"

Charlie, Mario's brother who set the five dollar price and finally relented to having his picture taken.  I did have to ask him if he worked or just supervised the work.  He said that he was the manager and then proceeded to pick up the barrel of grapes and act like he was working!

The man in the hat in this photo was definitely responsible for transporting the picking barrels to the truck with his donkey.

Some of the other pickers who offered me bunches of grapes.

I returned to the car loaded down with grapes, more great memories and  pictures by just stopping along the road.

I geologized from the Polis area into the Troodos Mts.  Just have to throw in a geology picture here, this one that shows the turbulent history of the mountains being destroyed and further uplift of the island cutting into these former stream deposits.  For those with a geology interest, the Europeans call this type of rock "molasse" and there is a lot of it on the island.

I ended up here in Pedhoulas, about half way between Mt Olympus (the high point of the Troodos Mts.) and the Kykko Monastery (a major tourist attractant that is strongly identified with Archbishop Makaris who ruled Greek Cyprus for a long time and is buried on a mountain top nearby).

I found a nice, almost Bavarian inn, the Mountain Rose. and met the "don" of the Mt. Rose Inn, got settled and walked around in the village. This grape covered arbor pretty much describes the village.

The remainder of the trip through the Troodos was heavily geologic so I have put this info on a separate Cyprus Rocks page.