Ten Cypriot Staycation Summers...

The last time I hopped on a plane was to go to the UK on a wobbly Easy Jet flight to Leicester and was pleasantly surprised by the UK weather which was unexpectedly mild with no rain. That was September 2015.

Following that, for the next ten years, I opted to stay in Cyprus. During these years I have seen Cypriot presidents leave and take up office, lived through a pandemic which limited travel, switched jobs and welcomed a niece into the world and had to say goodbye to loved ones who passed away. It seems like a lifetime but in the process I have felt changed, even renewed despite the lack of travelling.

In this time I have also read steadily, gathered knowledge, visited places of interest in Cyprus and become more aware of this island's deep and complex history and culture. My Cypriot nature has become more apparent and I have blended in more with the world around me and my spoken Greek has improved.

Even though at times the desire to get on a plane and escape for a while is missed, the island pulls me back-its shores, its mountains, its lifestyle, its protective nature. There is so much I have yet to discover, so many more places I haven't yet visited or experienced. In short, we are lucky to live here. The climate, the food, the easy way of getting out and about. 

There are times when we complain, get angry and grumble at the state of things and there are certainly aspects of life here that can and must be improved, but being a small island changes and improvements are feasible as long as they are competently and effectively done. 

In its troubled past, this island had to start again from very little and it is commendable in itself that the unoccupied part of the island has made so much progress since those troubled times. More still needs to be done and the future awaits, but Cyprus pushes forward like all other nations into a period which will hopefully bring good fortune, prosperity but above all, peace and reunification.

Lawrence Durrell in his book 'Bitter Lemons of Cyprus,' said, "Taken leisurely, with all one's time at one's disposal Cyprus could, I calculate, afford one a minimum of two years reckoned in terms of novelty; hoarded as I intended to hoard it, it might last anything up to a decade."

For me, a decade it has been, without having had an eye on other lands, but despite this I have gained and seen an island like the sea around it, in all its seasons, in all its calm and upheaval but still with an eye on the horizon, looking out and awaiting what is next to come.

Mountains and Monasteries...

John Muir, the Scottish-American naturalist once said, "The mountains are calling and I must go." Such was the feeling today as we set off for a trip out of town and into a more peaceful and quiet area of the island.

Our first stop was the picturesque village of Omodos, surrounded by pines. Walking along its cobbled streets, we reached the famous Timiou Stavrou Monastery which stands in the centre of the village. Legend has it that St. Helena (mother of Emperor Constantine) left a piece of the rope with which Christ was tied to the cross and it is now kept in a cross-shaped reliquary. It is believed that on her return journey from Jerusalem after recovering the Cross of the Crucifixion, St. Helena was stranded by bad weather on the south shores of Cyprus. She first founded the monastery of the Holy Cross on Olympus peak, now known as Stavrovouni (Cross on the Mount) and then churches at Tochni, Lefkara and Omodos.

It is possible that on the site of the present monastery, on which St. Helena built only a church, there pre-existed another smaller church or even a pagan temple. The current church was built in 1858 to replace a smaller one that was demolished.

The monastery it is believed must have flourished during Frankish and Venetian rule since important icons survive from these periods. The village of Omodos developed from the monastery possibly as early as the Byzantine period but certainly during Frankish rule.

The local priest explained the monastery's past and the church has icons painted in the Russian Orthodox style as well as impressive murals created between 1905 and 1912 which are influenced by more Western traditions in painting.

I paid a visit to the Ecclesiastical Museum within the monastery which houses 16th century icons portraying Jesus' life as well as icons of St. John the Theologian, St. Peter and Archangel Gabriel among others. Also on display were religious robes worn by priests, a silver incense burner and silver trays and chalices.

The first floor took you to a display of Omodos papilla lace and as is explained by the historian Talbot Rice in his book 'The Icons of Cyprus,' these laces were highly valued in Europe and exported in the 14th century. 

Another museum on the top floor was dedicated to the EOKA struggle with descriptions of some of the fighters who died and displayed are an interesting collection of some of their clothes and belongings.

Leaving Omodos, we made our way higher up towards Platres and Trooditissa Monastery in a landscape of refreshing and lush greenery, the sky above overcast with a hope of rain and opening the car windows, we breathed in the cool, mountain air.

There was a soothing calm about the monastery with only the rustle of leaves breaking the silence. Local tradition dates the monastery to the 8th or 9th century, though the earliest written record is from the 14th century. The monastery was burned down by the Ottomans in 1585 and again by fire in 1842 with the current church built in 1731. The surrounding monastic buildings date from the late 18th and 19th centuries. Inside, the miracle-working icon is adorned with a silver-leaf cover and offers hope to childless couples.

We returned to Omodos for coffee and cake and as we sat idly in the cafe under the shade of large umbrellas, it started to rain. The rain felt auspicious and hopeful and a respite from the heat and humidity. Before leaving we bought 'arkatena' (bread typical of the village) as well as honey-coated cashew nuts and pomegranate-flavoured sesame seed candy known as 'pasteli.' 

The trip was a change of scene to the hustle and bustle of town life and on returning I felt changed and with a renewed sense of hope.

To A Godfather...

My godfather was a man who needed no introduction. Large, both physically and charismatically, he was full of witty and delightful sayings. One, which decorated his office back in the day, translated from Greek into 'When I met man, I started loving animals.' He was thoughtful, wise and a skillful businessman and from him I gathered the example of stoicism but also open-hearted generosity.

For his love of food I remember him distinctly. He loved fish and often cooked for us on a Sunday or national holiday. Stewed rabbit was also a special treat and he sometimes picked small mandarins from the tree in the front porch of his house and added them to his recipe.

He was a man who did nothing by halves. Open, outspoken, short-tempered at times but with wit and humour. He despised small-mindedness and gossips or people who were miserly with their time or money. He gave and needed nothing in return but love and understanding. In later years, he may have lost his vision and dynamic physicality, but he was still respected and cared for.

Family ties and relationships can sometimes be demanding and challenging and that is a universal truth, not just something tied to Cyprus. Cousins, aunts, uncles, godmothers and godfathers are cherished and loved despite their idiosyncrasies or a word spoken in anger or haste. In my family, even after heated discussions and arguments, we have always ended up in understanding and forgiveness, even in the silences in between.

Someone once said, ' Families are like stars, you don't always see them, but you know they are there.' After losing family members in the last few years, memory remains, those cherished moments you have spent with them, the lessons learnt and I believe their spirits remain, guiding and protecting even after they are long gone.

Colin Thubron: Journey Into Cyprus

It is not often you come across a book that promises everything you want it to be and does not disappoint. Such was the case on reading Colin Thubron's 'Journey Into Cyprus.' It describes the writer's trek through Cyprus in the spring and summer of 1972. There is a dreamlike, reflective melancholy throughout, intertwined with historical insight and touches of humour.

As the book unfolds and as the writer traverses the island, you feel you are walking with the writer yourself and with every step something new is revealed, something knowledgeable and informative, snippets of facts about the island that you didn't know before.

The thoughts and insights of the writer carry you away, to another point in time, a different period of the island before the tragic events of 1974 and it is with this knowledge, that you are reading about and witnessing an island before catastrophe, that it is all the more veiled with melancholy and reflection.

Thubron wanders through forests, mountains, rivers, villages and towns and he meets colourful personalities along the way. Often these chance encounters are peppered with humour such as his meeting with Chambis who believes he is a descendant of the Arcadians- " Of course we are Greeks,' said Chambi, but of a separate kind" or the tragic-comic encounter with the Turkish tomb robber who wants Thubron to purchase ancient artifacts -"On the table were fragments of Roman glass...The old man held one up to the light. He was spry and brown as a monkey. 'One pound,' he said. 'Will you buy?" In one humorous moment where he is invited to eat with a family, he experiences eating 'strouthos,' a bird which he soon discovers is far from chicken- " The skull fell off the neck with a tiny clatter. I scraped away a little of the chest and ate its dark, high meat."

There are also more sobering accounts such as his meeting with Christos the schoolmaster, who was tortured by the British because of his involvement with EOKA and the writer is shocked by his revelations as he shows him around the prison cells he was kept in and concluding that, "It seemed now that I was naive not to have believed it before. In every people, when angry or afraid, there is a quality which can be distorted into brutality. In my own, perhaps, it was a lack of sensitized emotion."

Beauty and ugliness intertwine in the narrative, as he describes the harsh landscape of the copper mines which had "taken on a mutilated synthetic look," in direct contrast with other places such as Akamas with "its flush of green [which] was entrancing, and a host of butterflies were tumbling about the trees." Often he is high up looking down with reflective thought as he experiences when he visits Stavrovouni Monastery on a star-filled night - "Below us cities and villages, by day invisible for haze, glimmered out of the darkness: Famagusta, Nicosia, Limassol, the bracelet of Larnaca on its bay; while to the west the Troodos mountains were piled with scattered sparks like a fairground canopy."

As Thubron reaches the northern tip of the island, he is all the more entranced by its beauty and history and as his journey ends, he reflects on Cyprus and its compexity. As a writer and traveller Thubron witnessed Cyprus in its last years of peace. He travelled around the entire island before partition and destruction. He experienced a unified Cyprus, so mesmerizing and authentic that by the end of the book you are left with a feeling of longing, a deep wish to see Cyprus unified once again and like Thubron, be able to walk the same path as his - no borders, no checkpoints, just freedom of passage around an island which is still waiting in the midst for that day to arrive again.

Gratitude: Peace for Today, Vision for Tomorrow...

In today's fast-paced lifestyles, where tedium and irritation seep in, where life often seems to throw us challenges one after the other and there is no end to to-do lists and mundane errands, August on this island, feels like a relief.

It is an opportunity to sit and relax, whether at the beach, in your garden or simply on your front porch or balcony, watching as afternoon slowly mellows into twilight and the cicadas' humming draws out into evening. For many it is a time for re-evaluation, a reset ready for a new beginning in September.

For a winemaker, in Cyprus and elsewhere, August are when the grapes are in the final stages of ripening and preparation for harvesting is underway as they are picked for eating or making wine.The winemaker's fruits of labour reach their end and if the harvest is bountiful, so much the better.

In the same way as grapes are harvested, so too must we cultivate gratitude despite life's setbacks and hurdles. Being simply present in the moment, quietly content and satisfied with what we have is, in today's world, immensely underrated. But it is only in these moments of gratitude, that new blessings arrive, often unexpectedly and unannounced.

It is often the case here in Cyprus, that many fall into the trap of wanting, when what they have is never enough and are easily influenced by others' supposed glamorous and more luxurious lifestyles. They perceive expensive belongings- cars, homes, the latest tech trend or expensive shoe or bag to be of more importance than generosity, humility, integrity or just a simple heartfelt compassion. We lose ourselves in wanting, in never being satisfied in having enough. Often it is the view of ourselves which is lacking. We identify ourselves with wanting and having than with just simply being.

The late American author Melody Beattie once said, "Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend." She also said, "Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today and creates a vision for tomorrow."

Rather than being caught up with what is lacking, we must be thankful for what we have, with the little we have. To someone in this world, it is a lot more than they could ever imagine possible. Someone's little could equate to another's plenty. Gratitude allows us to see this and be at peace with life as it is and look forward to what is to come.

A Visit To Geroskipou...

Geroskipou bustled with activity in the late morning as locals went about their daily routines. The name Geroskipou means 'sacred garden' in Greek and was built on the site of a forest dedicated to Aphrodite.

I made my way to Agia Paraskevi church standing monumentally in the market square, surrounded by cafes, a municipal library and the town hall. It is a Byzantine church, built in the 9th century and features five domes in the shape of a cross with a 19th century belfry. Inside you can see frescoes which were restored in the 1970's and the images inside the church can be dated from the Lusignan period due to the style of armour worn by the knights portrayed.

My next stop- the Folk Art Museum, an impressive 18th century mansion now belonging to the Cyprus Department of Antiquities and opened as a museum in 1978. The well-known British Commodore and later Admiral Sir Sidney Smith (1764-1840) famed for his success at the siege of Acre against Bonaparte in 1799, landed in Paphos and visited Andreas Zimboulakis, an immigrant from the Ionian islands who had settled in Geroskipou. Smith was so impressed by Zimboulakis' education, knowledge of languages and cordial hospitality that he appointed him British Consular Agent at Paphos. The house eventually came to be known as 'Smith's house,' as Sir Sidney visited often. The house was used as the residence of the British Consular Agent of Paphos from 1800-1864.

In the entrance to the house and museum, pictures of islanders taken by John Thomson in 1878 are displayed as well as a picture by J.P Foscolo taken in 1909.

Among the most interesting rooms are reconstructions of traditional pastimes and ways of life. There is a reconstruction of a traditional kitchen with a fireplace and an array of pots, pans and earthenware as well as wicker baskets and gourds with crooked necks which were used to teach children how to swim. There are also reconstructions of a coppersmith's workshop and a shoemaker's workshop.

In another room there are some impressive displays of pottery, with detailed explanations of their provenance and usage and there are pictures of potters at work. The decorated pottery of Lapithos was sold all over Cyprus and was very popular with foreign visitors. Varosi, the Greek suburb of Famagusta also had a long tradition of pottery making, with creations sold all over Cyprus and exported to neighbouring countries. Varosi was renowned for its white water jugs whereas Lapithos was famous for its glazed jugs and bowls. Pottery was an indispensable part of everyday life but now only remaining in two rural centres in Cyprus- Kornos and Foini.

There was also a detailed explanation of the last scarf maker in Cyprus and the intricate method used in scarf making. It is sad that such traditions have not been carried down and the last workshops have closed their doors. Woodcarving and chest-making, also displayed at the museum have now dwindled to only a few workshops.

The history of weaving and embroidery was also explained in detail in another room of the museum and as you walked in and out of each room with beautifully arranged displays, you couldn't help but be transported to another time, a simpler time, an authentic past where people had less but I believe were happier in this wholesome way of life.

A pomegranate tree was planted in the inner courtyard of the house, a symbol of abundance and prosperity, a hope for a fruitful life. 

Walking back down to the market square, I wasn't going to leave until I bought some loukoumi (Cyprus delight), freshly packed in boxes and then I sat for a while at a cafe a watched the world go by. A butterfly flitted past as I sat sipping my coffee by the market square, my mind full of new information, gathering up knowledge and memories on a beautiful blue-sky day in Geroskipou.

Sources: Cyprus Department of Antiquities

The Ancient City Kingdoms...

The Bronze Age in Cyprus which began around 3000 BC created and developed trade in Cyprus with other peoples of the area around the Mediterranean. As is explained in 'Brief History of Cyprus in Ten Chapters' by Dr Dick Richards, Cyprus was added to Egypt in 1500 BC and "the island acquired its very first mention in the archives of history." Cyprus belonged to the Egyptians who "came to conquer and rule" but it wasn't long before other surrounding countries and peoples influenced the island. The Phoenicians came to trade and "they built considerable sized settlements and towns at Kitium, Amathus and Lapithos. The Aegean peoples came to settle and remain."

When the city of Knossos in Crete was destroyed, as well as other sites in Crete and Mycenae, there was a massive migration of Greek-speaking peoples from the area. More and more Greek speaking settlers reached Cyprus. As is described "The early Iron Age saw the Greek-speaking peoples, the Hellenes, divided into different branches- Aeolians, Dorians, Lydians and Ionians. The surplus of their swiftly expanding populations spread out to Italy, Asia Minor, the shores of the Black Sea and eastward into Cyprus." The city states created included Marion, Salamis, Soli, Curium, Paphos/Kouklia  as well as Tamassos. By the start of the 5th century BC, Cyprus had ten kingdoms, the existing ones having been joined by Kyrenia, Idalion, Amathus and Kitium. As is further explained, "Marion, Salamis and Soli were Ionian cities. Curium was Dorian, Paphos/Kouklia and Kitium were of Mycenean affiliation. Cyprus was by this time predominantly Greek speaking. It remained however a colony of the Egyptian pharaohs.

As is further described, "The individual city-states that were established on the island emulated the greater cities of their originators. They were true 'democracies' in the original sense. That is, they were not like modern, so-called democracies where every citizen of age is enfranchised. Only the native citizens and the wealthy people had the right to vote. The economy was thus based on the availability of a large slave labour force. There was thriving trade from Cyprus in corn, wine, oil and copper. The trading cities thrived and prospered."

Cyprus had been ruled by the Egyptians but in 546 BC Egypt was conquered by the Persians. Cyprus thus fell under the control of the Persians. The Cypriot kingdoms were forced to pay tributes to them and to supply battleships in the event of war. During the Greek-Persian Wars (499-449 BC), some kingdoms supported the Greeks, while others supported the Persians, such as the Phoenician inhabitants of Kitium, Amathus as well as Marion, Curium and Salamis. In 381 BC King Evagoras of Salamis tried to unify the city kingdoms but the states were constantly divided amongst themselves. Persia remained the great power and Cyprus remained part of its empire. Despite the political situation, language and cultural influences remained Greek.

In 325 BC Alexander the Great attacked the Persian Empire and the Cypriot kingdoms welcomed him as a liberator, however this wasn't to last. After Alexander's death in 323 BC, Cyprus became a battleground for his successors and the Greek-Egyptian Ptelemy I Solter was victorious. Kitium, Kyrenia, Lapithos and Marion were destroyed. Cyprus became part of the kingdom of Egypt and the new capital was Nea Pafos. Cultural life combined Hellenism and the Egyptian gods. 

It is believed that the city states were further destroyed by earthquakes, revolts, raids and pillaging. In his book 'Journey Into Cyprus,' Colin Thubron visits Idalion but finds nothing there. As he describes, "Graves, walls, temples-all had been rattled empty and the city gone to join a hundred other places which earthquake and the soft local stone have returned to powder."