Landscapes and villages of Limnos and Koula's Fanouropita (Greek Spice Cake)

After exchanging our motor scooter no less than five times, George the motor scooter man  finally came through with a decent bike for us to hire for the rest of our stay here in Limnos.

It is such a relief to be riding a comfortable bike now. We have been on a couple of rides so far, along the north-western inland road from Kaspakas to Sardes, and the south-west coastal road through Thanos, Kontias, Portianou and Nea Koutali.

For today's post I'm going to let the pictures express the beauty of some of the landscapes and villages we've visited, and at the end of the post, the recipe for Koula's Fanouropita (Greek Spice Cake).

Streets of Androni:

Dapia Fortress and views of Myrina:

Relaxing in Kaspakas:

Between Kaspakas and Sardes:

Views along south-west coast of Limnos:

Portianou:

Palio Pethino:

Nea Koutali:

We only have five more days here in Limnos and I've hardly told you any of what we've been doing. Life in Limnos is very relaxing and carefree. It's a very easy lifestyle to get used to, and really hard to come inside to write on the blog, especially now that those pleasant afternoon siesta hours are calling me :)

I will try and post a few more times before we leave for Santorini but it's really difficult to resist the pull of the beach and the gorgeous weather here. To be honest, the last thing I want to be doing is sitting here at the computer!

To give you an idea of what life is like in Limnos, imagine Koula cooking up a storm in the kitchen almost every day while my dad is making noise with Anesti upstairs as they fit a second kitchen on the third floor of the house. Julia is outside watering the garden, after which she will shell some almonds and tend to the grapes she's been drying in the sun, all the while George sits on the terrace tossing his worry beads.

Tony and I have been spending our days riding the new motor scooter, sunning on the beach, going for long walks, eating way too much food and then sleeping it all off.

Later today I am going on a hike up Castro mountain, and tomorrow Tony and I will take the motor scooter across to the other side of the island for lunch in Moudros. These stories and more I still need to write about, including the lovely boat trip we took around the south coast of the island on a traditional "kaiki" boat a few days ago. The time is flying by so incredibly fast but we are having a wonderful time and I hope I can motivate myself to detail our adventures before we are back in Melbourne!

Ok it's way past my nap time but before I go, here is Koula's version of a beautiful Greek afternoon tea cake, Fanouropita. It's very simple with few ingredients and is so light and fluffy it's hard not to go for seconds. Lovely with a dollop of honeyed Greek yoghurt and a cup of tea.

Koula's Fanouropita (Greek Spice Cake)

Serves 12

Ingredients

• 1 cup light olive oil
• 1 cup orange juice
• 1 cup white wine
• 1 cup water
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 500g self raising flour
• 50g sesame seeds

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees celsius.
2. Add all liquid ingredients and spices to a large bowl. Using an electric mixer, blend on high speed until well combined – around one minute.
3. Reduce speed to low and gradually add flour while continuing to mix.
4. Pour cake batter into a 30cm x 20cm rectangular cake tin lined with baking paper, sprinkle with sesame seeds, and bake for 40 minutes, or until a knife inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean.