New year's even now...Kim and I had gone into town for something and on the way back stopped into the little village of Pyrgos...only about two kilometers away from Monogroulli
....I had seen a taverna there and had been wanting to stop in for some drinkies but hadn't done it yet....so that's where we found ourselves in the middle of the afternoon on New Years eve.
Our favourite taverna...Pyrgos (note the Xmas tree to the right)
It was quite a lark, a bunch of the local guys were having a pre-New Years night party on the street right across from our taverna they had a barbecue going and lots of booze....and anyone walking by was welcomed to stop for a drink.
We talked to the he locals and had quite an entertaining afternoon.
We had tickets to a New Year's even ball this night in the little village of Pyrgos.....right next to Monogroulli. A meal and a dance...off we go and get there about eight o'clock ...God forbid we didn't want to miss the meal! It's a bit of a twisty road to the hall where this is being held. We go in and the "partay" is in full swing. The place is full of what Kim describes as "Q-tips" that's right... old people....all of them retired Brits...but just because they're old and retired dosen't mean they can't "shake a leg" Johnathan didn't seem amused when I asked if there were heart paddles available...alas we didn't need them.
"Q-tips shaking a leg and the New Years part in Pyrgos
There was a "disc jockey" and unbelievably the only music he played the whole night was disco music from the seventies!!!! So there was four hours of disco music until midnite. The only thing to drink was beer and a very little bit of wine. I managed to find a couple of mini bottles of J and B squirrled away in the bar....but that was it.
Kim was mesmerized by the guy in the Tartan trousers
The meal....a smorgasborg was passable....but it was just one of those New Year's Even celebrations that you swore off years ago...but I must say the Brits were giving it their all and danced to every song.....and enjoyed themselves like they probably weren't going to be doing this for too many more years....as indeed many of them won't be!
With New Years behind us....Johnathan wanted to go for a car ride the next day and said he know of a place down the coast that wasn't far and we could have a picnic lunch on the beach....
The weather for the most part for us on the Cyprus expiditon and been supberb....the nights got quite cold but the days by and large had been warm and sunny....but not this day. It was windy and cool and wet.. Kim and I were both thinking it would be nice to just stay in and read and watch movies....but off we go.
Down past areas which we'd been before and it's raining and I'm thinking this is going to be a dismal picnic. So we pull off the main road and down what becomes a dirt track...by this time Johnathan dosen't know where were going...but we end at the beach by some busted up ancient ruins...but there is an old restaurant there closed for the season it seems.
The restaurant we commandeered....the deck is the black thing
But there were a bunch of people on the deck of this thing having a bit of a barbecue.....they have the entrance lane roped off to keep people out.
So we got out of the car for a stretch and pee in the ruins....and then Kim and I walked over to where the people were and she of course strikes up a conversation....so they tell us to come on up for a wee drinky....so we got Johnathan from the car and got our picnic stuff and joined the party.
New Years Day party at the beach in Cyprus.
It was still very cool...but at least we were out of the wind and the rain. The people were ex-British soldiers and policemen and their wives and girlfriends. They come here every New Years for a five mile run then a swim in the ocean. Not bad when you consider most of the were in their mid sixties.
They usually have their party right on the beach...but since the weather was so bad they took over the restaurant....
They reminisced with us about the good old days when they were stationed in Northern Ireland during the troubles of the seventies. A former major and one of his soldiers even had pictures of the Irish bad guys that they had eliminated with an X marked across their pictures...it was interesting.
Kim Johnathan at the impromptu beach party New years day
We stayed and ate and drank our beers and had a nice visit with very friendly people...it was a "good show". As we were leaving a woman came up to me and said I hear you're Canadian...I have a relative who lives in Port Dover. I looked at Kim and Johnathan to see if this was some kind of joke...but they were as suprised as I was...so I got the name from her and I'll look them up when I get home.
More New Years beach party...
We zoomed home and had a quiet evening. Next day Johnathan has some lawyering to do or something. But he sent us on this little excursion that he thought we might find interesting...I kind of listened a little to what he said....and I actually worked it out a map where we were going. Finding your way around the little roads in the interior of the island can be tricky indeed....and keeping an eye on the map is most helpful. Obviously the rental cars don't have GPS. So off we go on what I considered if nothing else a nice quiet little car trip through the highlands.
The start of the really bad road
But as we got going further northwest the roads got narrower and increasingly bad, We came across a golf course way out there....that if I had known it was there earlier played it...it looked very pretty and I imagine with all the rocks around it would be challenge.
The Vikla golf course high in the hills of Cyprus
When we left we followed the road sign that tooks us down an avenue that I swear was little more than a tractor path.....I thought we screwed up but we stuck to it and came out where we were supposed to . I should have twigged on to it right then....but we were having fun...and off we go.
Caught in a trap!
So we came to a little village and decided to to take a drive though it...famous last words. As you can see we got kind of to the centre of town and then the streets narrowed to the point where we really couldn't take the car through....so there we were ...caught....we couldn't go ahead and it was nearly impossible to go back...an old man from the village helped us get squared away and then showed us where we could drive to get out of town...but it took us at least half an hour of edging backwards and forwards to get out of the jam...
So following Johnathan's instructions we head north again going higher into the hills the roads getting worse and worse.... the pavement started to get really bad...and then it stopped all together and what we were left with basically was a course gravel road...that wound through the mountains....there was only room for one vehicle there were no guard rails and the drop was easily several hundred meters....and in many places there were big and little rocks on the road that fell from the side of the mountain. I have been on many treacherous roads in any number of places in this world....but I can tell you this was the first road on which I was actually afraid! I thought of stopping and turning around...but there was really no where to safely do that...and anyway it would be just and dangerous going down as up...so we kept going. Lucklily we saw only one other car on the hour long drive, (sometimes were going no faster than walking speed) I saw him coming so I found a little niche that I put the car in to allow him to slowly inch past. Finally we came out to a main road....my hands were sweaty and cramped from hanging on to the bloody steering wheel so tightly.
This is what it was like for 15 kilometers! Note the little avalanche off to the right...and rocks in the road further up.
The drop!
I was very relieved to get on a decent highway.
We continued onto our goal of a little village that is the best example of early Cypriot architecture there is apparently very little of it still remaining on the island .....we stayed there about five minutes and decided it had hardly been worth risking our lives to see.
Old Cypriot houses probably a couple of thousand years old.
We hit the road and went in search of a cold beer!
That was pretty much it. We only had a day or so left Johnathan took us to a restaurant for what the Cypriots call.....it's a 18 course meal...and that dosen't include the drinks.
Johnathan and Kim looking like a couple of Norwegians...he was showing her how to get the crick out of her neck.
Kim developed some kind of painful crick in her neck and pretty much had to stay close to the house for the next day or so.
The only other minor issue came when we were set to drive the 45 minutes to the airport in Larnaca...Johnathan was staying on for a few more days. I had driven the car almost out of gas so we would not be giving the car back with any gas in it....but the day before.... Kim and I were driving around and used up more gas than I had bargained for. No problem .... I thought tomorrow I will just put five Euros of gas in the car..... enough to get us to the airport. So next morning Johnathan comes back from visiting his friends just down the road and tells us that all the gas stations on the island are closed because of a strike by owners against the government....oh shit.
So off we go and made it into the airport on fumes I am sure.
Our booze from duty free.
We hit the airport duty frees in both Cyprus and Cairo like locusts.... bringing the Cyprus experience to a very happy conclusion....
....I had seen a taverna there and had been wanting to stop in for some drinkies but hadn't done it yet....so that's where we found ourselves in the middle of the afternoon on New Years eve.
It was quite a lark, a bunch of the local guys were having a pre-New Years night party on the street right across from our taverna they had a barbecue going and lots of booze....and anyone walking by was welcomed to stop for a drink.
We talked to the he locals and had quite an entertaining afternoon.
We had tickets to a New Year's even ball this night in the little village of Pyrgos.....right next to Monogroulli. A meal and a dance...off we go and get there about eight o'clock ...God forbid we didn't want to miss the meal! It's a bit of a twisty road to the hall where this is being held. We go in and the "partay" is in full swing. The place is full of what Kim describes as "Q-tips" that's right... old people....all of them retired Brits...but just because they're old and retired dosen't mean they can't "shake a leg" Johnathan didn't seem amused when I asked if there were heart paddles available...alas we didn't need them.
There was a "disc jockey" and unbelievably the only music he played the whole night was disco music from the seventies!!!! So there was four hours of disco music until midnite. The only thing to drink was beer and a very little bit of wine. I managed to find a couple of mini bottles of J and B squirrled away in the bar....but that was it.
The meal....a smorgasborg was passable....but it was just one of those New Year's Even celebrations that you swore off years ago...but I must say the Brits were giving it their all and danced to every song.....and enjoyed themselves like they probably weren't going to be doing this for too many more years....as indeed many of them won't be!
With New Years behind us....Johnathan wanted to go for a car ride the next day and said he know of a place down the coast that wasn't far and we could have a picnic lunch on the beach....
The weather for the most part for us on the Cyprus expiditon and been supberb....the nights got quite cold but the days by and large had been warm and sunny....but not this day. It was windy and cool and wet.. Kim and I were both thinking it would be nice to just stay in and read and watch movies....but off we go.
Down past areas which we'd been before and it's raining and I'm thinking this is going to be a dismal picnic. So we pull off the main road and down what becomes a dirt track...by this time Johnathan dosen't know where were going...but we end at the beach by some busted up ancient ruins...but there is an old restaurant there closed for the season it seems.
But there were a bunch of people on the deck of this thing having a bit of a barbecue.....they have the entrance lane roped off to keep people out.
So we got out of the car for a stretch and pee in the ruins....and then Kim and I walked over to where the people were and she of course strikes up a conversation....so they tell us to come on up for a wee drinky....so we got Johnathan from the car and got our picnic stuff and joined the party.
It was still very cool...but at least we were out of the wind and the rain. The people were ex-British soldiers and policemen and their wives and girlfriends. They come here every New Years for a five mile run then a swim in the ocean. Not bad when you consider most of the were in their mid sixties.
They usually have their party right on the beach...but since the weather was so bad they took over the restaurant....
They reminisced with us about the good old days when they were stationed in Northern Ireland during the troubles of the seventies. A former major and one of his soldiers even had pictures of the Irish bad guys that they had eliminated with an X marked across their pictures...it was interesting.
Kim Johnathan at the impromptu beach party New years day
We stayed and ate and drank our beers and had a nice visit with very friendly people...it was a "good show". As we were leaving a woman came up to me and said I hear you're Canadian...I have a relative who lives in Port Dover. I looked at Kim and Johnathan to see if this was some kind of joke...but they were as suprised as I was...so I got the name from her and I'll look them up when I get home.
More New Years beach party...
We zoomed home and had a quiet evening. Next day Johnathan has some lawyering to do or something. But he sent us on this little excursion that he thought we might find interesting...I kind of listened a little to what he said....and I actually worked it out a map where we were going. Finding your way around the little roads in the interior of the island can be tricky indeed....and keeping an eye on the map is most helpful. Obviously the rental cars don't have GPS. So off we go on what I considered if nothing else a nice quiet little car trip through the highlands.
The start of the really bad road
But as we got going further northwest the roads got narrower and increasingly bad, We came across a golf course way out there....that if I had known it was there earlier played it...it looked very pretty and I imagine with all the rocks around it would be challenge.
When we left we followed the road sign that tooks us down an avenue that I swear was little more than a tractor path.....I thought we screwed up but we stuck to it and came out where we were supposed to . I should have twigged on to it right then....but we were having fun...and off we go.
So we came to a little village and decided to to take a drive though it...famous last words. As you can see we got kind of to the centre of town and then the streets narrowed to the point where we really couldn't take the car through....so there we were ...caught....we couldn't go ahead and it was nearly impossible to go back...an old man from the village helped us get squared away and then showed us where we could drive to get out of town...but it took us at least half an hour of edging backwards and forwards to get out of the jam...
So following Johnathan's instructions we head north again going higher into the hills the roads getting worse and worse.... the pavement started to get really bad...and then it stopped all together and what we were left with basically was a course gravel road...that wound through the mountains....there was only room for one vehicle there were no guard rails and the drop was easily several hundred meters....and in many places there were big and little rocks on the road that fell from the side of the mountain. I have been on many treacherous roads in any number of places in this world....but I can tell you this was the first road on which I was actually afraid! I thought of stopping and turning around...but there was really no where to safely do that...and anyway it would be just and dangerous going down as up...so we kept going. Lucklily we saw only one other car on the hour long drive, (sometimes were going no faster than walking speed) I saw him coming so I found a little niche that I put the car in to allow him to slowly inch past. Finally we came out to a main road....my hands were sweaty and cramped from hanging on to the bloody steering wheel so tightly.
I was very relieved to get on a decent highway.
Old Cypriot houses probably a couple of thousand years old.
We hit the road and went in search of a cold beer!
That was pretty much it. We only had a day or so left Johnathan took us to a restaurant for what the Cypriots call.....it's a 18 course meal...and that dosen't include the drinks.
Kim developed some kind of painful crick in her neck and pretty much had to stay close to the house for the next day or so.
The only other minor issue came when we were set to drive the 45 minutes to the airport in Larnaca...Johnathan was staying on for a few more days. I had driven the car almost out of gas so we would not be giving the car back with any gas in it....but the day before.... Kim and I were driving around and used up more gas than I had bargained for. No problem .... I thought tomorrow I will just put five Euros of gas in the car..... enough to get us to the airport. So next morning Johnathan comes back from visiting his friends just down the road and tells us that all the gas stations on the island are closed because of a strike by owners against the government....oh shit.
So off we go and made it into the airport on fumes I am sure.
We hit the airport duty frees in both Cyprus and Cairo like locusts.... bringing the Cyprus experience to a very happy conclusion....
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