Driving round Cyprus

Today has been a drive through history. We picked up our interesting hire car ( sat nav stuck somewhere in Japan, its menu in Thai), weird card reader installed in the footwell and some out of date japanese stickers. Very rattly snd tinny but in expensive and arrived at the hotel before 9am. The sat nav which beeped alarmingly at frequent intervals and offered helpful but highly inaccurate spoken instructions such as ‘ensure you are heading in the right direction’, ‘night is falling put the headlights’ on and ‘you are approaching a railway crossing’ ( not in cyprus!)
Anyway we had a great day.
First with the Neolithics at Choriokoitia where as well as the remains of the settlement there are some reconstructed Neolithic,pre pottery, round huts and quern stone. In among the remains are many saddle shaped grinding stones and containers painstakingly hollowed out of the rock. There was a replica quern you could try and it gave a sense not only of how hard work it was but also of what the soundscape would have been for the people who lived there; grinding and chipping sounds Plus the wind in the trees and the noise if the bird life.
We then decided to head into the hills on an optimistic trip to the tiny church of Agios Mamas which was said to have good frescos. Its was a lovely windy drive into the hills snd eventually we found Louvaras ( up in the foothills of the Trodos mountains) and down a tiny road church, the but it was locked tight.
There was a note on the door saying if you want to visit phone one of these people and of course I would have just left but Mandy said she would phone! Tried all three - no reply, Mandy was persistent, she heard the sound of sawing at s nearby house and went to talk to the bloke there to see if he had a key. He didn’t but he came and picked off a likely name and phoned and so Andreas came to unlock the church. While we waited Mandy chatted him and discover more pieces for our divided island jigsaw. He was conscripted into the army after school where they were shown films and information about the 74 invasion to presumably fill them with righteous patriotic fervour. So he said he had no interest visiting if he has to show idea and pass s checkpoint to go to somewhere he sees as his own country.
Anyway eventually Andreas arrived and opened up the church. Tiny but every space was covered with frescos dating from 1495. Including one showing the patrons who paid for it all. Absolutely stunning.
Then finally we headed back out of the hills to the Roman settlement at Kourion. By now it was blowing a howling gale and there was no visitor centre as it was all being refurbished. But easy to navigate with signs and a good view at various points. Interesting but Mandy didn’t see it at its finest snd we were frozen by the time we got back to the car. Chugged back to Paphos with the car still offering an unhelpful commentary.
Back in time for Italian night in the restaurant and the hosting book-group even more remotely than usual!Read more