Winter in the Village: Eight Weeks of Firelight, Food and Warmth

Photograph by Lagria Hospitality

Winter in Salamiou is like a fleeting guest as it does not linger like it does in countries in northern Europe. Winter does not arrive with heavy snowfall or endless grey skies. Here in Salamiou, perched amongst the vineyards and hills of the Paphos District, winter lasts only about eight short weeks. These weeks carry a charm of their own and this is deeply woven into village life.

People often imagine Cyprus as an island of perpetual sunshine and warmth and with more than 320 sunny days this is mostly true, but our winters have their own character. The days are still sunny with blue skies, but cooler and the air is fragrant with wood smoke and filled with tranquility that brings the community closer together. These are the weeks when village life slips into a slower rhythm, when traditions emerge like old friends and when warmth becomes something we create, not simply feel.

Life Remains Outdoors — Even in Winter

What surprises visitors about the village is that, despite the chill in the air, winter is a season when most people spend time outdoors. The days are mild enough for people to work the fields, prune the vines, feed their animals and tend to their olive trees. Winter sun in the countryside is soft but generous, perfect for longer tasks that would be unbearable in the blazing heat of summer.

Photograph by Lagria Hospitality

Even the housewives often prepare meals in their fourno - outdoor oven or makeshift fireplaces, a habit passed down from our mothers and grandmothers. There is something grounding about preparing vegetables and casseroles outside.  If people meet in the street, they will stand in the sunshine as they talk and will tell each other - “Κάνει κρύο, αλλά όμορφο κρύο- ” meaning it is cold, but a good kind of cold!

Evenings by the Fireside

When the sun dips in the sky, the temperature drops quickly and the whole village retreats indoors or into tavernas where large wood fires crackle from the hearths.

Inside the old houses of Salamiou, the stone walls hold the heat from the fireplace and families gather close, wrapped in blankets or wearing thick woolly sweaters. The fire becomes the focus of the evening. Someone adds a log, someone else prepares a pot of herbal tea and animated conversations stretch long into the night.

Photograph by Lagria Hospitality

The tavernas glow like small beacons in the darkness. Groups of friends gather around wooden tables, cheeks flushed from the heat of the fire, hands outstretched towards the flames. The menus reflect the season with comforting casseroles that have been cooked for many hours so that the meat is really tender and has absorbed the flavour of wine and herbs.

A nip of red wine is almost obligatory. “Μια καντίλα κρασί να βράσει το κορμί μου,” is the popular local saying, meaning “Just a glass to keep the body warm ”.

Winter Comfort Foods

Photograph by Lagria Hospitality

The winter foods of the village really comfort you from the inside out as they are

hearty, slow-cooked, rich, and deeply traditional.

Photograph by Lagria Hospitality

• Trachanas — The Taste of Home

Trachanas is perhaps the ultimate comforting winter soup. It is made from fermented bulgur wheat and goat’s milk,that has been shaped into rusks and dried in the summer sun and stored for the winter. When cooked in stock, a handful of the rusks become a thick, tangy soup - with a warmth that spreads through your body like a soft blanket.

Every family has its own recipe so the resulting soup is slightly different, but one thing is certain, trachanas is much more than food. It is a memory, a tradition and a taste from childhood.

• Meats Slow-Cooked in Wine

Winter is the season for casseroles cooked slowly for hours, filling the whole house with their aromas. Pork with white wine and coriander (Afelia), beef cooked in rich tomato and red wine (Stifado) and rabbit stewed with onions (Kouneli) - these dishes reflect the old rhythm of village kitchens. There are delicious pasta dishes like macaronia sto fourno and Yemista – oven-baked stuffed vegetables as well as delicious loukanika – sausages flavoured with red wine and herbs.

The cooler weather encourages slow cooking. Nothing is rushed. The flavours deepen and the meals are more satisfying and feel like a celebration of the season.

• Rustic Vegetables

The land around the village still offers so many choices in winter: There are potatoes, squash, leafy greens, carrots, and kolokassi a type of taro that tastes quite similar to a sweet potato.

A simple tray of village potatoes oven- baked with olive oil, oregano and lemon becomes the perfect side to any winter dish. Thick slices of halloumi grilled by the fire and bread toasted over embers are both comfort foods and louvi and other pulses are slow-cooked until creamy and fragrant.

Photograph by Lagria Hospitality

• Plenty of festive treats too

Photographs by Lagria Hospitality

Christmas in the village means that housewives prepare large quantities of different desserts and biscuits to welcome guests long into the New Year. Kourambiedhes are orange flower and almond-flavoured shortbreads that are dusted with icing sugar and hard to resist and melamakarona are small honey-soaked buns. Both of these can be bought in bakeries and offer an authentic taste of Cyprus.

Photograph by Androula Petropoulou

Winter Walks, Winter Light

One of the unexpected gifts of winter in Salamiou is the light. Soft, golden and low, the winter light spreads gently over the hills. The vineyards sleep and the almond trees prepare for their first hopeful blossoms, whilst the olives on the laden branches of the olive trees mature in the winter sunshine. 

Photograph by Styllis/Stylianos Georgiou

Morning walks become meditative as you pass neighbours pruning vines, women sweeping their courtyards and old men carrying logs on their shoulders. Everyone nods  Kalimera - good morning. Everyone seems content.

Photograph by Charlie Baskerville

Just when we settle into the rhythm of winter, it comes to an end. Eight weeks—sometimes ten and then the first tell-tale signs of spring arriving. The first wild cyclamen unfurl their flowers and soon the countryside will be transformed by a colourful patchwork of flowers and the first migratory birds will arrive.

Photographs by Lagria Hospitality

For now though, it is lovely to sit by the open fire with a mug of herbal tea and a good book…...

In Salamiou, winter is a whisper, not a storm. But oh, what a beautiful whisper it is.