Juliet Suite Dhoros Cyprus

17/04/2024

Wishing our best friend George Tsokkos a very happy birthday 🥰💜

Τα γενέθλια σου: Πάρης ΔιαμαντόπουλοςΈχεις τα γενέθλια σουη βραδιά είναι δικιά σουΤα κεράκια έλα σβήσε γλύκα σαν την τούρτα είσαιΚαρδούλα μου χρόνια πολλά να...

13/04/2024

16/03/2024

26/11/2023

Dhoros is indeed hidden; which is why the weather is so gorgeous here most of the time. I went on a photo shoot from Dhoros to Trimklini, Saitas across to Peri Pedi and then down through Silikou and Monagri. It was only at the beginning of my trip that I was able to see Dhoros from the top of the B8 road; by the time I had turned a few corners Dhoros was hidden from sight no matter how High and how often I stopped to look and take photos. I was beginning to think that Dhoros had totally disappeared until I arrived in Silikou; finally I began to pick up images of her again.
Note in every photo from this side a purple bougainvillea stands out! Its amazing how one spot of colour can travel so far. My main device for finding the village was using my telephoto lens and looking for our church dome.
I was told a story by a village elder the last time I was in Dhoros. Apparently when many Christians were fleeing Cyprus due to religious persecution many hundreds of years ago, Dhororians stayed, as they were so high up and so well hidden that they simply stayed in their village unseen in an unsafe world. I'm not sure how true this story is, but it really is a peaceful village.

26/11/2023

My lemon tree

I have always loved swallows; their beautiful sweeping flights and the way they perch in the evenings and chatter. I remember as a child in a small farming village in England (Even more rural than Dhoros, no cafe or shop, not even a church!) how sad they made my mother as they all collected on the telegraph wires at the end of summer ready to fly off to warmer climes; a sure sign that winter was coming she said.
In Dhoros they love the high empty buildings to build their nests in and this May we had more than a few fly into our rooms looking for possible nesting sites and fly out again when they saw that the building was occupied! One even got trapped in our bedroom before we opened a second window for its escape.
The loveliest sights were in the evening when they perched on the rose bushes in the Juliet courtyard in front of the Juliet balcony singing to each other. I have to assume these were a couple as they were comfortable in each others company and came every evening to sit in the branches together.

26/11/2023

My lemon tree is now fully mature offering greenery, flowers, buds, green lemons & lemon lemons

05/09/2023

Μια ανοιξιάτικη μέρα ξημέρωσε στον Δωρό. Να έχετε μια πανέμορφη εβδομάδα!!

05/09/2023

A 'Roshan' from a muslim window, giving privacy to the inhabitants, but allowing them to see the world pass by. I saw this on a scrap heap outside the village on the road between Monagri & Dhoros. We took the car to pick it up and it has worked as an excellent plant trellis, recently moved to allow the lemon tree more space and give the roses plenty of room to grow up the wall next to our Juliet balcony.

05/09/2023

I have always loved swallows; their beautiful sweeping flights and the way they perch in the evenings and chatter. I remember as a child in a small farming village in England (Even more rural than Dhoros, no cafe or shop, not even a church!) how sad they made my mother as they all collected on the telegraph wires at the end of summer ready to fly off to warmer climes; a sure sign that winter was coming she said.
In Dhoros they love the high empty buildings to build their nests in and this May we had more than a few fly into our rooms looking for possible nesting sites and fly out again when they saw that the building was occupied! One even got trapped in our bedroom before we opened a second window for its escape.
The loveliest sights were in the evening when they perched on the rose bushes in the Juliet courtyard in front of the Juliet balcony singing to each other. I have to assume these were a couple as they were comfortable in each others company and came every evening to sit in the branches together.

05/09/2023

Ένα χαλαρό βραδάκι Δευτέρας ! Καλή εβδομάδα !

06/06/2023

06/06/2023

Dhoros is a beautiful village; with many old houses little changed over hundreds of years, but it is also a village where many villagers realise the beauty of their surroundings and are renovating their homes with care to ensure that these village houses will remain for many more years to come. Wood and metal are traditional materials used for windows and doors, whilst stone was the original building material for walls. Many houses are now having these cleaned and once again using them for building within the village. To offset the stones greeness is added wherever possible with the use of any suitable container to hold geraniums and other Mediterranean pot plants.

06/06/2023

Ancient traditions from Aphrodite’s time combined with early Orthodox Christian beliefs to form the Cypriot wedding we know today.
The Stephana (Crowns) are one of the oldest and most important parts of the wedding ceremony.
In ancient times the couple and their guests wore matching stephana dedicated to Aphrodite; usually made from olive leaves, vine leaves and lemon flowers. The bride and groom wore white to symbolise the purity of their bodies and their relationship with one another.
By early Christian times the Stephana were worn solely by the bride and groom and were made from fragile and delicately scented lemon flowers that represented the couple’s virginity and purity.
In the Byzantine period the Stephana became a symbol of royalty; representing a royal crowns. The marriage was seen as the creation of a new kingdom: the home and the family of the couple. The priest prayed that God would bless them with glory and honour in their new kingdom and with the wisdom and justice to rule it.
Today the Stephana represent the holiness and sanctity of the joining of two people; Rings of a chain that binds their lives forever; for this reason the priest ties the ribbons of the two Stephana together symbolising two becoming one.
As symbols of their eternal love for one another the Stephana becomes a cherished part of their home. In the past, the Stephana were placed with the home's religious icons to symbolise the sanctity of their marriage and as with the icons; protectors of their home.
Nowadays the Stephana are usually kept in a special box called a stephanothiki and placed on the couple’s bedroom wall either above their bed or the door; recognising the bedroom as the foundation stone of their marriage and future family.
Today Stephana are often made of precious materials and kept for future generations as a keepsafe. However I prefer the older tradition of placing the Stephana in the coffins of the deceased.
The wedding photos of the couple are identical but for a small difference! Agios Mamas is a renowned village in the Troodos mountains for the bravery of their men and women in standing up to and resisting the British occupation. Socrates a member of the resistance was eventually captured by them. As a prisoner of war he was allowed to make and decorate the frame for his wedding photograph. The older photograph of the priest and his wife are the parents of his wife.

06/06/2023

Knowing the story below I was amazed when I looked at the photos I had taken on a walk around the village; One old split olive tree, holding onto each other, like the story. You can definitely see the hands on the top left corner.
The Story of Baucis and Philemon;
Zeus and Hermes came disguised as ordinary peasants, and began asking the people of the town for a place to sleep that night. They were rejected by all before they came to Baucis and Philemon's simple rustic cottage. Though the couple were poor, their generosity far surpassed that of their rich neighbours, at whose homes the gods found "all the doors bolted and no word of kindness given, so wicked were the people of that land."
After serving the two guests food and wine (which Ovid depicts with pleasure in the details), Baucis noticed that, although she had refilled her guest's beechwood cups many times, the pitcher was still full. Realising that her guests were gods, she and her husband "raised their hands in supplication and implored indulgence for their simple home and fare." Philemon thought of catching and killing the goose that guarded their house and making it into a meal, but when he went to do so, it ran to safety in Zeus's lap. Zeus said they need not slay the goose and that they should leave the town. This was because he was going to destroy the town and all those who had turned them away and not provided due hospitality. He told Baucis and Philemon to climb the mountain with him and Hermes, not to turn back until they reached the top.
After climbing to the summit ("as far as an arrow could shoot in one pull"), Baucis and Philemon looked back on their town and saw that it had been destroyed by a flood and that Zeus had turned their cottage into an ornate temple. The couple's wish to be guardians of the temple was granted, as was their other request. They also asked that when time came for one of them to die, that the other would die as well. Upon their death, the couple were changed into an intertwining pair of trees

06/06/2023

Η αρχαία μας βρύση, ένα κόσμημα ανά τους αιώνες.
Καλημέρα!!

06/06/2023

Τετάρτη του Πάσχα στον όμορφο Δωρό.

06/06/2023

One aspect of modern May Day celebrations is the preparation of a flower wreath from wild flowers against a background of green leaves