E4 European Long Distance Walk in Cyprus: Cyprus E4: Bath of Aphrodite to Droushia: Day 6

Whereas yesterday I walked around the coast of the Akamas peninsula, today the E4 took me on a circuitous route through its mountains.
The walk started well, although it began with a steep uphill climb, it was on a footpath through juniper and small trees rather than on a vehicle track, part of a local nature trail the E4 followed for a while. There were benches and signs naming different plants. Sadly I could not see plants such as Cistus, that were named on the signs as these grow and flower in spring. Probably, the best time to enjoy walking in Cyprus is in the spring when I imagine flowers are abundant. In September most vegetation looks sun bleached and drab, or dead, but the grass must have been greener earlier in the year. After following a pipe up a narrow valley with outcrops of rock, I reached the higher ground and it was back to following dusty vehicle tracks.
Nevertheless they took me among pine trees, and although there were some noisy All Terain Vehicles and the like with tourists circling the roads, for most of the time it made for pleasant walking. I could see down to where I walked yesterday, the coast and the sea beyond, sometimes turquoise near the coast and a much deeper indigo blue further out. The route initially headed north and then turned back on itself, maybe to give views of both the north and west sides of the peninsula. I climbed up to a fire watch tower, sat on a summit and ate a snack on the rocks while admiring the view. The pines were of no great height, they spread out laterally, some stunted and contorted, the gaps between the trees were too great to call it a true forest. Possibly the result of lack of rainfall and the thin soil with the rocks protruding through.
Later I left the pines and walked through scrub with thorny bushes. It was brown and burnt by the sun. The only relief were some tall spikes of white flowers. Further on there were terraced fields on which wheat or some similar crop had been grown, now there was just stubble. As I approached Doushia, a village high in the hills, vineyards added rows of bright green. Some were well tended, others abandoned. In places large bodies of rock formed minor summits.
Entry into the village was somewhat impeded by road works and I reached Hotel Palates by a circuitous route. I have now just finished an excellent dish of stiffado, the beef so tender it fell apart, the cinnamon flavouring just right.

25 kilometres walked today, with a healthy 950 metre total ascent. A gps file of my route can be found on wikiloc.com, and on myViewRanger under short code johnpon0044.