Visiting villages in Cyprus

Time seems to move much more slowly in times of stress and sadness. But now we're back in Cyprus, picking up the threads, more-or-less back to normal. 

So let me be a little indulgent, and look back - only a little over three weeks ago - to a day we had out with the whole family, visiting some villages around the island. Richard was looking for somewhere appropriate for some filming he needs to do, and it seemed like a pleasant day out for all five of us. 

It was a gorgeous day - clear and sunny, but not too hot. We started by visiting lower Lefakra:

We took a walk along some backstreets, where it was really very quiet:

We enjoyed the flowers, still blooming, although the heat of summer will put a stop to a lot of them:

I even managed an informal family group photo, although Tim had forgotten his tripod so we didn't manage one of all five of us together. Not that we found anywhere particularly suitable as background anyway:

I do love seeing trees like this.  We were amused by the little pillar that has evidently been built to support it: 

We drove quite a way into the mountains: 

We went in and out of several small villages, some more accessible than others. I didn't take photos of them all, although others did. Sometimes we didn't even visit them, we just looked from a distance:

This looked rather a nice location, but we weren't tempted... we would rather live in a residential neighbourhood near friends and shops:

We hadn't taken any sandwiches, so around 12.30 we started looking out for somewhere suitable to stop and eat. It was surprisingly difficult - many of the small villages did not appear to have any cafes or tavernas.  

Then we found ourselves in a much wealthier looking village than any others we had found. It's in the Limassol district, and called Asgata. There were smart looking buildings, and organised signs pointing to various locations locally:

There was even a library!

There was also a small taverna, which looked very inviting.  The waiter spoke some English, and the prices seemed reasonable.

While most of us opted for water, Richard asked for a fizzy lemonade drink - either Sprite or 7-Up.  Most places offer one or the other but not both.  We were amused that he was brought a can of the latter, together with a glass advertising the former!

A salad came fairly quickly, and some very welcome toasted baguette sandwiches not long after. Then we had complementary fruit and coffee. It was a good break:

We thought we might drive into Troodos but somehow went in the wrong direction, so eventually found ourselves back near Limassol. 

So we stopped for ice creams: