What's On Cyprus

... her idea was to gather together a selection of gifts from small Cypriot companies, preferably handmade and handcrafted gifts, unusual, unique and original ... she makes up your hampers and boxes herself and above all Irene loves to help make people happy ... I liked that bit!

It's been awhile since I strolled around this boulevard of shoe shops, bag shops, souvenirs  galore, Jewellers, leather shops and more shoe shops, whilst down cobbled alleys you'll find quaint cafes and traditional restaurants and kebab taverns and a few Indie boutiques and loads of international labels ...

... Anyway, I imagine there'll be a few clinking bottles en route !

There's 8 different Cocktail Mixing Competitions that will be held over the two days, with big cash prizes to be won.  At the exhibition will be around 20 Booths, where members of The Cyprus Bartenders Association can present their services and local products, anything from glasses, and bar tools to craft beers and award-winning wines and spirits ...

Constantinos called me to pop in to find out about their new Summer Specials Surprises at Blind Taste in Paralimni ... Greeted with a lovely fresh Arabic Coffee he told me about their plans for the summer that will really make a visit worthwhile ...

He wanted to assure that all fish lovers, that includes him of course, could continue to get quality freshly frozen fish straight from Billingsgate Market in London, and Scotland and France to mention but a few ...

My initial interest was to find out about their gins, Aris explained, "it's what originally brought us back to Cyprus, 'to create a quality craft gin'.  Our initial inspiration was the aroma of The Troodos Mountains after a long dry summer when it first rains and we wanted to capture exactly that and put it in a bottle and we called it Aoratas Dry Gin which in fact last year won a gold medal. 

Angela mostly works on glass but she can jazz almost anything up. She also loves making hand painted cards, naturally unique every time.  One of her faves, bottles, not just with glitter, which btw is biodegradable . Glass Painting aka Stained Glass . Faux Glass aka Liquid Leading . also the ancient Chinese art of Decoupage, using rice paper, the results are stunning !

They sell just about everything from Laptops and Tablets to Covers and Stands and everything you'd expect from a den of technology ... Brand names include; Apple, Toshiba, Dell, Logitech, HP, Pro D, Lacie, Corsair, Cooler Master, Iomega, Samsung, Tucano, Bandridge, Griffin, Speedlink, Intellinet, Manhattan, Belkin, Western Digital, and Buffalo ..

I asked why their beers are so good;  Taras explained, "The biggest difference of Craft Beer is it has more flavour and taste, mainly because it's not filtered or pasteurised, making it a much richer flavour.  Craft Beer is like a finger print because we never brew our beer in a bad mood, that's how we are here at Octo and we hope you are just like us" …