Elena was our tour guide for the day, and we can certainly see why these tours get 5 stars every time! It’s a full day (9 – 5), and it’s not just about the halloumi making either, there were 4 aspects to the tour; the cheese making, a visit to a monastery, then a winery and finally a Cypriot Delight manufacturer.
At the end of the halloumi making, there’s a brunch which includes the fresh halloumi just made, as well as bread, other cheese, salad, and so on. There was plenty and no one went hungry.
At all the locations you can buy the produce if you wish, but if you don’t want to, there’s certainly no pressure or obligation to do so. Having said that, we came home with a suitcase containing halloumi, biscuits, desert wine from the monastery and sweets – our cases weighed quite a bit more going home than they did coming.
The tours are small, only 7 people on ours, which makes it very personal, unlike large group tours, where the guide just really only stands at the front of a coach and just talks. But because of the small size, this is not like that at all – the whole day is a two-way experience. And again, because it’s a small group, the people on the tour also talk to each other much more than they would otherwise do.
Elena was exceptionally knowledgeable and clearly very proud of Cyprus and its food and drink and did a first-rate job being our guide for the day.
The next time we holiday in Cyprus (which I’m sure will be next year), we will definitely be booking another Cyprus Taste Tour!