Normally when I am in Cyprus the weather is glorious and I spend much of my time sunbathing, sitting outside cafes and tavernas with my Frappe (iced coffee drink) and in the pool or jacuzzi.
But this year my visit so far has been punctuated with rain - and not just the usual "four spots and it's over" rain but proper lashing, torrential rain creating rivers from roads.
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| Beach near Mandria with statice plants in foreground |
We have had some sun - I have the white bits to prove it-and have enjoyed some mild but overcast periods.
During one of these when it looked less likely we would need an Ark, I went with my mum on a meandering bike ride down from the village of Mandria towards the beach, along the coast and back through farm land.
I took my trusty Nikon D80 with me and saw so many lovely views and things to take pictures of I was on and off my bike every few minutes. Sorry Mum!
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| yellow poppies? and statice on the beach |
Cyprus is particularly lovely in Springtime when the island is still green and there are flowering shrubs everywhere.
By the summer it looks much more like the Middle East with dramatic rocky outcrops populated with scrambling goats and the odd hardy scrubby tree.
I loved the flowers which looked like yellow poppies (I'm no botanist!) and the flowering prickly pear cactus - A-ha! now you have that Disney Jungle Book song in your head don't you!
And there were carpets of blue statice everywhere - you usually see in it in the UK, dried in flower arrangements.
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| prickly pear
Of course it wouldn't be Cyprus without olive trees- the country even has olive branches on its national flag. (CLICK HERE for information about the history and design of the flag.) I had lots of fun taking lots of pictures of the trees lining our bike ride route - such gorgeous colours. Shame I don't actually like olives!
 
My favourite picture however is a bit gruesome - riding back towards Mandria village I skidded to a halt as I thought I'd spotted a snake for the first time in the 7 years I have been visiting Cyprus.
I called to my mum who said I had probably just spotted an old bit of hose pipe from the farm's irrigation system. I went and had a look anyway and sure enough it was a real snake! OK so it was dead, with clouds of flies round it and a squished middle where it looked like a tyre had gone over it but I was pleased anyway. (I have said many times I am easily pleased and a bit odd!)
I posted my dead snake picture on Facebook and started a whole thread of comments which ended up including snake recipes! I decided to include a link to a recipe for deep fried snake here just in case you fancied it! Enjoy
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Get ready for the begging bit!
To move through to the finals I need votes - Please if you enjoy my ramblings would you do me a favour and CLICK HERE or on the "vote for me" badge on this post or in the sidebar to vote for me.
You only have to fill in your name, give an email address (you won't be spammed I promise) and scroll down to the "innovate" category (voting in the other categories on the way if you'd like to obviously!) and click the button next to my blog name - madmumof7.
This will take a minute or two of your time and could make all the difference. Every vote counts. I cannot imagine making it into the finals but then again I did not expect to be shortlisted. So please, click the badge. Thanks x
This blog post is linked to #PoCoLo run by the very lovely Vic from Verily Victora Vocalises. She is also shortlisted in the awards in the INSPIRE category.