Friday 17 March - Lemithou, Troodos Mountains

It is still cold, very cold. John is wearing long trousers, although he says that is only because he is visiting churches and monasteries. Yesterday I wore four thermal tops in layers, and leggings underneath a long skirt. Today I wore the same number of tops, and leggings underneath my harem trousers, and two scarves. We drove through the Troodos Mountains yesterday and today and were amazed at the amount of snow. Today there was evidence of fresh snow-fall on the branches of the trees. It was also very foggy, virtually no visibility.
Our main occupation over the past couple of days has been visiting the Painted Churches, the Byzantine churches for which this area is famous. I have to say that I was rather cynical at first, I thought that it would be a case of 'how many zebras can you get enthusiastic about'. However there were subtle differences in all the churches we have seen. Each one was spectacular in its own right, in many cases the architecture of the building was strikingly unique.
We concentrated on churches on the UNESCO World Heritage List but also used the Stylianou book which I had downloaded for others in the same vicinity. So we went to Kakopetria, Galata, Nikitari, Kourdali, Agia Irini, Lagoudera, Pelendri, Kalopanayiotis, Moutallas and Pedoulas. We only found one which was unattended and locked, at Moutallas, and that could have been because we weren't there during the opening hours. In several villages there was more than one church. On a couple of occasions we were spotted looking round the outside and someone came to let us in.
We had some lovely experiences. At The Church of the Archangel Michael in Pedoulas the church was locked but we could hear voices. John knocked on the door and a man came out who told us that he was a teacher, giving a lesson inside. We apologised for disturbing him, but he ushered us in and we greeted the group of children. He continued with his lesson while we looked at the paintings. At Galata we were standing outside the Church of Panagia Podithou when a young man arrived in a car. He was charming, he had been to England and his English was very good. He gave us an excellent tour of the church and the paintings and then unlocked the adjacent Church of Panagia Theotokas so that we could see that as well. We spent some time talking to him and learning more about Cyprus and the Cypriots. At the Church of The Holy Cross at Pelendri we met an elderly man who talked us through the paintings. He was familiar with the Stylianou book and instructed me as to which pages to flick through on my tablet, so quite tekkie savvie too. Seeing that I had a copy of the book and was obviously interested in greater depth than a casual tourist he opened the iconostassis gates and took me into the Sacristy to see a particularly lovely painting. I quickly covered my head and he nodded his approval. The Church of Agia Irini was part of the Nunnery associated with a nearby Monastery and a Nun appeared to take us to the Church. All the Churches have wardens or caretakers who are presumably completely voluntary. They were all so knowledgeable and tolerant of us as non-believers, at least as non-Orthodox practitioners. It is possible that our rudimetary Greek helped, as it has everywhere.
It is a pity that our visit to The Troodos has coincided with a very cold spell. We ate in Omorthos yesterday and today and had interesting conversations in both tavernas. Today a young man told us that the weather over the past few days has been very abnormal. It is the weather they expect just for the month of January. Yesterday we spoke at length to the taverna owner about politics, Cypriot and Greek, and also Trump and Brexit. So despite the bad weather we have enjoyed our visit here. Tomorrow we move on to Lefkosia and I suspect a totally different environment and culture.