THE BELLAPAIS MONASTERY
After having a tour round the Gothic
Bellapais monastery, you can enjoy delicious meal at
the restaurants that are located within the
precincts of the building. While relaxing in the
restaurant and drinking a cool beer under the famous
Tree of Idleness, you have best views on abbey and a
chance to buy a souvenir.
Bellapais village apart from the monastery that was
built within its boundaries is also well-known for a
writer and novelist, Lawrence Durrell ( 1912-1990),
who lived here between 1953 and 1956. It was in
Bellapais where he finished Justine , the first
volume of the Alexandria Quartet and enjoyed the
life of a travel writer marked by the east
Mediterranean .
His now-popular book Bitter Lemons
of Cyprus describes life in Cyprus . Besides village
life he also portrays renovation of a house as well
as village gossiping and intrigues. On a more sombre
note he sounded the alarm bell for the troubles that
were to ultimately cast over Cyprus not too many
years ahead.
So-called “Tree of Idleness” did not get its name by
accident. It is said that villagers liked to spend
hours and hours sitting under “Tree of Idleness” and
idle the days away. However, throughout the whole
book Bitter Lemons of Cyprus there is no mention
about what kind of a tree it was. Today there are
two trees that compete for this title.
One is a
leafy ancient, now-sickly mulberry tree
overshadowing the coffee shop next to the Bellapais
Abbey ticket booth and the other contender is a
Japanese pagoda tree that casts its shadow over the
eponymous Huzur Agaç (Tree of Idleness) restaurant.
Fairly, both trees could qualify for the role pretty
well as each of them attracts a crowd of onlookers.
Still it is usually the mulberry under which the men
of the village sit on their rustic chairs clutching
a cold beer and play a game of backgammon.
The
picture is very much alike to Durrell's story in
which villagers would just relax and enjoy the
perfect weather. Whichever tree it is does not
really matter since the story brings many visitors
and remains a constant source of debate.
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