Random

I met Daniela at The Cyprus Bar Show in Kapparis, and when I found out she had recently bought one of my favourite eateries 'Cinnamon Lounge Bar' at the 100+-year-old Mansion aka Shongas Inn, in the heart of Deryniea Village, I just had to find out more.  So we arranged a meeting and over a delicious coffee I was more than pleasantly surprised, this lady is on another level ...

I was delighted to be invited to catch Bill and Ems, aka Dejavu, playing live at Lithos Bar & Grill in Larnaca.  On that night they were joined by Andreas, their drummer, and as a trio, they go by the name 'Strings Attached'  I really loved this gig so much, especially their covers of Fever, and Hotel California, so I grabbed the chance to ask Bill if we could get together for a chat.

It's a lovely idea for a truly different day out. What I really like about The Camel Park is it’s diversity, as there’s always something new to see every time you go. With such a lot of animals, there’s often a few babies around including iccle Camels, ranging from as little as 2 weeks old … they are just delightful! You can choose to stroll around at your leisure or there’s guides who offer information in several languages.

Louise was on the 'You are Here Map' ... and directed us towards the country trail to the waterfalls ... this trail crosses the stream several times, now with wooden bridges to help, as last time I went, there were no bridges so you had to take your shoes off and get your toes wet ...

What I like most about this company is the professional set up and their highest quality equipment.  Andreas explained, "primarily, for drain clearance we don't use hazardous toxic chemicals, we use normal water and very powerful jetting systems, with pressures from 100 to 350 bar and at temperatures up to 100°C  i.e. steam, and so, our system is totally biological"

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" …

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. 

Vangelis said he had extensive training in Naples, not at collage but at an academy at a traditional pizzeria, with top pizza chefs.  The rewards; pizzas as authentic as you can get this side of Italy, the dough, 4 simple ingredients, hand made, but fermented for 48 Hours before use, a Neapolitan influence, which enhances the flavour, then topped with your favourite toppings and baked to perfection in a traditional stone fired revolving oven ... the result a thin base with a light fluffy crust ... I have to say they're delicious!

Pretty much every Friday and definitely every Saturday, and the day before a bank holiday they host live Rock gigs with big name international bands and the very best local Greek and English Rock Bands ... they even squeeze in a little Rhythm and Blues, Indie, Folk, and the occasional Reggae and Disco night too ... I've even caught them doing The Candy up on stage ... adding a bit of live comedy these days ... You'll love it here !

I was delighted to be invited to find out more about this exceptional, luxury chocolate manufacturing company.  Established in 1990 by Constantinos' father Stavros.  Their story is almost as lovely as their chocolate tastes ... omg!  Constantinos made me very welcome as we talked about how it all started ...