Limassol

Sunday afternoon saw us in Limassol. We've been enough times before that there was nothing we needed to see, we were just there to enjoy being there and to pass the time. Oh, hold on, there was ONE thing we needed to see - The Syrian Arab Friendship Club (more later).

We stopped off on the resort strip (this runs for a whole 16km along the coast) and found some free backstreet parking. We headed down to the beach and walked along it for a while, looking on enviously at the beachside apartments here.

When we ran out of promenade we cut back inland and went in search of food & drink. We settled on the Coffee Beanery despite having initially been drawn to Coffee Republic (packed to the rafters when we first arrived, totally empty after our stroll!). We ordered 2 Frappes, 2 Sticky Nutella Muffins and a cheese pie (pasty to you and me). Both the frappé and the muffins were declared "best ever", and the frappés were full pints too - we were jumping at the end!

We then went in search of the Syrian Arab Friendship Club (SAFC), a legendary restaurant in Larnaka with a branch also in Nicosia. We found it no problem, it's menu looked exceedingly good and exceedingly cheap - just a pity we weren't actually going to eat there today!

Next off to the old town. We parked in the usual place by the promenade and as usual the immigrant population were out in force. I don't mean that in a bad way, but the promenade is almost always packed with them, for some reason. There were hundreds of Phillipinos relaxing and picnicing on the grass, then further on slightly less Sri Lankans doing much the same. Native Cypriots were dotted about but heavily outnumbered. It's quite surreal.

We cut inland earlier than usual as a huge swathe of the promenade is now closed for redevelopment - a marina and all the associated paraphanalea that goes with it - shops, cafes, luxury apartments, boardwalk, you name it. It will be lovely when it's finished, which I hope is sooner than a lot of developments in Paphos ("first phase opening June 2009" signs standing next to piles of rubble on cleared ground).

We ate at our usual place, Stretto in the Carob Mills. The streets around here are all dug up too, either part of the same development or as something else altogether. It meant the meal lacked some of its usual charm, but none of its usual quality. Wife went for a filo baked goats cheese salad with pomegranite and I want for a kebab of Mozzarella, tomatoes and foccacia on a bed of salad leaves. Both were wonderful.

The desert menu looked very tempting, even stretching to the elusive and mysterious "Mahalepi" ("maybe next week..." we were told in Paphos, as though it were some seasonal fruit) but we were way too stuffed for dessert.

Back home after that then, after a very full and very fun filled day!

Sent from my iPod.