Olives & Lemons: Traces of Cyprus Past

The old villages, scattered across the landscape of Cyprus, are a far cry from the modern tourist developments that have swamped the coastlines over the past few decades. For most of its recorded history, the island has struggled under the rule of one foreign power or another, each bringing an alien religion or different doctrine to disturb the even tenor of country life. Perhaps the greatest upheaval of all, however, has occurred during the past half century. Until the mid-20th century, life had changed little for the people of the myriad villages scattered across the countryside. A visitor from the Middle Ages might have felt reasonably at home here. Once change began, however, it accelerated at an ever-increasing pace, altering the lives of virtually everyone on the island. In this book Ms. Kay has tried to describe what is left of traditional life, the practices, beliefs and physical environment that have been the essence of Cyprus over the ages. Perhaps, after all, this age-old world of Cyprus village life will not be irrevocably lost, as she thought it must be when I first came to the village of Anogyra in the late 1980s. Today young people are beginning to renovate their grandparents’ abandoned homes for their own holidays or eventual retirement. And visitors to the island, who make their way to these attractive villages, will gain an insight into the heart of Cyprus.