Lefkara is a tiny village with a long history. Located high in the mountains, surrounded by rocky poor soil not suited to farming, the villagers had to find a way to survive. Two different industries thrived here, lace making and embroidery and silversmithing. Silver is found on the island and the tradition of silversmithing came to the island long ago with the one of the many foreign invaders. The tradition of fine needle work is even older as shepherds had wool and the wool needed to be processed. Leonardo DaVinci himself visited the town looking for lace to decorate the Milan Cathedral. So fine was the work produced here, that its fame reached far and wide. We drove an hour and a half to get to the village and were a bit dismayed upon our arrival. All the parking spots were full and we were directed further and further from the center of town and ultimately down the hill to the sports field. We were not expecting that the President of Cyprus would have chosen this same time to visit the town. Along with the President there were news crews and their vans, plus extra local visitors and us. We let the locals mob around his and stuck to the edges of the crowd but the town is so small that he seemed to be everywhere we were.
Driving on the highway
Past yet another oversized Greek Orthodox church
We passed this mini house along the way
Large limestone extraction quarries
Don't tell us what to do! Actually these shops were closed as everyone was up the hill with the President
Looking down to where we had to park
Grape leaves broadcasting the beginning of winter
All the houses were made of the local creamy limestone
This sign announced the presentation of Cyprus's priorities to the EU Council and was the reason for the official visit
All the EU flage
This entire parking garage was taken by the officials and members of the press
Getting to the start of the Christmas market
Food!
Hot dogs
Potatoes with the works
Business was brisk
Where the donkey is the star
Even a golden donkey draped in lights
Leslie got some earrings for Christmas and I got a beautiful pendant
Add a ring and two lace coasters and it was a great Christmas haul for the two of us
The President ate food from every vendor
The military and the security
The presidential dog!
This mob of people followed the presidnet
If this ring would not have caught on every piece of clothing I owned, I would have purchased it
Saxxy Santa
The crowd thickens
A balcony suitable for Eva Peron
Not to practical but pretty nonetheless
Love the stone arch
Tiny streets
Lots of shops
A picture of women working on embroidery
This mustache got our attention
There he was in the crowd
He has the ear of the President and brings him to his shop
Not everyone is amused
Where the President goes, so too do the people
Where he is not, it is empty
Barely a soul
A cute dog
We pop into a shop when we spied some tea towels. These leaning buildings caught my eye
We answered the shop keeper's question and he got a longer answer thann he expected
We got more from him than we expected. He told us abut the history of the town
Showed us pictures of his ancestors all the way back to the great-greats. His grandfather sold textiles in Paris
A bit of symmetry when he showed us the picture of his grandmother and the first president of Cyprus
His father sold the textiles in London and had 70 women producing for export
The town was so famous that it was on the one pound note prior to the switch over to euros
Each pattern has a specific name
His mother and sister were also present in the shop. they are two of the last 7 still making the old products
We found another set of food stalls
I got a mushroom and onion food tube
The city hall
The various patterns are celebrated on this wall
Sheep on the mountain
Lady bug!
See you later, Santa
The predicted rain is here, right on time
We head back to the car and try to get out of the mountains before the rain
We really are on the top of it all
Time to get a move on
7% grade the entire way down
Back on the highway
We get to Limassol, but not before it starts to rain
It looks to be a serious downpour
So close to the hotel
We get into the room
We had our picnic lunch, nice and dry, in the hotel room
The Mediterranean
We could see the water from our room
The small boats are in rough waters
They shared the space with many large ships
