Images of Autumn in our Cyprus household...

Not sunrises this time, although I've seen a few pretty ones recently. Just a few pictures taken in the past three weeks, some of which I have pondered blogging about... yet somehow the days fly by, and the blog stays neglected. 

The deadline for Tim's MA thesis was the end of September. He was pleased to learn that he would not have to fly back to submit it, and that it could be printed and bound here rather than at his university, then sent by courier.  Better still, Richard has a comb-binding machine, so on Thursday a couple of weeks ago I did some final proof-reading, then Tim printed his magnum opus, plus bibliography and title page, and Richard used his impressive gadget:

We then had to get it to DHL, who tried to charge us more than the online quote.. however, it arrived safely, and we heard of another student in a similar situation who used a different courier service which cost more and did not deliver. At least, not until several days late. Thankfully the universities take the posting date into account, but it was still immensely frustrating for them. So we'll probably use DHL again.

After the thesis was out of the way, Tim decided to re-organise his room, which included sorting his books. Some of them had been tipped onto the floor by Tessie, who likes to sleep on bookshelves and will think nothing of pulling books out if they are in her way.  

Apparently, though, one of the books refused to co-operate, so Tessie had to teach it rather a violent lesson in submission: 

It's not often that we throw a book away.  It went very much against the grain with us all, but we had to acknowledge that it was past repair.  Besides, Tim commented that it was quite a heavy three-volumes-in-one book, and he would really prefer the three books individually.  So he quickly put them on his wishlist and we laid this sad-looking has-been book to rest in the paper recycling. 

Part of Tim's re-organising was to get at an extra closet, which meant losing a small bookcase. I knew I could assimilate it easily, but it would involve re-organising my study.  I drew a scale plan, and moved little blocks around until I found an arrangement that I thought would work... and, indeed, it did.  I like it much better than my previous layout: 

For the past week, we've had some very good friends from the UK staying in our guest flat. This is the first time they've come to Cyprus, and they spent a lot of their time exploring, paddling in the sea, eating ice creams, and enjoying some of the local shops and sights. They went on the official Larnaka walk one morning.  In the afternoons and evenings we mostly hung out, played games, and talked... but on Thursday Richard took the whole day off so we could take them out for the day, to Lefkara:

And Kurium:

On their final day here they indulged us with some delicious chocolate desserts from a local bakery:

...as well as some less photogenic Greek pastries for Richard and Tim (who are dairy-free).

Then in the evening we stopped at our favourite ice cream shop on our way to the airport, for yogurt ice creams and/or sorbets: 

The end of Summer has given way to the beginning of Autumn in the past couple of weeks, with two or three quite heavy rain sessions which have reduced the temperature.  I don't recall when we stopped using air conditioning altogether, but in the past few days we have even stopped using fans. I'm wearing a light jacket on top of my tee shirt today; at the weekend I washed our thin duvet and we installed it in a cover on Sunday. We have to use the water heater sometimes to get hot water first thing in the morning, and there's a decided chill in the air, even if the official temperature is still around 24C in the shade.  

Merchant of Venice in Kurium

Every year there's a Shakespeare production in the amphitheatre in Kurium, near Limassol. It's usually performed on three nights towards the end of June, or early July. We don't go every year; sometimes we have other commitments; sometimes we don't remember it's happening. Sometimes we aren't particularly interested in the play being performed... and sometimes we decide it's not worth the cost. Tickets are not cheap, although the proceeds do go to a worthy local charity.

The last time we actually went to one of these Shakespeare productions was four years ago, when we went to see 'Midsummer Night's Dream', which had a most impressive set.

We wouldn't have known about this year's until too late, but some friends mentioned that they were going on Friday, to see 'The Merchant of Venice'. It's a play I studied at school for 'O'-level rather more years ago than I care to count; but I remembered it, roughly, and thought it would be fun to see it live. Daniel had already said that he'd like to take Becky to see Kurium at some point, and that he enjoyed the Shakespeare plays. I was a bit put off by the cost - twenty euros each - but we decided to splash out and use some money we'd been given to use 'for ourselves'. Besides, seeing a Shakespeare play at Kurium is a unique Cyprus experience, and Becky is in the country for the first time.

We ate early and left at 6.30pm, armed with some cushions from the guest flat, since the stone amphitheatre steps are not exactly comfortable. Just as well we allowed plenty of time; we thought Richard knew the way, but we took a wrong turning, and then another one, and ended up driving several miles out of our way before finally reaching the Kurium site with about ten minutes to spare. Parking was near the top this time, and we were shown into one of the last parking spaces available.

The set was a simple one, with a white bridge to signify that it was to take place in Venice:


There was a reasonable audience, but not too many people in the side wings of the amphitheatre. Since we could see that parts of the set were on the right, we decided to sit there:


To my surprise, the play started at only a couple of minutes past eight. 'Cyprus time' is usually at least twenty minutes after the given start time - and, indeed, there were quite a few stragglers in the audience.

I was pleased, and a little surprised to find that I remembered a few of the speeches, and most of the plot. The first part of the play is a little dull and somewhat confusing, when several people with long, Italian-sounding names discuss merchandise, and money-lending, and love:


But then came the sub-plot I remembered best, that of Portia whose father had decreed that she must marry whoever chose the correct one of three caskets. Portia has a strong part in the play, and was extremely well acted:


Shylock, the money-lending Jew, was also very well done:


Daniel and I both particularly appreciated the second of the suitors for Portia's hand, the one who chose the silver casket and who spoke with a delightful Cypriot accent. Unfortunately, I only managed a photo of the first suitor, who spoke with a pseudo-French accent:


And of course I had to take one last photo, before it was too dark for cameras (since flash was not permitted) - the successful suitor, who correctly chose the lead casket with the inscription: 'Who chooseth me shall give and hazard all he hath':


The first act was an hour and twenty minutes - as we were told just before the play started. There was then a twenty-minute break which gave us a chance to stand up for a while, and the second act was an hour long. It was 11pm by the time we got away, and 12.30 before I was in bed.

All in all, an enjoyable evening.

Day out in Limassol including Kurium and Kolossi

The only times we tend to see much of Cyprus outside our local area are when we have guests. Even then, it rather depends on how busy Richard is.

A friend from the UK came out recently, and spent a fortnight with us. It was a working holiday: she left her family behind, and spent most of her days in the office, doing some accounting and working on assets and doing other clever and complicated finance-related things with numbers.

On the Saturday before she returned home, we went out for the day. First of all, we went to Kurium (or Curium or Kourium or Kourion... depending on how people feel like spelling it). This is the site of the ancient amphitheatre a little beyond Limassol where there are annual Shakespeare productions, and where Richard filmed the Esther musical a couple of years ago.

The day was gorgeous. Sunny, with a light breeze, around 24C in the shade. There were some tourists at the site, including a couple of coaches doing guided tours, but it wasn't too busy.

After wandering around the amphitheatre and enjoying the views, we went to the covered area and looked at the huge house, now mostly in ruins, and some of the amazing mosaics that still survive:

Then on to the temple and cathedral on another part of the site:

Despite the day being pleasant, I had had more than enough sunshine by the time we got there, so I found a shady area and sat down, while Richard and our friend explored the site more thoroughly. I was entertained by a couple of hang-gliders who were flying to and fro not far away:

All that for €1.70 per person. Before Cyprus became a euro-zone, it must have been one Cyprus pound each, and they actually rounded down by a penny (since the exact conversion would have been £1.71). Even better, the price has clearly not increased for over a year.

After we had explored Kurium fully, we found a bakery and bought some olive and cheese pastries for lunch. Then we drove to the nearby Kolossi Castle, somewhere we had never actually visited before. Outside was a most unprepossessing café with red painted signs and high tourist prices:


So we didn't go in. Instead we went to the castle - another €1.70 each, much less expensive than the equivalent UK prices for such attractions - which didn't look very big from outside:

. but was surprisingly spacious inside, and very well preserved.

We all made it up to the top, despite my not being very keen on the stone spiral staircase!

Then, having seen the entire castle, we drove to Limassol sea-front, where our friend bought us some ice creams at a van which was conveniently parked in the car park.

Then we burned off a few of the calories by taking a stroll along the promenade, which has a sculpture park with some displays almost reminiscent of a Middle Eastern corniche:

Some of the displays were just strange:

.. and others distinctly bizarre:

All in all, it was a very pleasant day out. We left the house about 9.45am and were back in Larnaka by about 4.30pm, time for a rest before our friend took us out to eat at a nearby restaurant in the evening.

Esther at Kurium

Last week was rather strange, and very quiet. Richard and Tim drove every day to Kurium for Esther setup and rehearsals (and the musical itself Friday - Sunday), and returned late at night. Never before midnight. On Saturday morning our latest visitor from the UK arrived, so that afternoon we all went to Kurium so we could actually see the show. We got there mid-afternoon, so were able to have a a look around first; our friend had never been to Cyprus before, and Kurium is quite an interesting site from the archaeological point of view.

The amphitheatre is a lovely place for theatre, looking as it does over nearby hills towards the sea. We were very impressed with the set, too, which looked most realistic despite being built out of polystyrene and wood, with loudspeakers hidden inside:


Tim's main job was ensuring a good quality sound recording, but he also helped with the setup and mixing of the sound. Each day the equipment had to be packed away at night, and then unpacked and set up again in preparation:


Richard's main job was filming on all three nights of the performance, for a production that should eventually go out on local TV as well as being made into a DVD. Some of his PA equipment was also used, and he too helped in the setting up of cables, speakers, microphones and more.


The musical itself was due to start at 8pm, and (given that this is Cyprus, and nothing starts when it's supposed to ...) it was almost on time. The production was very high quality. It was written by people in Limassol a few years ago, expanding the Biblical story of Esther into a two-hour musical. I wasn't quite sure what to expect, but it was excellent. For much of it I could even forget about the discomfort of sitting on ancient stone seats... even with cushions it's not exactly comfortable.


The cast was pretty big, and it was nice to see one or two people we know in it. There must have been well over a thousand people in the audience.