A Day At The Beach(es)

Not a cloud in the sky today (as opposed to the previous "partly
cloudy" days) so we decided to strike out for the beaches a little way
distant from Paphos. First of all though we headed for the inland
village of Nata, up past the dam and said to be "famous for its
Haloumi". It was a typically torturous inland drive, with badly paved
roads and hairpin bends every couple of yards. I knocked the Impreza
into sports mode as in ordinary guise it was struggling to decide
which gear to use. The drive was fun and the scenery spectacular, the
valley a mass of flowers and goat sheds - always a good sign when
you're Haloumi hunting.

We arrived at the village and found it to be a little disappointing.
There was no taverna, kafenion, shop or anything. Or if there was it
was all well concealed. We found the "political club" which was
crammed with old men chewing the cud and wandered a few picturesque
streets but found nowhere where we might buy some of their famed
Haloumi.

No worries - to the beach it is! We wound our way back down the
hillside and headed for Aphrodite's Rock, one of our favourite spots.
It's awfully picturesque and not just because of the rock(s) but also
because of the sea which is some of the most lovely shades of blue
that you'll ever see.

We took photos, walked along the beach, ate our picnic, took photos,
walked back along the beach, took photos (you can never have too many
of this spot) then headed for beach number two. This was Evdimou, a
very long stretch of "sand" (mainly pebbles) with an access road and
beach taverna at each end. We plumped for the Kyrenia Taverna first on
the basis that it was renowned for its desserts. Unfortunately we
found it to be closed (possibly for ever) and its next door neighbour
Zias Beach Club charged extortionate prices (4.50 for soft drinks, 6
for coffees). Back in the Impreza we hopped and zoomed round the
access roads to the far end of the beach to the other Taverna, The
Malandra.

It was well worth going to - this end of the beach was way more
picturesque than the other (a ramshackle jetty adding to the natural
scenic beauty) and the taverna was sheer heaven. Right on the beach
and doing its own version of "shabby chic" (high on shabby, low on
chic) it had a chips-with-everything menu that was listed down either
side of the central service hatch. Seeing Haloumi and Chips on this
list was enough to sell the place to us and we took up a table in the
sun and out of the wind to enjoy our food and drink at.

It goes without saying that the Haloumi and chips (just the one
serving between the two of us - we'd already had our lunch) was devine
but an unexpected bonus was that wife's cappuccino was the best yet!
We decided immediately that we'd be back again tomorrow for a proper
lunch (haloumi and chips EACH).

After eating we wandered down both ends of this part of the beach,
taking plenty of photos, before heading back to Paphos. What a
fabulous day we'd had, and what a great find Malandra had been!@

Sent from my iPod.