"One more cup of coffee for the road..."

The most popular brand of coffee ordered by holidaying Europeans in Cyprus has to be nescafe, it was available everywhere, but I wanted to try what the locals were drinking – Cypriot coffee. Cyprus coffee is made individually in small, long handled pots called mbrikia. If you like your coffee sweet, then note that the sugar goes into the coffee making process, so it was important to know the difference when ordering, otherwise you will end up with a sketos (unsweetened). Glykos is sweet and metrios is medium sweet. As Cypriot coffee is quite strong, it will always be served with a glass of cold water. Also be warned at the bottom of every cup you will find black sediment that looks like mud – whatever you do – don’t drink it.

sticky orange fingers, geckos and flight of the eagle

Its not often I get to eat an orange straight from the tree.
Fresh, juicy and sticky. I actually ate loads of oranges, peeled and chopped with Greek yogurt for breakfast or freshly squeezed as a juice.

One of the trees were adorned by these flowers. I was told these were called hibiscus. I wonder if its the same hibiscus you find in herbal teas?

drinking glykos, eating spanakopittas, olive and tahini pies

Hello dear readers, I am back from my long blog break. I have to admit I have missed blogging both writing and reading, but it was a welcome change to my daily routine. So where was I for two weeks? Can you guess from the title? Greece...

Mangocheeks goes on holiday

Tomorrow will officially be the start of my holidays.
So I have decided to take a break from blogging too. This will be a challenge for someone who has been blogging pretty much every day since this blog began.

Anyway, if you are a regular reader, I hope to see you when I get back. If you are just passing by, stick around awhile and enjoy your time on my blog.

The old and the new

It's Heritage Open Days in the U.K, except for some reason in Scotland it's called Doors Open Days. Anyway, the idea is you are given free access to hundreds of fascinating buildings across the U.K. Every weekend in September you can explore places that are normally closed to the public. Some open up once a year, some just once in a lifetime...
Can you guess?! Yes, the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum that is open pretty much all year round. Are we nuts? This picture was taken from the Kelvingrove Park. I like the way the modern graffiti art and skateboarders playground is set against the grandeur of the Museum.

This picture is taken from Glasgow University, another perspective of the Museum. You can see why we decided to go the the Museum, the overcast of the dark clouds kept threatening to rain, so shelter was very much welcomed. C'mon let me take you into the museum.

Most people equate Glasgow with the works of Charles Rennie Mackintosh, and this is so

but I want to show you what I saw through my eyes. This looks like a scene from The Fisher King.

And this one likes like a scene from the amusing movie Night in the Museum. Am I on a movie set?

I really loved these heads hanging from the ceiling.

Each and everyone with their own expression.

Some funny, some sad...

Some angry, some cheery,

Okay enough of these. May I introduce you to Elvis, or at least a caricature of him.

I saw this piece originally at the GoMA museum.

It was quite popular then and still is, I can see why the Kelvingrove have acquired it. It is a popular photo-shot by all who come through these doors. Am I right Nic?!

I have been to the Kelvingrove a few times, and each time I go back I see something different, something I missed the first, second,third and fourth time around.

There were a number of 'exotic masks' in one of the Children's Learning section for educational purposes. I couldn't resist...

Then I got D to pose as well. He's quite handsome under all that - really! Well I think he is.

Amongst our child play, we were quite serious in our observations or the works displayed at the Kelvingrove. This was a poster depicting the Hindu God Rama. After it's refurbishment, the Kelvingrove Museum has made an attempt to recognise some of the 'migrant communities' living in Scotland.

This is a painting of a Bengali potter who came over for the 1888 Empire Exhibition. I think this is one of my favourite images.

"I Belong To Glasgow" is a song written by the music hall entertainer Will Fyffe, in 1927. It is one of a very small number of pre-war songs still well-known today, and has been covered by number of artist including Eartha Kitt. Around 2005, the song title was adopted by a number of solidarity groups, challenging the 'racial tension' in Glasgow, especially around asylum seekers and refugees of colour arriving from places like Afghanistan, Eritrea, Iraq, Somalia and Sudan in the late 1990s. These new migrants dubbed by many as the new Scots were being victimised in parts of Glasgow, some even brutally assaulted. Solidarity groups asserted that these new Scots belonged to Glasgow. Glasgow City Council even designed a poster around this, it was all over billboards, bus stops and buses at the time. The poster depicted people of various ethnic and cultural backgrounds, all claiming that they 'belonged to Glasgow'. The poster also touched on another issue: sectarianism on relationships between Protestant and Catholic communities in Glasgow.

These are some more images of migrants from South Asian (Indian, Pakistan, Bangladesh) backgrounds now living in Glasgow. Some school girls skipping, the other a Bride. For some brides it is the happiest day of their lives, for most South Asian brides it is the saddest day of their lives as they are leaving the home of their parents - their cradle.

I really loved this painting, sorry it's the best I could do. It depicts the links between the Punjab and Scotland. Click on it to see if you can identify any of those links.

Here's once slightly closer. You can see the Celtic (Catholic) and Rangers (Protestant) football shirts in the back, the Sikh lad and lasses wearing Tartan outfits. It really is an interesting ands intriguing painting.

This image is so true too. Have you watched The Royal Tenenbaums. When I lived in Glasgow during my University years, I was astounded by these tenement flats, so sturdy, unless the flimsy buildings you see these days.

As we left the Museum, we came across this building. It is not that far from the museum, the modern artwork had been removed to reveal some of the original signage below it. This cafe opened in 1890, two years after the Kelvingrove Museum opened. Fascinating, what you can find if you look.

Hills of Fife and the Pillars of Hercules

The allotment committee couldn’t be bothered to have an open day this year, so instead of enjoying the fruits and vegetables of fellow allotmenteers, we decided to go to Falkland in the Kingdom of Fife, where Pillar of Hercules were having an Open Day. Pillars of Hercules is an organic farm with both a shop and café. I had been there once before, well before I got my plot and quite liked it. Falkland is just over an hours drive from where I live and the weather was brilliant, so we made the most of it.
Well my first picture had to be food related didn't it. How cute is that?!

Falkland High Street. Falkland has won numerous awards for being the most beautiful place in Scotland. I can see why people fall in love with Scotland, its a different world from the cities of Scotland.

Falkland Palace in is a former royal palace of the Scottish Kings. Today it is in the care of the National Trust for Scotland, and serves as a tourist attraction.

The village's coat of arms shows a stag under an oak tree this was in the centre of the High Street.

Here it is on a lamp post.

Scottish thistle in its many forms. Now onto Pillars of Hercules. Yes before I go any further you are probably wondering 'why on earth is it called Pillars of Hercules?', well the owner of the 24 acre farmland Bruce says don't ask, so I won't.

This is the entrance to the organic farm shop, selling vegetables, fruit, free range eggs, grains, pulses and eco-friendly household products. I found out that they had a Veg Box Service. I bought a couple of cucumbers and pulses: black turtle bean, puy lentils and aduki beans for the coming winter season.

We had a coffee and a bean burger at the vegetarian cafe which in it's style was both urban and rustic. Urban because it was selling city style expresso shots, and rustic in its surroundings, the furnishings were all hand-made and out of reclaimed wood. As we left the cafe I noticed some leaflets had appeared on the tables from the Fife Diet.

We took a slow wander around the farmland.

I remember purchasing an Echinacea plant from here about 3 years ago, I was optimistic about it growing in my garden at home, but it never did. This time I decided to just admire them.

Pretty petals

Click on to see larger image!

Is it me or is this building looking at me with its crazy hairdo?!

I hope they didn't mind, but we also took a gander in some of their polytunnels, I saw some plum tomatoes and various salads. I think I also saw some parsnips growing in one of the polytunnels, but I am no 100% sure.

There were also some cucumbers. Seriously look closer.

You can see why I bought a couple.

Then we decided to stretch our legs a bit further and explore some more of the farmland. I saw these lovely pumpkins turning that brilliant orange, not long before it's ready for harvesting.

We stumbled upon the chicken run. This hungry one or should I say greedy one came up to see if we had any grains, but then guess what happened...

The rest of her pals followed. Nothing like following the leader.

It's not often we get sunny days like this in Scotland, so I couldn't resist a few arty pictures. So please just humour me.

I just love the natural colours.

Here's me in an idyllic setting.

Looks like a scene from 'Days of Heaven' or am I thinking of another movie?

I was pleased to note that the Pillars of Hercules vegetables were at a similar stage to mine. For example, look at this cavolo nero or black kale, ahh this could be my backyard, but it not. I would never be able to fit so many in my garden plot.

Back to the main area where the open day was taking place, their were some food demonstrations, music, the essential bouncy castle for the children, veggie burger stall, crafts stall and some free food tasters. I tried a lovely pumpkin chutney but decided not to buy any because I would be making a load of my own. We also stopped by this stall, where a lovely lady was giving people a chance to taste some wild weeds and salad leaves. A very good idea!

Ah what a lovely day, now it was back to the West of Scotland.

We did stop one more time at the Coffee Bothy at Blairnmains farmshop where we had some scones with cream and jam. This is a lovely shot of an eagle I think, but look in the distant - you will see the Wallace Monument. Okay that's me calling it a day as your tourist guide.