Spent the day at the marina where there were sail boat races being held.  Lots of folks were curious about DoraMac and Seahorse Marine could probably open up shop here and get several orders!  We did a morning walk and then I did some boat cleaning which needed it.  Charmaine and Linda caught up with emails and touring research and then went off for a swim.  Randal’s foot was bothering him from our walk so he just rested.  This foot has been bothering him so maybe we’ll learn about medical care in Israel at some point.  I hear Hebrew spoken all around me but understand almost nothing.  Hopefully at the end of our time here, I will have improved.  And also not forgotten my Turkish!  But thanks to Denise, I could reteach myself. 

Anyway, here is more of our Cyprus adventure and a very fun story!

Ru

“An old friend of mine who lived in the area for several years recommended the Aphrodite restaurant in Lapta, describing it as a “crazy shack” of a place run by an ex-paratrooper, who apparently allows donkeys and horses into his establishment.” http://www.birminghampost.net/life-leisure-birmingham-guide/travel-reviews/2012/03/28/travel-visit-northern-cyprus-for-a-touch-of-the-exotic-97319-30643648/2/

We had asked Heidi and Kalle to pick a restaurant that they’d like to visit, and they would be our guests. They picked Aphrodite for many reasons; the food was really good, the atmosphere lovely, and the owner is a retired Cypriot Freedom Fighter, so definitely not the dining room of the Holiday Inn. “Cemal brews his own wines, brings his baby donkey into the restaurant and provides an unforgettable evening”…that according to a Frommer’s Cyprus guide. Well we didn’t see the baby donkey, but the meze and fish were wonderful, the wine flowed and when we were stuffed to the gills, we got up and danced.

Cemal greeting his old friends Heidi and Kalle, and new friends Linda and Charmaine

This lovely restaurant was at the end of a sandy path off the main Lapta road.

I don’t know if the building was old or built yesterday, but it was a great place with plaid cotton table cloths, lots of open space, and wonderful windows.

Cemal was quite a character, but we loved him for it.

Cemal as a young freedom fighter in the war to save the Turkish Cypriots from being driven from their ancestral homes into the sea off North Cyprus.

Fighting in the streets.

Without the help of the Army of Turkey, it’s possible there would be no surviving Turkish Cypriots. Without the intervention of the Britain and the US, the entire island might have been under Turkish Cypriot rule but the advance was stopped and the island divided giving the Greeks most of it. The world and UN are quite unfair to the North Cypriots.

We had the entire restaurant to ourselves, but then we tend to eat earlier than most Europeans.

It was if we were having dinner in Cemal’s home rather than his restaurant.

We ate cold meze dishes and hot meze dishes and they were all wonderful.

Then came whole fish for each of us, a huge plate of fresh salad, and a giant plate of hot, wonderful chips (French fries.)

And we ate every bite! And then there was a sweet pancake drenched in honey for dessert!

And 3 bottles of wine!

Maybe that’s why we danced…all of that wine. And the music, Zorba the Greek music.

First it was only Cemal…..

I have no idea what possessed me except the wine and the music!

It was so fun!!!

What a wonderful night!!!!!