September 7 - Nicosia to Agior Vavatsina to Lefkara to Nicosia

Liz and George picked us up around 10 am for our day-long trip into the Troodos Mountains and to the village where Pericles and Liz had a second home and where some of his family still live. Liz sold the home after Pericles died. Our first stop of the day was at a cafe where we could visit a Neolithic excavation of early stone houses. The interesting part is that the stone apparently was moved inland from the sea by the builders. We did not actually visit the site as it was on top of a rather large hill across the street from where we were sitting, and all I could see was more steps. The sun was already hot and Anita passed as well. We were able to see some recreated round buildings of the sort that the ancients probably built. George says they are not right because they do not use the stone from the Mediterranean.













I am finding that walking on relatively flat ground is generally not painful. Climbing steps is very painful still, although coming down is basically painfree. Confusing, and I wish I could figure it out. I guess I will need to be patient and let it heal.

On to Agioi Vavatsinias where I will place flowers at Pericles' grave. NOTE - Liz's house is the A-frame home in the upper left of the photo. Liz purchased a pot of live flowers that she believes will live until the rains begin later this month. Pericles is buried in a plot where he can see his house, and he is in the old section where some of his family is also buried. The cemetery is difficult to move through as there is little room between the raised burial plots. Liz tells me that she was the first to put a concrete enclosure over Pericles and now most of the plots have the same concrete. It reminds me a little of the cemeteries in New Orleans, except that the plots are less than a foot high, not the little buildings in New Orleans.
Liz sold the the house out of respect for the family of Pericles. She felt it would be difficult for them to see her come to the house with another man after she married George. George told me that he wanted Liz to keep the house because it would be a good place to go during the hot months of the year. Generally it is much cooler in the mountains, and this village is the second highest in the country. At the top of the village, which is actually built right on the side of the mountain, we visited with Liz's former neighbor. I probably have photos of her children clustered around Dad when we were in the village in 1993. Dad was doing his magic tricks for the children and other village residents - as usual, he was mesmerizing to those watching.









We ate grapes picked from the vines that sheltered her front patio, plums picked from her trees and a cake made from cheese and herbs. She sent the rest of the fruit with us and included apples picked from the tree right where we had parked the car.


The photo below is taken from high in the village near where Liz's house was, and shows the cemetery at the bottom of the valley.

This is the backyard oven used by Cypriots to slow cook meats and vegetables. The door sitting near the blue salt container is pasted into place with mud that hardens to keep the heat insider after the wood has burned to coals and the meat has been placed inside for cooking.

Anita, who suffers from extreme motion sickness and has worn a patch since we left home, made it through the mountains up to the village, and the time spent sitting in the fresh air cleared her head of minor affects. However, that road was new since I was there before and the curves were not as extreme. The road we used to leave the village had not been improved, and by the time we reached our area for lunch, Anita was not feeling good at all. She did not eat any lunch, just a couple of cokes to settle her stomach. The patch lost to Cypriot mountain roads.

The road was narrow and followed the twisty side of the mountains, and Anita was green. So the three of us enjoyed another mezze that was similar to our meal the night before. Sitting in the outside air was good for Anita and she was ready to leave the mountain at the end of the meal. The food at this lunch was not as good as the meal the evening before, although the quantity was larger. We did have a place of simple sweets for dessert, and we fixed a lunch sampler plate for Anita to enjoy for dinner.













I don't think I would have chosen to eat because they sat in a very hot car for much of the afternoon. She did and does not seem to have suffered any ill effects. I'm happy for her for that. She has been taking good care of me, making suggestions so that sitting is not painful for me.








As we left to go through the rest of the mountains to Lefkara, George kindly relinquished the front seat for Anita so she could be closer to the air conditioning. The road stayed straighter with wider and more gentle curves, and Anita continued to feel better. In Lefkara we will shop for the traditional lace which is made in this village. I brought quite a bit home in 1993, and so am only looking for one special piece as a gift.

I took photos of other pieces in the shop where I purchased my gift and Anita purchased 2 pieces. I had told her of the unusual beauty of this lace and she finally saw what I had tried to describe.

Georges waited at a cafe while we shopped and had several beers while we were gone. Liz purchased some sweets for an afternoon snack including some I remembered as soon as I saw them. I'll try to purchase a couple to bring home to share --whole black walnuts and a zucchini candy. We also had small balls of puffed donut like pastry with honey.

The trip from Lefkara to our home in Nicosia was uneventful as we were on major highways all the way. This is one of the biggest changes to Cyprus since 1993 - very modern roads - dual lane divided highways, round-abouts and higher speeds. Just like in Botswana, time marches on and not much is familiar.

Lefkars and Pericles' village are virtually untouched. Liz's home where we spent some of last evening is almost the same. They are scheduled for connection to a city sewer system in 2010. Until then, no toilet paper is flushed - there are containers next to most toilets where you place your soiled paper. Liz and George let us off and went home. We leave for Limmasol tomorrow, overnighting in Paphos before returning to Nicosia on Tuesday evening. Anita is trying to catch up on her blog entries and I will work a bit tomorrow morning on the last two days before Liz and George arrive. I'm going to read a bit and then to bed. I'm tired.

Liz and George are now waiting so I'll say goodby for now. Back again in a couple of days.