Sunday - a short day in Limossol, Cyprus

The day in Cyprus began with a steady rain. While it would have been easy to be less than thrilled, our tour guide for our excursion explained to us that Cyprus had been experiencing drought conditions for several years. Therefore they considered it a blessing. It was hard to argue with that. It also was a little chilly (for here) but the tour and the day were very nice, even with the rain.

Our first stop was at the village of Omodos, originally a Greek Orthodox monastery. Within the village, the streets were quite narrow, paved with natural cobble stones that had been there for centuries. It was described as a walking village because the “streets” were so narrow that even the “smart cars” that were everywhere would have been far too wide. It continued to rain during our tour. As there were no drainage systems, other than the streets, the water flowing freely all along the way. Our first pause was at a bakery, with a wonderful smell you can just imagine.

We stopped next at one of the local wine press that the entire community used. A basket was hung on the wall, typical of the ones used as villagers brought in their grapes to be pressed. The wine press consisted of a very large wooden “screw” and attached mechanism that when turned, pressed the grapes and deposited the juice in very large clay jars. Of course we had an opportunity to taste a couple of the local wines. Yes I did, and it definitely took the chill off from being in the rain.

Our next stop was at the village Greek Orthodox Church. Though it was noon, there was a service still going on in the church. The guide said it was a special day for one of the saints. She also said worshippers were not bothered by tours as it happens all the time. I was quite uncomfortable with our presence in the back of the sanctuary, even as quiet as we tried to be.

 

 Following this stop we walked down one very narrow street where some of the local villagers had shops in which they sold many things, including a number of crafts they made themselves. We actually purchased very intricate doilies from two different ladies. One owner told us that the younger people are not interested in learning the crafts and that when this generation is gone, so will the knowledge to make such things.

The Sanctuary of Kourion was our next stop, the oldest structures reaching back to 325BC. The most recent being with the Late Roman Period as recent as 7^th century AD.  Interesting, the oldest pottery fragments found within the

community dated back to about 2000BC. Within the village we toured the remnants of one home, with a surviving mosaics that was quite beautiful; temples, (one being the Temple of Athena); a Roman bath within the home, complete with clay pipes to provide the water; and even the village amphitheater that overlooked the Aegean Sea.  Staged in many old Roman movies, the open theater hosted regular combat with both human and animal combatants. 

From here we headed back to the ship. All along the way back, the principle industry was evident everywhere, that being hundreds of thousands of citrus trees: orange, grapefruit, lemons, Mandarin oranges and Clementine.