Cyprus Wine Museum

This morning we set off to St Nicholas' Monastery (of the cats), as it's signed from the road. Here is supposedly a monastery tgat has a large cat population dating back to the time of Constantine the Great. His mother, St Helena, sent sent a shipful to combat the snake problem. After a drive past the RAF base, through some serious ariels, we found it. Unfortunately there was no sign of feline life. Not a swish of a disappearing tail nor a pawprint in sight.

So, back in the car and off to the Wine Museum. Despite visiting the island twice before we have learned nothing whatsoever about the local wines. It's difficult when you're unable to read the labels on the bottles. This obviously had to change.

After an introduction by a member of staff, which gives you the story of Cypriot wine, you can take your time looking at the exhibits. Wine has been produced on Cyprus for at least 5,000 years. The museum has amphoras used to store wine that are over 4,000 years old. The most famous Cypriot wine is Commanderia, a sweet, red, dessert wine. This has been sought after by kings for many hundreds of years. It's also used by the Cypriot Orthodox Church for communion wine.

After you've seen the exhibits there is a short film of still photography depicting wine making in Cyprus. This was the least interesting part of the visit.

Then it was downstairs to taste some examples :-) First up was a dry White from a relatively new winery, Kalamos. It was very light, fruity and very easy drinking. Second a dry red from the same winery. Slight tannins on the first taste but developed into a nice, easy, tasty, red. Then onto the famous Commanderia. This was sweet but not sickly. As an after dinner tipple it's one for me. Unfortunately not so much for Mr Meks. Penultimate tasting was of a Zivania, Cyprus' Fire water/Eau de Vie. This was typical of its type ;-) More for Mr Meks than me. Our final tasting was a Zivania blended with brandy and aged in oak. This had a weird taste I couldn't place and wasn't really for either of us.

The wine tasting was helping to cheer us up for the day's lack of felines. When, lo and behold, look what miniature kitty delights appeared below our table....



This little furry beggar. One of triplets abandoned by their mother. All 3 were of equal cuteness but she was the bravest. Wondering what the costs would be of bringing her back to the UK did flit across my consciousness. Alas, Sil & Pawlie would not be amused.

The cost of entry to the museum varies from €4 to €7 depending on how many wines you wish to taste. I found it an interesting visit and well worth the money.