It’s Thursday and the weather cooperated so we could do our weekly Deks walk with Denise.  It was uphill the whole way, but the view at the top was worth it.  This afternoon/evening was a lovely party on Surrey Rose owned by David and Jill who put on a feast for all of the cruisers here in the marina.  Tomorrow we’re off on another Julia/Robin adventure to take their dog Scruffy off for a stay at the kennel while Julia and Robin go off for a long Christmas weekend.  Robin knows a restaurant near the kennel where I can get sardines like I had in Izmir.  We’ll see. 

This email is a mish mash of photos from different adventures.

Ru

Variety Pack…a little bit of this and that from the past week of so

These are some photos I want to share from the past week or so.

Food photos

Fish and chips at Deks.

Friday night is fish and chips night at Deks. Last Friday after our visits to Philon and Aphendrika we joined Julia and Robin and what seemed like half the British population of Karpaz for a fish and chips dinner. We were asked if we wanted hard peas or mushy peas…or something along those lines meaning “do you want your peas still round or mashed up”…I think. It felt as if we were in Jolly Old England listening to everyone talk.

I had my peas “unmashed” but next time will ask for the mushy ones just to see what that really turns out to be. Everyone at our table ate “hard” peas or skipped them altogether.

Deks, “Where everyone knows your name!”

Sunday, after our walk to the nearby light house, we tried a Yenierenkoy restaurant recommended by Julia and Robin for pide. We’d eaten pide in Turkey, except Randal couldn’t remember what it was. It’s basically seems like a cross between pizza dough and bread dough topped with cheese or meat or whatever. My Turkish/English dictionary translates pide as “fat bread,” probably because it is stuffed.

"Mixed Pide"

It was pretty good, though next time I’ll skip the pink baloney like meat and just get cheese and veggies. Randal ate some but concentrated on the bread and hummus that we also ordered.

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During our Famagusta trip on Monday we stopped at a wonderful bakery for some bread and sight- seeing. There were lots of interesting theme cakes. There were car cakes and Elvis cakes, but I though these two said a lot about where Turkish interests lay…

A laptop cake

Looks like the score is 0 to O.

Actually the cakes remind me of Hope Cemetery near Montpelier, VT where the headstones are carved to look similar to these cakes!

“Located on a small hillside in Barre, VT, the "Granite Capital of the World", the Hope Cemetery stands as a magnificent tribute to the stone cutters and artisans peacefully interred amongst their very own creations. Entering the front gate, you will pass by two granite sentries, forever watchful over their abode. From the moment you arrive you’ll notice this is no typical resting place for loved ones gone by. It is truly a gallery of splendid artwork in the most unusual of settings.” http://www.vermonter.com/hopecemetery.asp

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Hundreds of cats, thousands of cats, millions and billions and trillions of cats…

Well, maybe not that many, but lots of cats in Boğaz Harbor. One of Julia’s line dancing buddies raises money for food and health care for the cats. Jan is a psychiatric nurse by training, but a cat lover by nature. On weekends she has a booth in Boğaz harbor and sells whatever people have donated, the money all being used for the cats. Randal and I donated some too-small clothes and a few other things. Julia had knitted a lovely toddler sized yellow sweater, pants, and hat to be sold most likely for less than the cost of the yarn! We stopped in Boğaz on our way to Famagusta to see the harbor and visit with some of the cats.

Julia and the cats

Julia and Robin have one rescued dog, Scruffy and one rescued old cat.

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Finding wool in North Cyprus

You would think that North Cyprus shops would, with all of the sheep raised here, sell yarn made from wool. All of the shops in Yenierenkoy sell acrylic. In Famagusta I found a shop selling a mix or mohair and acrylic so bought some…just in case. Maybe I’ll knit a vest. Here are the yarn ladies who gamely tried to explain about their yarn to me with my very limited Turkish.

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Closer to home, back in Sipahi, on one of our walks we passed the Greek church that is sometimes used for Sunday services.

You can see the rope going from the bell tower to the door, making one tempted to pull it just to hear the bells. But I didn’t do it.

We also passed a “just born” baby lamb.

We were told that when the grass is available this time of year, more lambs are born. It certainly seems that way. I didn’t want to get closer and disturb the mom, or the woman who lived at the farm and was a bit suspicious of me taking photos.

We saw a parade of UN trucks driving through Sipahi one day on their way to deliver supplies to the Greek Cypriots who still live in the north. The Greeks have “refugee” status so are entitled to supplies from the UN.

Interesting remains I saw on a wall through the hills of Sipahi

I can see how people could become interested in archeology because seeing old bones and pieces of things lying about. It makes me want to know more.

I have more photos from Famagusta, Salamis, and Julia’s line dancing in Girne. Maybe I’ll catch up over the weekend.

Hi Everyone and Happy Holidays whatever you celebrate.  Here in North Cyprus the Brits and other Europeans celebrate Christmas, the North Cypriots celebrate Bayram, and everyone celebrates New Years.  There is a Jewish community in south Cyprus so they will be celebrating Hanukkah.  And just in time for all of that the marina wifi is being terrible making it difficult to email family back home.  We do have a dongal, so if the marina wifi won’t work I should be able to email using our Turkcell dongal.

Ru

Our new friends Robin and Julia have included us on several adventures in the past week.  We visited Famagusta Monday and Girne yesterday.  Today we all did the Deks Thursday walk.  Tomorrow we’re riding with them to the small town where they will board Scruffy while they spend Christmas and New Years at a Famagusta hotel.  Robin knows a place where they serve the same wonderful grilled sardines like I had in Izmir.  In about an hour Randal and I are off to a cruisers holiday party just across and down the dock from us.  Surrey Rose is providing all the food and drink.  After our uphill walk this morning, to some wonderful views! Randal and I can indulge a bit this afternoon. 

This email is the completion of the one I started what seems ages ago about our coast walk to Oasis and Philon Church.

Oasis at Philon and Aphendrika

Time for a coffee at Oasis, a restaurant and beach resort.

Robin, Denise (in black,) Sue, John and Randal

Denise had been orange picking the day before and brought some for us to share with our coffee.

After the coffee, Denise, Michael and his dog Didi got into the van driven by Sue’s partner John and they headed back to Deks. But Robin and Julia offered to continue down the track to the ruins of Aphendrika so we piled into the car and off we went. Julia and I sat in the back seat with her dog Scruffy and I got my pet fix for the week.

Aphendrika

http://www.whatson-northcyprus.com/interest/dipkarpaz/aphendrika.htm

“In the second century BC, Aphendrika was one of the six most important cities in Cyprus…… Like a lot of sites in North Cyprus, much has still to be excavated, and virtually all that remains are the three churches you can see on your approach. To your left is Agios Georgios. Beyond there is Panagia Chrysiotissa, while over to your right you will see Panagia Asomatos.

Panagia Chrysiotissa

Agios Georgios is a late Byzantine church, having been built at the tail end of the 10th century.

It was single aisled with a double apse at the eastern end and niches on either side. West of the apse, you can see the remains of four piers which had arches joining them. These in turn supported a dome on top of a rounded drum, most of which has collapsed. Most of the western end of the church has long gone.

Agios Asomatos Basilica

Close to Agios Georgios is the church of Panagia Chrysiotissa, being built some four hundred years earlier than its neighbour, in the 6th century. After Arab raids, its original wooden roof was replaced by barrel vaulting in the 10th century. Further destruction meant another rebuild in the 16th century. This time the church was much smaller, but enough remains of the ruins for you to get a feel for the size and design of the original.

Over to the right is the church of Panagia Asomatos, loosely translated as "Blessed Virgin Mary, the Devine". It is similar in design to the original Panagia Chrysiotissa, and is the best preserved of the three churches. This was also built in the 6th century as a three aisled basilica. Like its neighbour, it had a wooden roof, again replaced with barrel vaulting in the 10th century. On its southern side, the apsidal passages and barrel vaulting remain.”

Panagia Chrysiotissa

Robin Randal and Julia

Agios Georgios

We got back into the car and headed down the track back to Deks only to be stopped by flocks of sheep coming our way.

One last look!

It’s the strangest sight to see these flocks of sheep just walking down the road seemingly unattended by shepherd or sheepdog (I have been assured that there was a shepherd, I just didn’t see him.) They don’t have the curly wool one thinks of for sheep, but what looks like long hair. Researching North Cyprus sheep is pretty interesting. First I found mention of the ancient and feral Mouflon sheep, but the pictures didn’t look like the sheep we see. Then I found a great article about Awassi sheep and it led me to another article which mentioned the Cyprus fat tailed Chios and again the Awassi sheep. The pictures of the Awassi look like what we see.

The main breeds involved were the Cyprus fat-tailed, Chios and Awassi.

http://bit.ly/rBH4uU

http://www.fao.org/docrep/010/p8550e/P8550E01.htm

Wool.

The Awassi has long wool with an open, lofty and moderately lustrous fleece of carpet wool with distinct, wide crimps. The fleece con­sists of an outer coat, an undercoat and kemp. It has the principal req­uisites of carpet wool, namely coarse­ness and resilience, qualities that make carpet wool resistant to matting down and to wear under the constant scuff­ing of passing feet. An ideal carpet wool should have a fibre diameter of 30 μ, a fibre length of 10 cm with a 20 percent variation in length, and 4 percent by weight of kempy fibres. Awassi wool complies with these re­quirements as regards fibre thickness and length, but the fibre length has a greater variation and kemp contents are somewhat greater.

http://www.fao.org/docrep/011/aj003e/AJ003E04.htm

The Cyprus fat-tailed sheep (see appendix Figs A-l and A-2) present a special problem with regard to their relation to the Awassi group. They are undoubtedly allied to the Awassi of the mainland, which they resemble in many physical and physiological respects. Maule (1937) writes that the ‘Palestinian breed… is probably the one nearly akin to the Cyprus sheep’, while Mason (1967), grouping the Cyprus with the Awassi, notes that the Cyprus breed ‘is similar to the breeds of the neighbouring mainland and resembles the Awassi of Syria more than the White Karaman of Turkey’. Yet there are also significant differences between the two breeds, which may be due to the long isolation of the Cyprus sheep on their island or the influence of Turkish sheep. Thus, unlike the head of the Awassi with its typical brown coloration, that of the Cyprus sheep is commonly white with black on the nose and around the eyes, more rarely white, black, brown or mottled. The greatest difference is the size, weight and shape of the fat tail. In the Cyprus the tail is much longer, broader and heavier than in the Awassi, its twisted end often reaching to the ground. It is widest in the middle third and then tapers gradually to the tip, making a half-turn to the right or left at the junction of the middle and lower thirds (Mason, 1967). Mason (personal communication, 1979) also notes that ‘it would be confusing to include the Cyprus as a variety of the Awassi since the name Awassi has never been used for them’.

The Awassi sheep with special reference to the improved dairy type

By H. Epstein

FOOD AND AGRICULTURE ORGANIZATION OF THE UNITED NATIONS

Rome, 1985

ps..I don’t know if these really are Awassi sheep…I’m just guessing.

And then there are the wild donkeys…

http://akti.org.cy/portal/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=73&Itemid=47

During the war in Cyprus in 1974, large numbers of domestic donkeys and pigs were allowed to go feral. Most of these were subsequently captured, but feral populations of donkeys and pigs have persisted in the north of the island (e.g., the Karpaz Peninsula). Population estimates are uncertain, and the local Department of environment Protection estimates the number of feral donkeys to be about 300. However, villagers complaining of agricultural damage estimate the population to be in the thousands. Besides these free-ranging populations, the government has been releasing additional donkeys captured and obtained in other parts of the region, in a fenced area on the Karpaz Peninsula. This has raised concerns about the impact of donkeys on native vegetation and wildlife. Although a 22-km2 area of the Karpaz Peninsula was declared to be set aside for conservation purposes, neither organized leadership nor plan was ever set up for the area. Most of this area has been fenced to keep donkeys inside. However, this was not very successful as demonstrated by donkey population found outside of the fenced area. It is not known if there is movement of donkeys across the fence or those outside represent animals that have simply not been captured.

Therefore, the primary goal of this research, undertaken by KAYAD, was to develop abundance estimation techniques and obtain reliable baseline estimates of these populations. (KAYAD is an environmental organization on Cyprus.)

They are definitely cute! But I’m sure they have an environmental impact. We couldn’t get very close and I didn’t want to chase them away trying to get closer. I want one!

We arrived back at Deks about 1 PM. Julia and Robin only wanted a coffee but Randal and I had our usual meze lunch of cheese, yogurt, olives, bread, hummus etc.

Robin looks at our DoraMac boat card while Randal adds Robin’s phone number to his phone. We made plans for a trip to Famagusta the next day. Rob had to go to the dentist (who is Denise’s niece by marriage) and Randal and I were going to find a new computer printer…as ours gave up the ghost while we were in the US.

Julia and Robin are really nice people who are teaching us about North Cyprus and taking us along when they have to go off to Famagusta or Girne or wherever.