Fikardou

One quick note: For those of you receiving these posts in your email, we noticed that videos don't seem to come through that way.  There's a short clip at the end of this post, as well as our last post with our garden mantis.  You can click through to see the post on our blog to watch the videos.

Friday was an important holiday in Cyprus in honor of the name "Maria."  We celebrated with a visit to small mountain village called Fikardou with our new/old friend, Kate (who went to high school with the Reverend/Rabbi Rosie), and our new friend, Anna.

Kate did the driving.  She has a bit of Parnelli in her . . . the tiny mountain roads combined with temperatures in the high 90s, and us getting used to driving on the left, had us a bit tense by the time we arrived.  But Fikardou is a charming, old place, and we quickly relaxed and felt at ease—you know siga, siga.  The current population stands at 17 permanent residents, all of whom seem kind and warm.  In the end of September, they have a festival where they turn the town back into a "working" village and serve traditional food and drink—cheeses, wines, olives, and the like.  We found this out from another new friend over a very pink beverage made from milk and rosewater.  Delicious, but next time, we'll try it with soda water as well.

We had lunch in a very traditional place—the only restaurant in the actual village.  Because of the holiday, it was fully booked.  We were lucky to get a table.  So far, the Cypriot diet seems very meat-heavy, and our lunch was a strong illustration.  We ordered the lamb, and when it arrived, it looked like they had put the whole beast on the table for the four of us, along with oven roasted potatoes, a traditional Greek salad, and bread (the bread most often served is a dense, crusty white bread that seems unsalted).  The meats are baked in huge clay ovens that they seal with new clay as the meat is roasted.  Again, delicious.

the tiny church with 19th century paintings, Venetian glass + separate spaces for the men and the women w/children

We stopped for Cypriot coffees and "Frappes" at a place halfway down the mountain.  We think that Frappe is basically Nescafe mixed with frothed milk, but over ice, it hit the spot.  We also enjoyed some sort of candied walnuts drizzled with honey.  These seem to be a typical Cypriot dessert as well.





Here is a short video clip we shot outside the home of one local resident.  You can see the grapes hanging down from the arbor above, and the sign says that you can buy free-range chickens and eggs.  Listen closely and you can hear some beautiful Greek music playing from inside.  Nice to get out of the city for the day!