Kiti beach and the lighthouse (faros)

 Last week we decided not to go so far with our 'day out'. We'd had to do some shopping already, so we didn't set out until nearly 11.30am. We had decided to walk along the path above Kiti beach. This is somewhere we used to go regularly, when it was quite wild and unspoilt.  There were rough steps down to a beach that was usually deserted, and we would sometimes take a picnic. 

But then developers got hold of it - we heard rumours, but hadn't been there for a year or so. I wrote about a visit we made in March 2016, when we were a bit horrified by all the changes; we couldn't access a lot of places, and were worried that it would be depressingly touristy. 

In October 2017 we went there with some other friends, and walked awhile along the paved path which looked really rather bleak. 

Richard took another friend a few years later, but I hadn't been there for nine years.

Fig Tree Bay and Cape Greco

 We're still keeping up our weekly days out - so far, anyway, while the weather holds. Last Friday it was still really too hot for walking anywhere, so we decided to have a slightly longer drive than previously.  We knew of Fig Tree Bay, although neither could remember much about it. I recalled going there with friends some years ago, and that it was pleasant, but rather touristy. 

We decided to take a picnic rather than eat out, and took a mostly scenic route rather than the highway, where possible. Eventually we reached the small - and very touristy - town centre, and after a couple of Google Maps errors, found the main car park. We were very surprised to see how full it was - we weren't sure that we would find a spot, but eventually discovered another part of it.

We were even more startled to see that the beach was absolutely packed with people:

Lefkara visit (Pano and Kato)

 When we first moved to Cyprus, we regularly took visitors to see the village of Lefkara - or, rather, Pano Lefkara, as it's officially called; Upper Lefkara, as we might say in English. It was a quiet village, a little way into the mountains, which specialised in what they called Lefkara lace. I wouldn't have called it lace myself, but it's certainly highly skilled, beautiful work - in tablecloths, cushion covers and more.

I wrote about some of our visits, including a few photos, in - for instance - this post, in 2006, and this one in 2007. At the time we wondered how long it would stay viable. There weren't many visitors, and every shop was full of Lefkara lace products which had taken many months to make. The prices were high - not unreasonably so for the amount of work, but much higher than we or most of our friends were prepared to pay. The shop owners were friendly, offering us refreshment, 'no obligation', and then pleading with us to buy something. We learned to resist; we were pretty sure we weren't really the first visitors of the year, or that nobody had bought anything that season. 

Sometimes Richard would take visitors while I stayed at home, to enjoy some peace and quiet. But I went again in 2009 when I was saddened to see that many of the shops had closed. And those that were still open had a higher percentage of other products - machine-made tablecloths and much more, which the shopkeepers rather despised. But they had to make a living somehow.

Kalavassos tenta and Choirokoitia village

 Now that we're both officially pensioners, and Richard is semi-retired, we decided we should have days out now and again. This is to ensure we stay away from our computers and get some fresh air, and also to see some parts of Cyprus that we hadn't previously explored. We compiled an initial list of places not too far from Larnaka that we would like to visit - or, in some cases, re-visit. 

Our first such outing was last Friday. Our intention was to visit a location we had seen fairly often from the highway, but had never actually been to. The 'tent' (or 'tenta') at Kalavassos. Maybe forty minutes' drive from our house. It was a nice day, if rather warmer than I like, and our car has pretty good air conditioning.

Our pronunciation of Greek is not great, but we usually manage to get the emphasis correct. So we knew we were heading for somewhere pronounced something like 'kalla-VASS-os'. Short 'a' sounds, emphasis on the third syllable.  We were mildly amused that Google Maps told us we were going to 'kuh-LAH-vuh-suss', with emphasis on the second syllable and something that sounded like 'lava' in the middle. 

This is what the 'tenta' looks like from the place where we parked:

Getting into September in Cyprus

 So, two and a half weeks have gone by. The heavy rain at the end of August - which I wrote about in my last post - didn't lead to significant cooling, although the humidity did, somewhat, reduce.

Overnight it was cool enough that I resumed early morning walks, three times per week, with my friend Sheila. I didn't want to wear socks and trainers, though, and I wasn't sure how far I could manage, so on Sept 1st we started by walking in the upgraded Salt Lake Park, including going along the bridge and observing the Salt Lake with some water, at one end, from the recent rain: 

We did then walk a little way along the trail itself and I found it wasn't too bad with sandals. We wondered how long the water would remain.

The final nine days of August

 I wondered, at the start of the month, whether I would remember to write about the details, albeit mostly rather dull, of a month in Cyprus, semi-aestivating in the air conditioning. 

And suddenly, it's the last stretch... not that September will be significantly cooler, but the days are getting shorter and by the end of September we should at least have stopped using the air conditioning. 

Sunday 23rd

As with every other Sunday, I started by watering the plants, then went for a 2km walk. I'm not keeping my phone with me every moment, as I used to do. So on days when I only walk in the mornings, I don't even register 5,000 steps. I'm more interested in what my app calls 'heart points', ensuring I reach the minimum of twenty if possible, aiming for heart health. 

We were expecting our closest local friends in the afternoon: four of them this time, which is more than usually come now. So I put a loaf of bread on (in the breadmaker), and decided to try a vegan pseudo-'cheesecake' from a recipe I found online some time ago. It suggested a complex crust using seeds, dates and nuts but I thought I'd keep it simple and use a standard cheesecake base with digestive biscuits and spread. Somewhat ultra-processed, but when it gets cooler I'm going to see if I can make digestive biscuits myself, to avoid that problem.

Third week of August in Cyprus

More than half way through August already, another week gets going...

Sunday 16th

Sunday morning I woke around six thirty. It was a tad cooler than it had been. So once again I walked to the Salt Lake park, and explored a bit more than I did last week. I won't go into detail, as I wrote an entire extra post about the upgraded Salt Lake (or Pattichio) park. But here's one photo I took, showing the nature garden, and the steps to the bridge:

By the time I got home, it was getting hot and humid. Another morning in the air conditioning, where I watched some of the church livestream. We'd decided to get a rotisserie chicken from Metro for lunch again, along with various leftovers from the previous week; I knew it would last us at least three meals. We had quite a lot of new potatoes left over, so I sliced and refried them, along with some onions. We ate about half of those. 

Pattichio (Salt Lake) Park upgrade

 Back in February, I wrote this post about ongoing construction in the Salt Lake (Pattichio) Park. It all seemed to be happening slowly and somewhat randomly. By the middle of June, when I stopped going for walks along the Salt Lake trail until the weather cools down, it hadn't progressed all that much. 

So I was amazed to see this article about the Pattichio Park come up in my Facebook feed last week. I decided to go and see what was going on - it was hard to believe that in just a couple of months the upgrade really was complete, but that's what the article said. I mentioned this in the Wednesday part of last week's general rambling update, with a couple of photos. But I didn't stray from the main path, as it was so very hot and humid.

Yesterday morning, however, the temperature was a tad cooler, and not quite so sticky. So I decided to be a bit more adventurous. I walked to the park, then wandered up the first trail I came to:

 
It led to the dog park. This is quite a nice looking area that's fenced off, with plenty of bins for dog mess, to allow dogs to run around rather than having to be on a lead/leash all the time.