I recognized most of the varieties - fairly familiar names, incl. Vasilika, (no surprise there),  Smyrna, Napolitana Negra and Kadota (or was it Dakota?), The last one surprised me a bit - didn't expect to find it growing in Cyprus. One or 2 I didn't recognize and might struggle finding the English equivalent names. Gk uses some strange letter combi's to simulate letters & sounds they don't have, such as c, h, ch, j, & w, but it's usually possible to tell if the name is original Gk or a transliteration of a foreign name. 

There were at least a couple (maybe more) such as Vasanati (which means the color of aubergine/eggplant) and Vardika that I didn't recognize as transliterations. [In Gk, you pronounce the t as a d, the d as th in the and k as a hard g in gas]. They are clearly original Gk names, have no equivalent English names in the f4f fig DBase as far as I can tell, and I suspect may well be unique to Cyprus in the sense that they are indigenous varieties, so may be unknown outside the country.

I also suspect that these may be of greatest interest to f4f members, so I'll try to translate the description given by the MoA and post some pics as well. I might also go equipped next time to get some cuttings. 

Full report, etc to follow later.

PS The one thing that did surprise me tho was that the figs themselves did not appear to be any bigger than mine back home, which is a bit odd bearing in mind the Cypriot climate as compared to ours.  

OK, had another look at the booklet, and now have English equivalents for all except Vardika. Aside from those mentioned above, you also get Brogiotto Blanco, Gentile White and San Pedro growing in Cyprus. If anybody has any comments to make on these & the above (especially in terms of which are worth getting cuttings from), I'd be %ed to hear from you.

So only Vardika left to pin down. I'll translate & post a pic. later. I think all the other varieties are fairly well known to most members.

PPS first post above. Guess I shouldn't be surprised at finding Kadota there. Shoudda known it's an Italian variety, which would explain its presence in Cyprus.

Vardika - Mainly green skin with a slightly yellowish tint, flesh is red with a hint of pink, prone to splitting in certain growing conditions. Fuller translation to follow later, but initially doesn't sound that promising or interesting. No description of flavor as far as I can tell. Bummer.

Vardika II - Here is the full text of the description from the Gk:

Vasanati:

Costas, great report, thanks a million.
My sister will arrive at the end of this month with more info... we'll combine forces. Although I wish you had brought some pictures along with you from Cyprus, that could be very useful also.
She was mentioning to me that the 2 varieties that she was dealing with right now were White and Black, both big enough fruit barely fitting into her palm. Sounded impressive.

Regarding Vardika... Lampo, Francisco had posted a site with capri preparation process and the lady in the clip was mentioning Vardika if I am not mistaken, I could still be wrong. She was speaking Greek. I'd have to go back to the clip to verify this.

Hey, not so fast young man. Who said I didn't have any pics? I have to 'process' them first b4 I can post - the file size is just too big for the site to accept them as they are.

Also, I'm not actually done with my report either. There's more to follow, tho it's mainly a travelogue rather than about the varieties themselves. I thought the latter was more 'urgent', so gave the variety info greater priority.

Hafta warn you tho, the pics are not that informative. Fruit production seemed no more advanced than ours, and surprisingly, the nursery didn't have all the varieties on show. Only Vasilika, Delirisimo (???), Vardika, Kd and Smyrna were there. And our guide mentioned another variety - Rossika, which like Delirisimo is not listed in the literature we managed to get. So still 2 more mystery varieties to ID, but I haven't checked these names against the DB yet.

Sorry for the delay, but still got a lot of other work on my plate. So just watch this space mate. Will post again soon enough.

Oh great, can't wait to see the pics... I'm hoping to find the fig, we used to have in our backyard, and the name...was famous type in Cyprus. Looked like the Santa Croce variety in this website.
http://www.ficuscarica.com/carica.html
Maybe it was what it looks like!

Assuming you mean the Santa Cruz Dark, the closest match I can find is Kadota, also a variety widely grown in Cyprus. As I said, I'll post some pics later.

Sorry, scrap that ID. Just checked your link, which is not a match for Kadota. Let me have another look for you.

Closest I could get to Cypriot-grown varieties is Vasanati, which I thought initially might be aka Melanzana, except for the official description that says it's a local variety rather than an Italian import.

PS See 'official' description @ post #6

Rossiko (or perhaps, more correctly - Rossikon). - Almost certainly a Russian fig import. There are post WWII historical ties with the USSR, so it makes sense. I think it likely refers to this one:

http://figs4funforum.websitetoolbox.com/post/white-russian-6523085?highlight=russian&pid=1279511775#post1279511775

But (hopefully only temporarily) lost my description, so can't match directly.

Delirissimo - drawn a blank so far. Almost certainly an Italian variety - if it even exists. 

So here are the pics, but as I said, not really that informative at this time of year. I really need to be there in Aug, but it's just too hot for us during high season.

Pics 1 & 2 - Smyrna 

 

 

Pics 3-5 - Delirissimo
Description: Small fig, green skin and red flesh.

 

 

 

Pics 6 & 7 - Vardika

 

 

Pics 8 & 9 - Vasilika

 

 

Pics 10-12 Kadota

 

 

 

wow, look at those double blooms of Kadota... is it common in Kadotas?

Thanks for sharing all of this.  If all goes according to plan I will be visiting some friends in Cyprus the last week in June.  I hate to hear that most of the varieties are ripe in August same as here.  I was really hoping to pig out on some figs while there

@goss, if you only could delay by one month :)

According to the official description above, even a local variety (Vasanati) does't ripen till the 2nd half of Aug. There may be some varieties that ripen mid-late July, but I imagine they'll be few.

That actually gives me an idea. We're thinking of going late Aug/early Sept next year, when the weather is just about acceptably cooler, and hopefully most trees are still producing ripe fruit. I think another visit is on the cards.

TRAVELOGUE 1

1. So, heading northwards on the main highway to Lefkosia (Nicosia) - the A1 - you exit right (ie 3rd exit) at the last roundabout* before you hit the flyover. You are now on the B22.

*This is the Spirou Kyprianou roundabout, and is signposted for Strovolos on the 1st exit. If you over-shoot (like we did), don't panic. After the flyover, just do a first available right turn and double-back on yourself onto the A1 again, and you'll come across the Athalassa exit very quickly, but this time it will be on your left, of course. Arguably, this 'mistake' is actually a better route, coz it picks up from #5 below. If you're travelling from Lefkosia, this will likely be your approach anyway. 

2. At the next roundabout, take 1st exit (ie left) onto the B1. You'll pass 2 hospitals to your right, one of them a mental hospital.

3. Straight ahead (ie 2nd exit) at the next roundabout.

4. At the end of the B1, do a right. You are now on an unnamed road that cuts across Athalassa Forest from W-E.

5. Continue on this road until a set of traffic lights come into view at the other end, but just before you reach these lights, do a right turn. You are now in the visitors' area that includes the nursery. This is the eastern corner of the forest, called Agios Georgios.

See link below for map, which hopefully will make all this a little clearer.

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/place/Athalassa+national+park/@35.1365993,33.383393,15z/data=!4m2!3m1!1s0x14de182f4d626955:0x594ecba8d3e9b022

More to follow later.

TRAVELOGUE 2

We met a delightful lady called Dora. When we later asked for directions to the Municipal Park and nearest cafe, she insisted on making us a Gk coffee. Such friendly hospitality.

She told us that the locals visit the center and nursery whenever they want during the ripening season, and just help themselves - no charge. Amazing. Unfortunately for them, all that's about to change. The govt. is virtually bankrupt, so all the Athalassa facilities (incl. the nursery) are about to be privatized. Everything will then be chargeable, and prices will quadruple. The nursery itself was devoted mainly to olive trees - no young figlets as far as we could ascertain. The whole operation is being wound down coz of the impending privatization. She may well soon be out of a job. Shame.

About halfway into our visit a grumpy man turns up. Turns out to be her brother-in-law. He soon perks up when she tells him about our interest in figs. He then rattles off all the varieties in rapid-fire succession, and gives us contact details for the MoA's chief fruit expert - Christalla Kosta. Back home, I get a pdf attachment from her. It's their official publication on figs, a 32 page booklet titled 'The Cultivation of Figs'. In Greek, of course. It was the main source of the descriptions given above.

I'll try to figure out the best way to post it to the forum for any members who are %ed - and know Greek! So that'll be all 2 of you then. 

Nope, unfortunately it doesn't appear to be possible. At least, not straightforwardly. File size is too big, and although I can break it up and download individual pages, the effort involved is just too much work for me right now. Maybe at same later point if there is a perceived demand. Otherwise, I reckon this thread is now complete as far as my report is concerned.

If you must have the booklet, the easiest way of getting hold of it is to PM me your e-mail address so I can fwd it to you. Sorry fellas, but I think that's about the best I can do.

So this is your intrepid fig reporter signing off. Y'all take care now, y'hear?

Euxaristo Costas :)

Unfortunately we can't change our plans.  My wife has to be back to start school.