Brushing past an 80-year-old bay tree, I follow the heady scent of smoky rose. Flora’s family are in the garden, chatting over a big pot of goat in a wood-fired clay oven. Preparations for kleftiko —a slow-roasted dish of lamb or goat —are well underway.
The morning sun shines through the canopy of vines above our heads. Andreas, Flora’s husband, grabs a tiny terracotta cup in which Diamanto, Flora’s cousin, carefully places a few cubes of incense. “In Cyprus, before we cook something, we burn coal, olive leaves and rose incense to bring good luck,” says Diamanto, as a westerly wind wafts the fragrant smoke up my nose. Andreas gestures to the forest-cloaked mountains above, explaining that the incense comes from the Holy Monastery of Panagia Trikoukiotissa in nearby Prodromos, the highest village in Cyprus.
Flora and Andreas Karpi are my lunch hosts in Fyti, a sleepy village of just 80 inhabitants on a plateau in the Paphos region of western Cyprus. Married for 44 years, they have three children and four grandchildren. Andreas is retired, while Flora works at Paphos Airport. We’re also joined by Eirini, Diamanto’s mother.
