Wine & Whisky

Posted on February 25, 2026 by Clunegapyears

24.02.26

Not the best plan to do a wine tasting at 10.00 a.m., but hadn’t been able book Sunday, or Monday as a public holiday. Healthy samples too … J stepped up.

We leaned more about the July ’25 fire. Our host pointed out where the fire was halted on the perimeter of the village. Her family lost vineyard buildings and 2/3 of their vines. The Cypriot government only financially assisted if 3/4 lost. Some EU money, but 7 years before the vineyards are productive. This small family vineyard supplied wine for charcuterie producers, wine paste coated almonds (same as seen in Georgia) and a delicious grape and sesame marmalade. Unfortunately the small jars were over 100ml so we couldn’t buy any to bring home.

*Clay plithoi from 18?? Still used for the charcuterie wine*

*The grand daughter read chemistry at Uni, then a post grad on wine in Athens. She also dances and rides a motorbike.*

A drive over the mountains to Nicosia. We did a self guided walking tour in the Greek side. Nothing special, but pleasant enough.

*Liberty monument: two resistance fighters are pulling on prison chains to release* *men women and children*

*Famagusta Gate: part of the Venetian wall defenses. Wide enough for two vehicles to pass*

*Interesting mix of architecture*, *and yellow post boxes*

*And saw the pedestrian border crossing*

Then off through the vehicle crossing for us. Supper easy and quick. I was asked at the Greek side, if we had visited the occupied terrotory before? A reminder that Turkey is the only country to recognise Northern Cyprus. We bought Tr insurance for the car €35. No customs checks … mindful of our wine confiscation from Georgia to Turkey, we had decanted 1.5 litres of gin into our drinking water bottles!

Northern Cyprus does not feel like Turkey. Half the hoardings along the motorway advertised whiskey, campari and raki. We looked hard to find a lady in a head scarf. And the supermarket had a full aisle of booze.

Had bought an esim, which was so rubbish we couldn’t navigate to our accommodation. We ended up connecting to a hotel and screen shotting the map. Stressful. So unpacked … including un-decanting the gin … cheers.

Walks, waterfalls & weather

Posted on February 24, 2026 by Clunegapyears

23.02.26

Another lots of stops day. And over 20,000 steps. We left the house at 0845 due to the pm rain forecast.

Only 360m walk from the car to Millomeri Waterfall.

… *not pretty. Shame about the monstrosity being constructed very close by. A great view for a tiny minority.*

A short drive to Kaledonia waterfall. A 3.7km circuit. Climbing up alongside the river. Then an easy descent along a wide service track.

We drove on uphill, with ears popping, to the Artemis Trail. 7.5km circular around the top of a mountain. Easy as less than 50m of ascent. The woods occasionally opened up to reveal amazing views, including the sea. Turning a corner, we entered the black cloud. Then the hail started, followed by light snow. We didn’t even stop for water as it was too cold. -1°C real feal -3°Cc. Can’t remember the last time we were in sub 0.

*This is as much snow as we want please!*

*So the hail started and stayed with us*

Back at Baby Blue the hire car, we ate with the engine on.

Down the mountain to Omodos, and a balmy 10C.

*And to hot chocolate and lava cake … shared*

Omodos has a pretty monastery with museums.

*An ancient wine press and so many wine tasting bars*

*EOKA resistance hideout … resistance against British 1955-59. British culpable of torture, hangings, curfew and imprisonment without trial.*

*Baby Blue … since Ben is Nino Rojo, dubbed by the hotel staff in Mexico*

Paphos or Pafos

Posted on February 23, 2026 by Clunegapyears

22.02.25

Like in Greece, the translation can have multiple spellings. Where we live Kambia or Kampia, Almyrida or Almirida, Kalyves or Kalives, Xania or Chania. And the accent. I know Cretan is the equivalent of British Geordie, but here is much smoother, less emphasis on the syllables. And it feels very British. Well, it was. All signs are in both Greek and English. Lots of ex Pats. Hoarding adverts are in English. And they drive on the left … I’ve not been caught out … yet.

Lots of tourists, despite being only February. Crete is largely protected from all year mass tourism, as November till March requires a flight change in Athens. Cyprus is major destination for Brits 30-34% of all tourists. Followed by tourists from Israel Germany, and Poland. Russian visitors are fast increasing. Chatted yesterday to two young charming girls from Russia and Israel who live here. They attend English school.

We packed up and were on the road before 9.20. A journey to our next accommodation, but with stops.

Edro II shipwreck

Built in 1966 and travelling from Limassol to Rhodes with a cargo of plasterboard. A storm in 2011 has given it a permanent home rusting just north of Pafos. The location is particularly pretty. Safari jeep tour stop, so quite busy. Did overhear a guide explaining that a nearby house had hosted UK Love Island.

Coral Bay

Billed as having a stunning white beach … not sure where! They must remove the seaweed for the season. And then we saw a mountain of perfect sand ready to be spread. If all the accommodation is full occupancy, plus the day trippers … yuk!

On a spit is Maa Palaeokastro. Late Bronze age settlement of Greeks from late C13 to early C12 BC. Only a few generations. Evidence of houses and defensive walls. A Linear A script was found … Minoan. Not a lot to see, but J being over 65 was free. I was €2.50

*Only the landward side defensive walls survives, the seaward a victim of the elements*

Tombs of the Kings

Found a much needed coffee en route. Actually, I had two.
A necropolis from C4 BC, not for royalty but aristocrats and officials. And there must have been a lot of them, judging by the huge number of underground tombs. The Romans pinched and excavated a lot of of stone, but remarkable how much survived.

Pafos

Being so close we could not ignore the city. We planned to walk a self guided tour. Think a) we were running out of steam and b) we just don’t like places that exist solely for tourists.

We walked along to look at the fort, where St Paul’s pillar is and a Frankish hamam. Skipped the mosaics and the Archeological Park. And we were done.

*Frankish hamam. The ottomans added the domes*

Drove all of 300m to a superb hypermarket to stock up. Stocked up also on Gordons at under €13 /ltr. After our recent trip to Turkey, we suspect booze will not be easily available and expensive.

Staying 2 nights in Pera Pedi. An hour 30 drive along a quiet motorway east and the north up to the Troodos mountains. Most of this road blighted by wild fires from July ’25. 125 sq km. Apparently 14 villages evacuated. Amazing not to have seen property destroyed, as the Internet states 43 houses were completely destroyed with a further 29 severely damaged.

Forecast for storms tomorrow pm! 😕

Maribor Mak Restaurant, Germany and home

Posted on February 22, 2026 by Clunegapyears

04/11/2025

We started the day by taking Poor Penny’s body to a vet for disposal. It keeps hitting us in waves. Both the old owner on Crete and the new one in Wales have been super supportive of everything we tried to do for her. Monitoring Flo, hoping she doesn’t go down with whatever caused it.

We came off the motorway on entering Slovenia as I can’t be bothered with a go box for over 3.5 tons. Very pretty. Every time I come back to Slovenia, I’m reminded why it’s my favourite country.

The main reason for coming here is to eat at Mak Restaurant. A complete barking rocker chef but amazing food. We also had the paired wine tasting. €319 plus tip for 2 of us. Just fab. So fab, we will go back tonight! Robyn’s fault!!!

Just realised I never finished the trip blog! We had another, but different food and wine night at Maks.

Drove off motorway up through stunning Slovenia and then the Julien Alps and Austria. Slow plough had piled up snow either side of the road.

An overnight stop with Kerstin in Reutlingen. Penny still not house trained. Pee on Kerstin’s floor. And we put most of the pee soaked rugs and towels through her washing machine.

We made such good time, we had 2 nights in Bergues to recover from long driving days.

Back in Blighty, mum cooked and then I dropped Robyn to her daughter-i-l. But only after she helped me empty and clean Jez. He is now on a forecourt near Chichester. End of an era … but we want to use the sale proceeds for long haul.

Maddy and Ben flew back to Crete with me and Jordan joined us for a long weekend.

Cyprus Holiday

Posted on February 22, 2026 by Clunegapyears

20.02.26

A week after arriving home after Turkey & Georgia and returning Jez to the UK, I found myself in a blue funk. Ridiculous as we love living in Crete. Life is good etc. But I realised my mood was as I didn’t have a trip planned. Ryan Air fly from Chania to Paphos several times a week. €79 return … for both us us. They get you on luggage €174 to add 2 x 10kg small flight bags. Still a cheap trip… I got planning!

We cleaned the house. Cleaned ourselves. Dropped Corrie at a wonderful lady, Sam, and her family for 10 days. Strange to be off travelling minus 🐕. But not travelling. This doesn’t feel like travelling. This is a holiday.

J drove to the airport. ABBA (traditional setting off music) was playing. But he didn’t chair dance and drive off the road. Like I did in Jez, setting off for Morocco.

Ryan Air superb. On time. Leg room. Wide seats. Only a 1hr 10 short hop. Hire car collected. Lidl shop done. We even found the apt without too much difficulty. Basic but ok.

Aphrodite Trail

21.02.26

Slowish start may be something to do with Gordon last night. As in gin. Drove up to the NW point. It is here that Aphrodite used to shag Adonis. Bathe and walk to sleep off her exertions under an oak tree. The trail was busy (relatively) but stunning. One of those it is really good to be alive. Fabulous views. A long uphill but strategic benches for water stops. At 78 J was faster than a few youngsters!!! Ice cream reward … my first ice cream in about 3 weeks … that must be a record.