Aphrodite

You can see why the gods hung around up here in the Troodos mountains of Cyprus - and my being here is a consquence of attending the wedding of friends.  They're celebrating this momentous event where Aphrodite rose from the sea...

And back down at ground level,  here I am in full tourist mode at the hellenic Temple of Aphrodite in Paphos...

..where even their rubble is pretty

At the Panaderia Kikkou in the Troodos - a fully functioning monastery -  this is a monk's cell door.  The monastery dates back to 12th century AD, although it has suffered three devastating fires over the centuries. Not much of the original buildings are still standing but the reconstructions and contents are more than enough to make you catch your breath.

Corridors look like this, and parties of religiously clad Russian ladies were visiting the chapel, which is so rich and dramatic as to defy description. Russians come in numbers, apparently, as they identify closely with Greek Orthodox practice.

Some hold that Kikkos is too flashy and lacking in authenticity - I'm not too sure what that means;  it's undeniably, palpably living and bustling, plus there are many young monks...  A taxi driver told me that sometimes conscientious objectors sign up there (and in other monasteries) to avoid conscription - I'm not sure either how accurate that is, but war has always been a very real proposition ... Perhaps the goddess is somehow working her island magic again and all you do need is love.

Above the monastery,  up a path and past this gigantic Archbishop Makarios lies his tomb  - I'd forgotten about Archbishop Makarios who was much in the news in the seventies... I can't claim to have followed events in Cyprus in great detail back then, but I remember my end of the world becoming nervous when he cropped up.  I learned today that he was elected Prime Minister of Cyprus by landslide margins - in one election, by a 95% majority and nobody's claiming it was rigged - and they still bother to detail two soldiers to guard his tomb.