Paphos, Paphos, Cyprus
Today rolled along nicely - it’s R’s birthday so we did exactly as HE
wanted for a change! We had a chilled morning, with a leisurely stroll
northwards along the small prom towards the next bay. There is a great statue
of George Grivas, the commander of the forces who tried to liberate Cyprus from British rule
in the 50s & a monument at his landing place, then we returned back through
housing & past hotels, houses & churches.
After lunch we got the bus down to Paphos harbour - the main road is 500m from the hotel, but its not a problem if you miss one as they come every 15 minutes. Prices are excellent too at €1.50 a trip no matter how far you travel; a day pass is €5 and that means you can hop on & off as many buses as you like for 12 hours. The main bus station is a very busy place, with buses arriving from & going to many different places, & very well used due to the cheap prices. Nearby was an interesting stall which turned out to be selling all different sizes of natural sponges.
The harbour is touristy but of the quite nice variety. It’s also next to the Kato Paphos Archaeological Park, an extensive site of Roman remains with the most incredible mosaics from 300BC to 300 AD & where R had chosen to go. Slightly bizarrely, the Romans had used GREEK myths & legends for their pics: Theseus & the Minotaur, Hercules & the lion etc. instead of their own stories. It was incredible value too at €2.25 each (half price for us oldies!) and very interesting to visit.
The mosaics are in the floors of many buildings & are still in situ, but conserved - the antiquities team decided to lift them whole, treat them & lay them back down, & what a fine job they did. Some are more than 10m long, some square & there is even a circular one in the House of Theseus (the pic of that is not the best as the shadows were really prominent but the mosaic was wonderful). Annoying, but it was just too hot to go earlier.
We wandered back to the harbour for an ice cream ( pomegranate in my case, & it was yummy) & to watch the boats come in & out, then got the bus back ...to find the birthday fairy had been & left R a message & a large plate of fresh fruit! It was much appreciated. A while later it was even more appreciated as he opened the fridge to find a bottle of sparkling white wine!!
2025-05-22