Unorthodox

Today has been fascinating, starting with the guest house owner’s cockerel about 4.30am, followed not long after by the call to prayer from the village mosque.

On the plus side, breakfast was amazing. Home grown olives and red mulberries - I’d never eaten red ones before, only white. Home made jam. An egg from the noisy henhouse. Bread, cucumbers, tomatoes, hard cheese, honey... I give up, I can’t remember it all.

Then it was a politico-socio-economic discussion with Zekai (guesthouse owner), before spending most of the rest of the day in the car touring the Karpas area. It was fun. Remote, beautiful, quiet, mostly undeveloped. I went as far as Zafer Burnu - the cape at the furthest end of the peninsula.

I picked a good time to visit. Things are still green (relatively speaking), and spring flowers are blooming. The wheat harvest has started and very soon all the fields will be dry and barren again until next winter. 

I suppose the highlight was visiting Ayia Trias. I was the only person there. I enjoyed sitting among some 5th century ruins to contemplate the tranquility in the mid-afternoon sun. I think it’s called mindfulness these days.  

The Blip is from the Apostolos Andreas Monastery. It’s a collaborative restoration project by the two governments of the island to restore a Greek Orthodox monastery. I think the priest was there to keep an eye on visitors, but lots of them wanted selfies with him. In between times he prayed. I know how he feels. 

The extra shows the kind of landscape around here.

Oh, Apostolos Andreas is also known as St Andrew.