Sunday around Kayalar and Horseshoe Bay

We’re about to get a couple of days of rain showers so we decided to make the most of the sun, and headed west along the coast to the “wild west” of Kayalar and Sadrazamkoy. It’s quite remote once you get past Karsyaka and take the fork right to Kayalar. The road is spectacular, clinging to the edge of the high sea cliffs, all the greens of Cyprus on one side and the blue blue of the sea on the other.

We like to drive the road and go through Kayalar and on towards Sadrazamkoy. After a few miles you come to a place where there is a small promontory and on one side of it are some old carob warehouses and on the other is a tiny fisherman’s chapel on the very shore’s edge. It’s such a picturesque spot and there’s never anyone much there, maybe the odd fisherman. We paddled in the sea – it’s still quite warm. Much warmer than our pool is now. We would have swum but it was rocky and we didn’t have water shoes with us.

Heading back we called in at Horseshoe Bay/Beach for lunch at the restaurant there which is one of our favourites. It’s a very very quirky place run by an old Turkish Cypriot chap and his family. He’s called Ibo and he is quite a character, as quirky as the restaurant itself. There is no electricity or gas and he cooks everything on a massive charcoal grill. Somehow he is able to serve ice cold beer and white wine. He cooks simple things but divinely. A basket of fresh bread. A platter of beautiful fresh salad with a simple dressing that enhances the flavours but doesn’t mask the freshness. A bowl of the best ever chips. And your choice of grill: sea bream, sea bass, chicken shish, lamb shish, lamb chops, mixed grill, butterfly chicken, calamari. Everything is fresh, nothing is frozen. When it runs out…. it’s out.

We sat on his terrace overlooking the bay and enjoyed our lunch. It was gorgeous. Such views. He has a lot of cats. A lot. They sit and watch you hopefully. I can’t say they got much pickings from us. A bit. But they look well tended and well fed so we didn’t feel guilty. No doubt Bob and I will be back again before we leave the island.

Came home and slept for a few hours this afternoon. Still tired from last night.