Adventures in Europe: Lefkara, Cyprus

We picked up our rental car at the Larnaca airport yesterday around noon. The lady at the rental car location was impressed when I let her know our destination: Lefkara. I suppose most tourists renting cars are headed to the beach, but we were headed inland, and into the mountains.

Lefkara is a lovely village about 45 minutes west and north from Larnaca. It is beautiful in its own right, but also seemed to be a good location from whence to explore other sites on the island.  

We are spending three nights here, at the boutique Lefkara Hotel.

We enjoyed exploring the winding, narrow village streets and alleys.

Also, of course, we took opportunities to sit at cafes to dine and drink, including "Cypriot coffee," which I think most of the world knows as Turkish coffee.

Tasties is a popular cafe in a beautifully restored house across from our hotel. 

There are piles of old books around and just look at the finishes on the ceiling, staircase, etc.! It is a real gem. 

Just before sunset last night we hiked up to a look out point above Lefkara.

The valley Lefkara is in has vineyards . . .

. . . almond and cherry trees . . .

. . . and olive trees. We visited an olive farm today run by a very enthusiastic couple.

Olive trees are apparently nearly infinite. This one is 800+ years old!

The olive groves are on the hillside . . .

. . . and you can see how they have terraced it for the rows of tree.

Something I learned is that green olives are just immature black olives, or I suppose you could say black olives are mature green olives. I always assumed they were distinct strains of olive.

Oh, and there are also cactus!

In terms of the village itself, the economic activity it is famous for is lacemaking by the ladies and silverwork by the men. The lacemaking in particular is something they promote, and there are photos like the one below on walls around the village. This one specifically is a picture of the ladies making a piece for the coronation of Queen Elizabeth in 1952.

There are still many shops and artisans working in the village. We visited the one below, where a family does lacemaking and they sell silverwork. The mother and son spent a lovely half hour with us, explaining the lacemaking tradition and showing us some of the amazing silver filigree jewelry. 

Adventures in Europe: Larnaca, Cyprus

My wife and I are beginning a two-and-a-half-week trip to the Middle East, and our first stop is Cyprus.

Our itinerary to get here involved leaving Edmonton on Wednesday afternoon, flying WestJet via Calgary to London, and then British Airways from London to Larnaca, arriving around one o'clock in the morning Friday. 

This morning we woke up much earlier than we would have liked, but it gave us a lot of time to enjoy what was an absolutely incredible breakfast at the hotel. Not only did they have an amazing spread of food, they also had an automated orange juice machine--you loaded oranges in the top and freshly squeezed juice came out the bottom!

We were picking up a rental car around noon, so we had the morning to walk along the Larnaca waterfront. It was a lovely morning to stroll by the sea.

We also visited the Church of Saint Lazarus.

Lazarus was the first bishop of Larnaca in the first century, they say, and the church is built above his tomb. You can go below the altar to see the tomb, and his relics are in a box in the sanctuary. 

Back at the hotel, we enjoyed a complimentary drink by the pool before catching the bus back to the airport to pick up our rental car.