Well, today was a first!!!! We went to pick olives at Pamela and Eddie’s house and then took our harvest to the olive oil factory in Karsyaka. Sadly, we have no olive trees on our land so we’ve never done this before.
Pamela and Eddie had already harvested 5 sacks a couple of weeks ago but there was still plenty more to go at. We spread blankets under the trees and picked the olives on the lower branches by hand, and used plastic rakes to rake them off the branches up high. They fell down really easily and we got a blanketful and then emptied that into a sack and then carried on. Although they came off the trees easily, it was quite hard work as you are constantly bending and stretching, and you get a sort of motion sickness. Such fun though to take part in something happening all over the island at this time, and which has gone on for thousands of years.
I ran off for a couple of hours in the middle of the day for my manicure about which more later. Bob harvested on…. By the time I got back there were 3 sacks of olives ready to go to the co-operative factory in nearby Karsyaka. We timed it quite well, there was only one man ahead of us. They process each producer’s olives from end to end in one process so that you know that all your oil comes from your olives alone. First you put all your olives into a hopper and then they are fed up a conveyor belt into a washing machine where all the dirt and debris is cleaned off. Then they go through more soaking process until they reach the press when the oil is seperated off from the pulp and impurities. At the end we siphoned off the oil into a large plastic container where it must stay for 40 days to clarify before it can be drawn off and bottled. We got about 15 litres of peppery, green olive oil from our 3 sacks. Can’t wait to try our bottle when we come back next spring. There were several Cypriot families in the line behind us by the time we left, some with cases and cases of olives. Really a nice thing to be part of and thanks to Pamela and Eddie for letting us have that experience
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As I said, I’d gone for a manicure at mid day to a salon (new to me) near Ali hairdressers. I was a bit nervous because I have had some terrible manicure experiences here, ruining months of nail growth. Anyway, I needn’t have feared. This salon was run by two Russian ladies who really knew what they were doing. It took about 90 minutes to give me a great manicure and I will definitely go back there now every time. what a relief to find somewhere good after all these years. And it only cost £15 including tip. That’s about half what it would cost me in Folkestone. Amazing.
It was blowing a gale today. Sunny and warm but so windy. The sea was covered in white horses and big surf along the coast. Our swimming pool was covered in leaves when we got home and the lounger cushions were all over the place. We’ve noticed that you often get a big windstorm here as the seasons change.
Tonight Bob was feeling nostalgic that we wouldn’t be in India for the winter, and fancied a curry. So, we ventured out in the gale to Jashan in Karaoglanoglu. It was a really delicious dinner and of course very good value. Back home to watch Bake Off.
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