We set off early for Kyrenia and arrived about 945. Walked down to the beautiful harbour which was quieter than usual. John and Sue went to the Castle museum to see the shipwreck exhibit and I walked around the harbour and up into the back streets to the Ottoman lamp shop. We wanted to buy two more of the battery powered Ottoman lamps to take back to our house in Kent, we have been so pleased with the ones we have here. I chose two with orange/red stained glass which I think will be nice in the dining room, matching our red Pakistani carpet and the window blinds. They are such a bargain at £20 each.
I also chose a huge plain glass and brass Ottoman lamp to hang at landing level in the hallway. It is apparently a copy of a design hanging in the Topkapi Palace in Istanbul. Well….. if it’s good enough for there….. We can pick it up tomorrow. We need to make sure we hang it on enough brass chain that we can pull it over to the landing when the bulb needs changing.
As I walked back to the harbour, John and Sue were just coming the other way. We sat at a café by the water and had cold drinks and a rest. It was very hot and quite humid. Then we drove up to the lovely village of Bellapais on the hillside behind Kyrenia. There is a ruined abbey there and it was made famous by the Durrells who lived there for some years. Had a walk around the little shops. Sue bought a lovely throw. We had lunch in the Tree of Idleness restaurant.
As we drove home the sky went very black and an absolute downpour ensued complete with hailstones. Water on the roads was quite deep in places and the hail was very strong. We just tootled along very slowly and made it home safely where it hadn’t rained at all.
It did start at about 1pm. Very heavy. The garden will certainly be pleased and we can turn the watering system off. I suppose the season is now changing and this turmoil will mark the transition to more settled cooler weather.
Tonight, we went up to eat dinner at the vineyard restaurant. It had stopped raining by then, but we drove instead of walking… just in case…
A very good dinner food-wise. We had delicious homemade breads (some with cheese embedded) with oil and balsamic while we perused the menu. I had a starter of sashimi with nigella seeds and pomegranate seeds. It was fabulous. Just so delish. Bob had chicken and sweetcorn soup. John had very rare beef, thin sliced and wrapped in various things (I forget) and Sue had a salad with lamb. For mains, I had lamb cutlets served on a bed of creamed potatoes and spinach. John had the same. Bob had fillet steak with lyonnaise potatoes, Sue had lamb kebabs on a bed of grains with salad and pomegranates. We had a bottle of chenin blanc to start and then a bottle of their divine Terra red wine for the main. The food was faultless but the service is spotty and weirdly for a vineyard restaurant, the wine service is diabolical. We ordered the red wine first to be opened and held to breathe for our main course. We ordered, we tasted it and they put it to one side for us and then served it to someone else, so that when we got to our main course and wanted it, we had to have a newly opened bottle. There were other wine blunders that I won’t go on about, but it is indicative of lack of training of the waiting staff. I will definitely email them in a constructive way.
Very nice day. Hope the weather improves tomorrow.