Springtime in Cyprus
Lauren and I have just returned from Paphos and we were thrilled to experience the migration of 5 million Painted Lady butterflies whilst there. We couldn’t believe our eyes!
First things first… We went for brunch at Omikron with our Bookings Manager Nicole. It is situated in Ktima, (upper Paphos) almost opposite CYTA which you can recognise easily by it’s tall telecommunications aerial.
It has a buzzy atmosphere and is really popular with locals. You need to book. The kitchen closes at 4pm, but they continue to serve drinks until 10pm. Here is their brunch entitled “The Perfect Need”. It was as delicious as it looks.
Please note they only accept cash, no cards. When we exited, we were chatting away, but the three of us almost went into a type of slow motion trance as we realised how many butterflies were flying by. Not close to us, just on a mission. It was beautiful and although this migration occurs every year in Cyprus, the numbers were enormously boosted due to the rainy winter in West Asia, which provided perfect conditions for the host plants. For many Cypriots this was the first time they had seen this.
Whilst Lauren is driving me around, I am always looking out the window at the nature in Paphos and I absolutely love it!
I do drive her mad by mentioning things that she misses as her eyes are on the road. One tree that we just had to stop for and take a closer look at was the Corali tree. The photos do not do it justice!
It reminded me a little of the Jacaranda tree which flowers purple before the leaves show, so the tree is bare and you can enjoy all the flowers. The Corali tree is uncommon, I probably saw around 4 on our travels all over Paphos.
Getting back to food, we spent a lot of time wandering around Paphos town, and my business partner Neoptolemos introduced us to a popular cafe Deloubak.
To my delight I spotted my favourite Cypriot cake, pronouced “tasheenobitta” which has a sugary sesame seed paste running through it. We ordered our coffee and a Caesar chicken salad to share, (we had already seen that it was enough for 2 persons), and I ordered a tachinopitta to take away. However, as you can see from the photo, they brought it up on a plate, and it would have been rude not to try it, hence the bite mark.
After our extensive research we can honestly say that this was the tachinopitta winner for our Spring break in Paphos! This has been made, in my opinion, in the traditional way with the delicious paste running through the cake.
Here is a link to our Villas that would be perfect for a Springtime break to Cyprus.
