PLATEFUL AND PLEASED

(Part 3)

CAPTIVATING CYPRUS

The Birthplace of Aphrodite

Savviest Salesperson ever!

Checkmate!

[NOTE: This food story covers travels over the last three years - old to now. Basically archived pictures and notes that were shaken up, dusted and voila......]

The steward picked it up gingerly with his right index finger and thumb, rotated his wrist to take a good long look at it. Then, he shifted it from his right hand to his left, and with his right index very timorously patted the top. Nothing happened, the deep fried crispy little ball of semi transparent whole wheat flour or maybe semolina held firm. A couple more pats, no impact. Then, as if he suddenly remembered the instruction, he pushed his index finger on the top of the little ball, till he cracked a tiny hole. Another round of of almost meditative contemplation of the couple of big bowls before him - a bowl of boiled cubed potatoes and boiled chickpeas etc and four bottles containing mint-coriander seasoned and spiced water; spiced tamarind water; a sweet tamarind one and coriander-spices version and bowls with seasonings, chutneys, yoghurt and spices. Like carrying out a delicate lab test, he put in a bit of the potato-chickpea mix inside the ball. Finally, a bit of all the four spiced water combination went in and then, very carefully placed in a little serving bowl. Voila! he had mastered putting together the 'gol gappa'.

Sometime I believe that the gol gappa and the chaat station at North Indian weddings scores right up there next to the holy fire and sacred vows, wherever the wedding and this was in Cyprus!. The gol gappa was clearly something that the Cypriot steward had never encountered before. However, it was not a learn-it-yourself and do-it-yourself. There were four Indian chefs flown in from London to over see the wedding spread which incidentally, was spread out over three days!

A little aside - the Indian Wedding Industry, apparently the fourth largest in the country, is estimated to be worth nearly 11 lakh crore! No typo there! Yes, nearly 11 lakh crore or about 130 billion dollars. Then there are destination weddings, where a huge entourage -family, friends, etc etc travel to some destination out of the country to celebrate the occasion. Cyprus it was for the two young London based doctors. Indian weddings stretch over days with events several rites and rituals performed during the day and nights but one still decided to do a precarious balancing act of sailing two boats at one go - check out some interesting sites and above all, the local food especially when our base was Paphos, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. And never mind giving up on sleep.

Do I have to?

Paphos or rather the sea around it is where Petra tou Romiou is located and and it is from this is where the legendary Aphrodite, the goddess of love , beauty and fertility, was born from the 'white foam produced by the severed genitals of Uranus, the personification of heaven, after his son Cronus threw them into the sea' (www.britannica.com/topic/Aphrodite-Greek-mythology). And yes, that's why aphrodisia is called aphrodisia! It is believed that swimming around the Petra tou Romiou will bring about the blessings of true love, eternal youth, beauty, good luck and fertility. However, we saw no one swimming around it, probably because we were there in the early hours during winter times. The Petra tou Romiou is a huge volcanic rock that stands in stately isolation. It has to be accepted that even without the myth, the rock is quite an extraordinary beauty. That there are plenty who believe in Aphrodite's power to bring about true love was evident from the number of 'love knots' tied around a small tree nearby.

Black Beauty

Love Me Knot, Love me True

Visiting the Adonis Waterfall, also called Adonis Baths, was naturally called for. Adonis in Greek mythology is the god of beauty, rebirth and the seasons and above all, Aphrodite's lover and the Adonis Baths was where they would meet. Getting to the waterfall near a village Koili, meant several detours because of roads blocked by heavy snows. Meanwhile, in the head the waterfall was developing like into a secluded, beautiful cascade with a big pool forming at the base, surrounded by lush green hills where the two lovers would frolic. Hah! It turned out to be a very unimpressive flow between barren brown hills. But considering that it was February one had to accept our very gregarious driver's explanation that it was not the best time and one only had to see how stunning it would in the summer.

Adonis Baths

From the birthplace of the goddess of love and the place for her tryst with her lover to the necropolis, the Tombs of the Kings was certainly a full swing of the pendulum most noticeable in the sudden shift of the environ. If Petra tou Romiou was almost dreamlike with the shimmering sea all around, the Tombs of the Kings, a designated UNESCO Heritage Site in 1980, was quite barren and arid like. It was as if a stage designer had executed the perfect settings for both the place. The necropolis dates back to the 3rd century BC and the name is quite a misnomer because apparently no kings were buried there and the general assumption is that it was the burial place for aristocrats and high administrative officials right up to the beginning of the 4th century AD, the Hellenistic to Roman times. It has a central courtyard/atrium with Doric columns that supported the porticoes surrounding the atrium and the tombs are carved directly in the hard natural rocks. At one time the walls must have been covered with frescoes but now only small fragments are said to be preserved. Considering the status of those buried there must have been some treasures but grave robbers are said to have vamoosed with them all. After a brief check out of the necropolis, this claustrophobic cry baby called it quits.

Tombs of the Kings

A traditional, authentic Cypriot meal was what we were craving. Somewhere in Odomos, a village in the Troodos Mountains of Cyprus in Lomassol District, we were driven to a restaurant which we were told served the true blue Cypriot food. So be it we said and walked in. The interiors were very rustic chic with sloping wooden ceilings and rafters, red squared tablecloths overlaid and yellow chairs, a small fireplace and complete language disaster! It was clearly a family operated show and the family and we didn't speak the same lingo. It was very rudimentary snatched of English and tonnes of gestrues and walking up to the refrigerator to help ourselves to the drinks. Again in the spirit of so-be-it we surrendered and made ourselves comfortable. Then - trumpets please- the courses started coming in. If you are as ignorant of Cyprian fare as I was then in brief, it seemed like a mix of Mediterranean and Middle Eastern dishes or rather Greek and Turkish cuisines . There were lots of meats - souvlaki or grilled meat kababs, souvla or large skewered meat chunks cooked over charcoal grill, stifado or meat stew , afelia or pork pieces cooked in wine, moussaka that is the Cypriot version of aubergine and minced meat casserole, a baked dish (couldn't get the name at all) with meat and bechamel sauce , koupepia (doesn't it sound better than dolmas) or grape leaves packages or squares stuffed with minced meat, rice, herbs,, tomato sauce etc - in other words dolmas with another name! No table is complete with Halloumi cheese, the hardish and quite salty cheese of Cyprian origin - fried, dips et al.

The inaugural dish was a salad - don't know if it is called Meze - in a scooped out big round bread with lid back on as cover. There were already small bowls with olives, lemons slices, dips etc on the table. And after that it was one dish after another - platters of chips, Cyprian bruschetta with hard grilled bread with skewered and grilled cherry tomatoes and olives, crispy grilled cauliflowers with a creamy sour cream like topping, sauted oyster mushrooms with creamy sauces, red and chocolate brown glistening sausages, souvlaki like chicken pieces, the Cypriot version of Moussaka, kupepia or dolmas Cyprian style and two yummy desserts - puff pastries like stuffed squares and the other crispy stuffed rolls with sugar glazing and sprinkling of sesame seeds. It was gluttony all the way with no regrets whatsoever!

Talking of sweets, on our way to the nearly 200 years old vineyard and winery Linos in Odomos with Mount Afamis in the background, we willingly got waylaid to check out a small cottage industry (at the basement of the family home) with the cute name, Heartland of Legends where the young lady entrepreneur made lukum or loukoumi or geroskipou lukum, a traditional Cypriot confection made from sugar, water, corn starch and flavourings. There were several trays of freshly made loukoumis with different flavours as well the finished ones with copious of powdered sugar and some with grated coconuts too. Stepping out I saw a young woman washing clothes under a running tap in the compound. She turned out be from Nepal and had been in Odomos for a couple of months only employed as a caretaker of the matriarch in the family and did not speak a single word of the local language! But she assured that she would pick up the language fast and as for washing clothes under the running tap, well that was what she did in her village back home and she didn't believe that machine washed clothes would be fully clean.

Tavern on the Hill

For the second time we took a detour, because we wanted to check out a village that appeared perched on a hilltop. Village, what village? Who needs a village when a tavern has its doors wide open. The only drawback, if one can say, is that it was a weekday and it was daytime and the few occupants were all senior men. Initially I think they could not make out where we were from and what we were doing there. But a bottle of ouzo, the traditional bought and spirit, passed around, broke the ice and how. The sour brandy helped further. It was one of those times when you realise that you don't have to speak the same language, that so much can be conveyed and shared without being verbal. As for the village well, the village looked good from the tavern and looked good where it was sans us.

The numerous award winning Linos winery is a family run affair since 1825 (The Herodotus family) and the grapes are sourced from its own vineyards in Odomos. It is said that the limestone soil of Mount Afamis and the mild climate of the region is perfectly suited for vineyards. The winery with ancient limestone walls has clearly undergone transformation and renovations inside. Interestingly, Linos winery is the sixth winery in the world to produce blue wine which it did in 2020 after four year of effort and trails. Wine aficionados might be able to critique the wine but all one say was that it was rather intense. By the way Odomos is known as the wine capital of Cyprus and till today one has not been able to figure out why a certain mosquito repellent is named after it!

Since it was not a planned itinerary, we stopped whenever something interesting caught our eyes. A village did with its quaint cobbled paths, pretty houses with each having a minimum of two and sometimes more giant lidded earthen pots in the small front yard or gardens of the houses. Turned out that's how olive oil is aged and stored. And that's how we found ourselves at the Odomos Village square, a huge cobbled square lined with eateries, souvenir shops and of course, the usual touristy stuff. Close by was the Timios Stavros Monastery or the Monastery of the Holy Cross. It is said that the Monastery has some relics from the site of Jesus Christ's crucifixion. It is an extensive two level structure that called for time to explore but unfortunately, that was exactly what we didn't have. A quick coffee in one of the charming cafes was all we could do.

Odomos Square

If the sea is at hand's distance then the unwritten law says seafood is compulsory. Being very law abiding we made our way to a seafood joint, a spacious place without any pretensions, within hearing distance of the sea and almost all tables occupied by the locals. Barring one fowl dish, it was everything piscine all the way cooked in various ways from crispy whole fried fish to fish cakes and everything fishy, accompanied by a rustic refreshing salad. One of the best meals ever. The restaurant very graciously served us free desserts- caramelised fruits and vegetables. It was basically Murabba (sweet fruits and sometimes vegetable preserve with sugar and spices) the Cypriot way.

It was quite tempting to try and see how much one could pile on one's plate from the endless spreads laid morning, noon and evening at the wedding venue. Just how vast the spread was can be gauged from the simple fact that four Indian chefs were flown in from London for the event! Dishes from South India - certainly sir. From North India- is that even a question to be asked? From the west, from the East - you can bet your bottom dollar! Street food- oh yes! Is it just Indian cuisine - how can you even entertain such a ridiculous notion? Some say that the true hallmark of a big fat Indian wedding is when one runs out of fingers to count on the number of dishes laid out. One doesn't do such mundane stuff especially not in the birthplace of Aphrodite. And everything was smashing!