GO TO DOREEN AND EITAN'S  HOMEPAGE

Our good friend, shipmate and Doreen's tour guide colleague Barney Weiner passed away at the end of December. We send our condolences to his family.
We met him earlier this month at the home of Morris Kahn are were happy to relive memories with him.

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We were delighted that Shuli and Eitan Haberman (Goldberg family tree) could spend four days with us in Larnaca on our visit in December. We thoroughly enjoyed their visit and were lucky with the weather.

Christmas eve dinner at the Sea Natra restaurant a few minutes walk for our apartment - A visit to the delightful Chantara Falls - Ma-oz Tzur celebrating Chanukah

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December 2024 - Cyprus

We are in Larnaca Cyprus and will be staying here until the end of the month. (We were joined for a few days by Shuli and Eitan Haberman). We haven't done much travelling but did visit some nearby sites of interest: (l-r) the fascinating Choirokoitia Neolithic Site and Apollo's sanctuary for the first time and a repeat visit to the Kourion archeology site.

Shuli and Eitan Haberman joined us for a few days and we thoroughly enjoyed their visit.


A few days before we left we visited the Hala Sultan Tekke. There is a mosque there and also the tomb of Umm Haram (also known as Hala Sultan), the paternal aunt of Mohammed. After Mecca, Medina and Jerusalem the Hala Sultan Hekke is the fourth most important in the Islamic world. During the Ottoman Empire ships would hang their flags at half mast when off the shores of Larnaca and salute Hala Sultan with cannon shots. (Wikipedia)

One of the delights of visiting Cyprus during the winter is seeing a stand of flamingos feeding in the salt lakes. In the summer the lakes are dry and white with salt but after the winter rains they fill with water and are a destination for the migratory flamingos that  live in high altitude  lakes that freeze over in the winter. The flamingos feed on tiny brine shrimp (Artemia). Brine shrimp eggs (cysts) survive the summer conditions of dry salt  and in winter hatch in the salt water.

From the road on the way from Larnaca airport.

Compare this picture with pictures taken of the Ron family  and the Segolis on the salt lake in summer.

Towards the end of our Larnaca trip we visited the Basket and Weaving Museum in Choirokitia and it was a most pleasant surprise. The small village is fascinating and the road is barely wide enough for one car. The Museum is quite charming and every Sunday there is a brunch . We had already eaten breakfast but enjoyed a cup of  Cyprus coffee and bought some Chaloumi cheese that thay make there. Definitely worth a visit.

Caryn (Klaff) Sangupta (see Goldberg family tree) and husband Rhetick were in India at the traditional wedding of a friend.
During the course of the celebrations they wore different clothes. In the picture on the right Caryn is blessing the bride and groom.

like father-like son

 

The salt lakes in Cyprus are dry in summer and the Rons had a great time walking on a dry lake.

More pictures on the pages of Dani and Lior.

(Click here for a winter view of the lake with flamingos)

) are enjoying their New Zealand trip with daughter Katherine.
(see also here)

also a fellow papaya grower. We were amazed at the number of papaya plants she is growing - a virtual plantation.

Waiting for the flight

and Doreen saying hello again to Molly Malone.

We thoroughly enjoyed a visit to the excellent Emigration Museum which we had not seen on our previous visit.
Our hotel was well situated, walking distance to everything we wanted to see, and the dinner and Celtic Nights show was good fun and showcased the amazing Irish dances.

Click on the picture

We visited China Town and we took them to our favourite Chinese Restaurant, TPT, which we enjoyed very much. I was surprisedby the variety of vegan choices for the girls, but nevertheless had my deliciousroast duck.

And of course, no visit to London is complete without a ride on a double decker bus and a 'conversation' from a London red phone booth.

Moran's jump - click on the picture or here  for a short video.

One of the main reasons I enjoy being at the various bridge championships is the opportunity to meet old friends whom we have known and worked with for many many years, and to meet new friends, also from all over the world.

Adam Magyar (Hungary), Yossi Fibert (Israel, trainee), Andrej Boida (Poland), Jakub Kaprzak (Poland), Dimitris Ballas (Greece, Operations Director), Marc Van Beijsterveldt (Netherlands, Head TD), Eitan Levy (Israel, Reviewer and TD Com. Chairman), Yuval Ben David (Israel), Jacob Duschek (Denmark), Fearghal O’Boyle (Ireland)

July 2024 - The Chariot Festival

July 2024 - Doreen demonstrates

June 2024 - Vered celebrates her birthday with friends.
Mazal tov, Vered. with Keren, Vered, Osnat

Doreen writes:

One of the pleasures of having a holiday apartment in Larnaca is to invite people to join us for a few days. First the Colin and Louise Kessel came and this week we were happy to welcome Basil and Noga Porter. We always have people staying over at our house in Kiryat Hasharon, but somehow sharing an apartment overseas with friends is a much more intimate experience; talk flows and experiences are shared.

When the Porters arrived we took them to the town promenade to enjoy a good steak and soak up the atmosphere. Little did we know that, a few days before, Cyprus had marked 50 years of the illegal Turkish invasion. The main promenade was full of music, dancers and all kinds of stalls, making it all very festive. We were particularly interested to see the many sellers of corn of the cob, remembered from the early days of Israel.

The following day we drove to Protaras to swim in the amazingly clear waters of Fig Tree Beach. A real pleasure.
We found a spot on the grass to drop our things – umbrellas and chairs are all taken by 9.00 in the morning.

We then continued to Capo Grecko to view the stunning scenery of the sea caves in the water and watch enthralled as people jumped off the cliff to the clear blue water, 10 meters below. (see later pictues of our family jumping.)

Noga and I went to the viewpoint and then exhausted we returned to our holiday apartment in Larnaca to rest.

After a rest we prepared (and ate!)  the fish that Basil and Eitan had bought that morning.

After over an hour of driving we arrived in Vouni, holding our breaths that there would not be oncoming cars in the narrow streets between the picturesque houses. We parked next to the church and walked to the café opened in 1908. We joined two couples, English Greek and German and talked. Cleo the wife of the owner joined us but Elias the owner sat on the side saying he had to serve the backgammon players on the other side of the road with coffee.  Chatting up the locals is a favourite occupation of Noga and me and we spent a delightful few hours talking with the two couples.

Panicos, the Greek man and unofficial ambassador for Vouni arranged for his German friends and us to visit the little museum showcasing life as it had been.

We then drove to Omodos which we have visited before where had lunch. After lunch an hour drive to Kykkos no longer seemed inviting so we drove home.

A short rest afer a walk along the Larnaca promenade

Choosing supper from the fisherman's stall near our apartment



As always, meals are an important part of every holiday, whether at a restaurant (left) or at home (right)

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Wikipedia: "Pterois is a genus of venomous marine fish, commonly known as lionfish, native to the Indo-Pacific. It is characterized by conspicuous warning coloration with red or black bands, and ostentatious dorsal fins tipped with venomous spines. Lionfish are a recent and significant invasive species in the west Atlantic, Caribbean Sea and Mediterranean Sea.

While culling by marine protection agencies and volunteer divers is an important element of control efforts, development of market-based approaches, which create commercial incentives for removals, has been seen as a means to sustain control efforts. The foremost of these market approaches is the promotion of lionfish as a food item."

It's on the fourth floor with a sea view and an easy 2 minute walk to the beach promenade.

Our first meal - breakfast this morning on the verandah


Then a short drive (we could have walked 7 minutes!) to a local marina where fishermen sell their catches in a small wood shed. Today there was a large selection of fish, and octopus, squid and prawns.

We chose a labrak, which Doreen baked in the oven. It was absolutely delicious.

Ocean Basket

Ari Lossin ז"ל
1933-2024

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