Year: 2003

Up early to meet with Hazard and Kangin for a trip to Akamas. Two cars were filled with me, Olga, Hazard, Vladimir Kangin, his wife Oxana aka LoL, his mother, and another guys named Alexander Sklyarov who came from Moscow for a few days. Highway to Paphos, then a tour through Kato Paphos, and then to the beaties of Akamas Peninsuola. It was like visiting another country – the sea and the mountains were totally different – not even anything close to what I’ve seen in Limassol, Paphos, Larnaca and Agia Napa.

First thing we do there is a stop for food. Kangin promised an excellent lamb, but I am a pork fan, so I’ve just tried it a bit. Nice place – separated from everything, not even in a village…Up the hill, with an excellent view of montains and sea. It was also nice because it was very cool up there, considering that it was exceptionally hot that day. Tables are made of huge pieces of stone, floor is stoned too. Grapes are makeing some walls and roof. Very spectacular.

After some pork, lamb and chicken, with boiled potatos and traditional salad mixed with red home wine, we are terribly slowed down. :) Short trip down the hill to meet the sea. Apparently, there are plenty of turtle nests on the beach, which are clearly marked and surrounded by signs of the “Do not disturb the turtle nests” content. Driving on the beach is prohibited due to the very same reason, so you have to walk for like 5 meters. :)

The sea was special too. Actually, this was the first time I like the sea in Cyprus. First of all, you can hear it. You can here it from far away. But the sound changes when you walk closer to it. From within the 20 meters or so you can here the sound of stones rolling on the bottom of it with every wave coming and leaving the shore. Wow! :) Now, there was also some real sand. Well, it was the closes thing to sand that I’ve seen in this country. And, yes, I’ve been in Agia Napa. :) The sand with large particles, which falls of your legs when they get dry. Not the kind that sticks like durt, or better, dust, until the end of ages. And the waves – waves are SOMETHING! Until now, the biggest waves around I’ve seen on Kurium beach, but those are for kids – now I know it. :) Huge, high, but calm waves which make you lose control of your standing position. :) They can throw you on to the shore and won’t be able to do anything about it. That’s nice! Another nice thing about that beach was that it was not crowded. I could barely see any other people except us. It is considerably far, but the trip is worth it.

After we’ve done a bunch of sweeming and wave riding and all the other stupid fun staff, we realized it was a perfect time for beer. So, less then one hourly later we are back in Limassol (yes, I was speeding, but that’s Paphos highway I am talking about) to visit the brewery. Poor guys still don’t have any beer apart from ale, since my multiple previous visits. Yet, we discovered that they surve two kinds of ale: buster and red. If you don’t specify, by default they bring you buster ale. And that’s good. Because I didn’t much like the red one. Niether did anybody except for Vladimir Kangin. It has more breaded taste and is less beerish, if I may say so. :)

After a couple of pints we all went to back to our homes. Kangin had to go for the night shift in three hours, so his day program was mostly over. Olga, me, and Hazard on the other hand did continue. After a show and a 10 minutes nap we are went to Hazard’s place to watch once again “The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring” DVD and, more importantly, try the first dish Hazard ever cooked for someone – Mussles ‘La Hazard. :)

Mussles deserve a special paragraph here. I’ve tried lots of mussle – natural mussles cooked on the camping fire, mussle with cheese, mussles with garlic, mussles on the ice, fresh mussles… There is one thing about mussles – there are fifty billion ways to cook them, but the simpliest way always wins. So, Hazard goes for it with freshly squashed lime juice, olive oil and a bit of coriander. I’ll tell you, that was one magnificant dish! You could eat it with fork or could rip them off the shelves with you bare teeth – dilicious! :) Juicy, fast and simple, and ubeleivably tasty. ;)

After such a long day, lots of fun, plenty of wine and beer and yummy food there was no suprise that I was falling asleep while watching the movie. :) After Frodo and Sam separated from the rest of the guys, Olga woke me up and we went home to have some rest.

Very long and exciting day and I wish I could have more days like this. :) Of course, I made a whole lot of pictures (I think something close to a hundred) and now I waiting for Hazard to put them up. I guess it’s about time I get myself a camera! :)