A New Dawn at Maridadi Kabisa

Sun rise from the Terrace at Maridadi Kabisa

Three house moves in less than 18 months is definatey not recomended, and that is the reason why I havent posted here for quite some time ....... we moved AGAIN!!!!!!!!!

The archway is the entrance to Maridadi Kabisa

As the saying goes be careful what you wish for you never know where the roads of life will take you.

The lane leading upto Maridadi Kabisa from the church

We were lucky enough to be renting for a very reasonable price a very large modern 3 bedroomed villa with a private pool, and yes to many it would have been a dream home but it really wasn't us. Nothing about it felt cosy, and though the pool was lovely in the summer, the sight of all the dead insects and animals (field mice and lizzards get stuck coming to drink water), and the cost of running it with the electricity for the pump and the chemicals, along with the consumption of water needed to top it up during the summer months just didn't bode well with us on our quest to live a more simple life. So we had started to think about looking for an alternative, however we had already signed the contract on the previous place for another year and were not about to break that contract as we are true to our word. Added to this my parents had also rented a property in the village for 3 months so we settled down for another year.

The Church of the Holly Cross lit up at night.

However, the bells started ringing when I signed the contract with the then landlord,as he was not worried about making sure he had a witness.......this seemed rather strange to me, I had briefly worked with him in his real estate company in Dubai and he was usually a stickler for crossing eyes and dotting t's when it came to contratcs.

A beautiful hand made plate that we Dad gave us from Bellapaix.

A few weeks later he and his fiancee ( now wife) flew in from Cairo to make arrangements for their wedding blessing. I had offered to take Natasha to the florists and the bakers and during the day I noticed that she was asking funny questions like ' how easy had I found it to fit in to Cypriot society'. I had asked them both as I did again on this ocassion would it not be worth them coming to Cyprus to live and work, ' no!' was the response, there isn't the money to be made here' He is a financial advisor of the opinion that the money here was not big enough for him. So I thought we were safe and sound.......

We had lived with mould and damp in the hallway of the Mazatos villa for over a year, and the outside storm drain ran straight onto the patio and into the pool, bringing with it pigeon poo from the roof (another reason not to use the pool) so when suddenly Al emailed to say that he would like someone to come in and fix it I knew for sure that some thing was brewing. As we all know there's never smoke without fire.....

Maridadi Kabisa's 2 Kleftiko ovens in our courtyard.

I felt VERY uneasy and instinctive fear of being unsettled raged within me, so I suggested to TBH that we start looking for an alternative just in case and so the search began...........we retraced our steps through surrounding villages,looked at the usual villas and appartments on new developements, we searched websites for something inspiring, but nothing was hitting any buttons for us. We both knew that since leaving Dubai we had wanted something alternative, something different, something not so main stream. Something that would lead us closer to living the simple life that we have craved for so long.

Maridadi Kabisa ..the stairs leading from our courtyard to the terrace.

Then things blew up in Cairo where Al and Natasha lived and though, as I had instinctivly known they were planning to move to Cyprus for some time........this was now their excuse to regain their property and we were given 3 months notice 2 months into our years contract. ( Apparently the land lord has to honour his contract to it's end but I did not find this out until after the event) So it was now imperative that we found somewhere.I put an add on Anglo Info Cyprus asking if anyone had a Traditional Village House in certain villages. A TVH wasn't something we had ever thought about before, but it is amazing what you find behind those walls and padlocked doors. Luckily it did not take long for us to get a reply. Would you like to come and see a place that I have in Lefkara.

Maridadi Kabisa upstairs terrace and bedrooms.

With much excitment we went to view the property and fell in love as soon as the doors were opened. A courtyard downstairs is home to 2 mespilla ( Loquot ) trees which give much welcomed shade in the stifling summer heat. Archways and beemed ceilings give typical Cypriot character, and the four poster beds with traditional mosquito nets are incredibly romantic. The view is to die for and as we stood out on the terrace overlooking the mountains a rainbow crossed the skies. I knew I had found my croc of gold.

The view from Maridadi Kabisa looking out over the village and mountains.

So.... once again we packed up boxes, scrubbed up floors, bleached out cupboards and polished up windows. In the process I insisted that we get rid of even more' STUFF' letting go of more of our previous life, donating clothes to charity shops, giving multiple unread books to second hand book stores and passing on that huge frying pan that I only used once on a camping trip.

For some reason this was an incredibly stressful move, perhaps due to the previous landlord turning rather nasty over the return of our deposit. It put a hudge strain on TBH and I tested our patients, pushing our limits. Thankfully with my parents unconditional love and support we raised above it and we are now settling into our beautiful new home.

View of the village from the church.

Lefkara is wonderful, central to all major cities, it boasts it's own police fire and ambulace department, a small hospital, a post office, a supermarket, 3 banks and it's infamous lace and silver shops. It is everything one would wish for in a medetarranian mountain village with red roofed houses, cobbled alleyways, trailing grape vines and traditional taverna's. Adamos is our favorite, not just for his delicious Cypriot food with a twist, like his Drunken Chicken( grilled chicken with a creamy ouzo flavoured sauce) and home grown olives, but he has such a fantastic character. Some of our best afternoons are sitting with him hearing stories of the olden days.

We walk down to the nearby fruitaria for locally grown fruit and veg and there we can also buy fresh village eggs, which have glourious golden yolks.

Fresh village eggs.

We continue to try to grow some of our own veg on our balcony, cucumbers,tomaotes, peppers, melons and pumkin are in troughs as we speak.

Cucumber trailing the balcony.

There is an array of herbs potted in the courtyard, thyme, sage, mint, and basil and the local lavender gives off a beautiful aroma.

It is fabulous to be submerged in Cypriot culture and we have the most wonderful neighbours, friendly and so incredibly helpful. The other day we were gifted a jar of home made apricot jam, with apricots grown in her daughters garden,not only did it taste fabulous,but the gesture itself meant the world to me. What better way of being welcomed than with a gift of food made from the heart.

Apricot jam from our adorable neighbour.

There is still much work to be done to achieve a more simple sustainable lifestyle, but finally after 2 long years we feel as though we are now really living our Cypriot dream. We have finally found home and we call it Maridadi Kabisa, it means absolutely beautiful in swahili, and that is what we think our home is.