This morning's adventure involved us taking a nature walk to the Prophet Elias. We were told it was a three hour walk through the forest. With limited signage and some guesswork by G, we climbed steadily to the very top of one of the peaks and there sitting on a small platform was a tiny church dating from the Byzantine era, but destroyed and rebuilt several times. This was also, we are told, a place for freedom fighters who took refuge in the mountains, and in particular one man called Markos Drakos. Along the way conifers, pines and cedars and just to remind me of Brisbane, a small baby snake who didnt manage to get to the other side of the road. The views were breathtaking, the day clear and we rang the church bell which echoed all through the many valleys that surrounded us.
In iconography the Prophet Elijah is depicted ascending to Heaven in a fiery chariot, surrounded with flames, and harnessed to four winged horses. We pray to him for deliverance from drought, and to ask for seasonable weather- he sounds perfect for Australia too.
On our way back to Nicosia we stopped to admire the enormous pumpkins that a sweet little old lady was selling by the side of the road. They were all shapes and sizes and would easily feed a family or several for days on end.
Amazing pumpkins, especially growing in such a dry area!
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