Welcome!

6/8/2011

Welcome to my new Essential Oil Quest Blog. This site will begin with a journey to the Mediterranean island of Cyprus as I return to my roots to locate and explore the remains of the  "oldest perfumery in the world". Dr. Maria Rosaria Belgiorno, an Italian archeologist, and her dedicated team have discovered a 4,000-year-old industrial site that includes an olive oil pressing room, a fabric-dying facility that used purple and blue indigo for dying cloth, a winery, and an essential oil production room. Here, essential oils were macerated with olive oil and distilled in simple, clay alembics.

Come with me to meet a local, Cypriot herbalist, Yiannoula Lazarou, who collaborated with Dr. Belgiorno to create Aphrodite's signature perfume from remnants of essential oils found in the pots at the dig site. Let's find out how they developed this fragrance they call "Mystiko".

On the way over the Troodos Mountains from Southern Cyprus to Ms. Lazarou's farm, I plan to stop in Cedar Valley to experience the Cyprus Cedar trees, very close cousins to the Lebanese Cedar (Cedrus Libani).

In the few short days I have in Cyprus, I hope to include several doses of my beloved souvlakia with tasty, tangy sheep's yogurt (yourti), a dip in the Mediterranean, and a return to the home I grew up in (now occupied by the commander of the United Nations forces in Cyprus - UNFCYP). I have written him to let him know I am coming and requested an opportunity to see inside my childhood home. When I was there in 2006, the commander at the time was indisposed (perhaps napping? after all, it was siesta time!). The new commander, Major General Liu, has been for-warned.

After the Cyprus portion of my trip, I will fly to Munich, Germany, to join a group led by Dr. Kurt Schnaubelt and his wife, Monika Haas. Our other two guides will be Georg Efner and Julien Juilerat (Monika's son). The week in Southern Germany includes a little sight-seeing, and several visits to essential oil producers. I have been told that we will have the opportunity to help harvest and distill Melissa (Lemon Balm), and the rest of the time, we will be observing other operations. June is typically a rainy month in Germany. It would be so much easier to shlep around the fields if they aren't soaking wet, so let's do an un-rain dance!

Leaving on Saturday 11 June 2011. Ready, set, GO!