New years eve 2008

New Year’s Eve started with a visit for our friends, Matt, Sue and baby Luke who were on holiday from Birmingham, UK.

We moved onto Jan and Alun’s house where a NYE party was in full swing. Some of the Karaoke singing had to be heard to be believed.

The Old Firm game

The “Old Firm “ Scottish football match took place just after Christmas and we went down the Pissouriana took watch game. The usual good natured banter went on between the opposing supporters during the game in which Celtic ran out winners 1-0

Tracy took great pleasure in“winding up” Dave and a one point she set his scarf alight !

Christmas Day 2008

Being as mad as “A box of frogs”,Sue and Damion began Christmas day by plunging into the icy cold swimming pool, we then moved onto the Pissouriana for a few drinks and everyman and his dog seemed to be there.

A superb Christmas dinner was then served at Steve and Mary’s house. In the evening we played Charades and howled with laughter as Steve tried to convey the film “The French connection”

Mary's Birthday 2008

To celebrate Mary’s birthday we went up to the Village of Lofu, which sits in the foothills of the Troodos mountains just North of Limassol. So the Liberty street gang made up of Rob & Mandy, Steve & Mary, Damion & Sue sat down in the Lofu tavern for a superb lunch and the owner was kind enough to give Mary a lovely chocolate birthday cake.

We returned to Pissouri to continue the celebrations and to watch the home made DVD “ A Christmas Cracker”

Maggie and Simmo's farewell lunch

Steve and Mary hosted a lunch for Simmo, Maggie and Jessica who are returning to Scotland. On a beautiful Summer's day, the temperature was warm enough to enjoy the Al fresco. We all wish Jessica every success in her new school.

               

Coral Bay Hotel

In the village Christmas raffle we were lucky enough 
to win dinner at the Coral Beach hotel in Coral Bay. The hotel was very quiet at this time of year, but was nicely decorated for the festive season and most of the staff were welcoming.

Our friends, Paul and Judith, have decided to open their own property sales and property management Company called Celestial Cyprus, which is based in Pissouri.

We with them the best of luck with their new venture.

Scuba at St Georges Bay

On a blustery day, Rob, Steve and Jessica drove down to St. Georges bay to SCUBA dive. There were several large shoals of fish to be seen although visibility was hampered by a fairly strong sea swell.

Rob with some extra floatation equipment

Cyprus V Monaco in Rugby

We drove down to the happy valley base where there was an international rugby game taking place between Cyprus and Monaco.

The teams ended a dour first half scoreless with a string of injuries. The second half produced a much more open game with the Cypriot side running out winners by a score of 24 -3.

PAWS donation

Mandy, Mags and Tracey took a trip up to the PAWS animal shelter in Acheleia, near Paohos

to donate a loose change collection to help the shelter in its work looking after stray and unwanted dogs.

PAWS dog shelter Homepage

A visit to Tsiakkas winery

We drove up into the Troodos mountains for our first visit to Tsiakkas winery which is situated just outside the village of Pelendri We tasted a number of very good wins and ordered a couple of cases for the forthcoming Christmas holidays.

The surrounding area was devastated by a forest fire in the Summer and we noticed that some of the trees were scorched just 10 metres from the winery.

We then drove over to the village of Kato Amiandos to the Amiandos garden restaurant where they were holding a US Thanksgiving day dinner and we enjoyed a superb buffet.

In the evening we went along to a birthday celebration for Jason,Andy and Dave took the opportunity to dress as TV stars “Starsky and Hutch”

Steve's Birthday 2008

To celebrate Steve's birthday, we had a few drinks in the Pissourianna with Steve's buddies.

We then went to the newly refurbished Stone house restaurant in the small village of Paramali. The home cooked food was excellent and our host, Panicos, made us very welcome.

1911 Darts competition

The 1911 club hosted a darts competition. A good crowd turned up and over 20 teams took part in the event. The winning team of Sheen & Brian overcame the pre tournament favourites of Matt and Damon as some good natured banter took place between the matches.

Golf Lessons at Aphrodite Hills

We took the opportunity to attend an open day at Aphrodite Hills golf Course. We were given an hours golf lesson by club professional, Russell and then entered a putting competition.

We ended our afternoon enjoying a BBQ and a drink overlooking the 18th.