After we heard about the financial crisis, Cyprus was not on the top of our list of places to visit, but it was too late because we had already booked our Easter vacation to Pafos months ago. Before flying, we withdrew a ton of Euros just in case our debit/credit cards wouldn’t be accepted, and then we crossed our fingers that we wouldn’t get mugged. In the end, it was fine.
Our trip started off… strangely. David, Jordan, and I spent the night at Jordan’s place since he lives closer to Gatwick. Our flight left at 7:00 Friday morning, which meant we had to leave the flat by 4:30. I crashed at about 10:30, Jordan at 12, and at 4:00 when my alarm went off, I realized David was not in bed. I walked out to the living room and he was sitting on the sofa watching a live basketball game. Crazy kid! He stayed up all night… and he wasn’t the only one. Driving through London at 4:30 on our way to the airport, we saw a ton of drunken boys getting off the Night Buses or shuffling along the streets like zombies on their way home. And then out of nowhere, a naked man ran in front of the car! Keep in mind it’s been snowing in London so this streaker was freezing! He was hopping along the street barefoot, holding tight to his “valuables.”
Our second strange occurrence happened on our flight. David and I had not flown EasyJet since the landing incident coming home from Nice (when a gust of wind made us bounce off the runway during landing and we had to take back off), but this flight definitely changed our minds about the budget airline. It was smooth and the crew was super-friendly. The flight was 4 hours long, so halfway through, all children were invited to go to the front of the plane to play some games. The family sitting across from us was helping their older son get into the games, so they handed over their 6-month old baby to Jordan. I was reading my book and before I knew it, there was a baby in my lap! “Where did this baby come from?” I asked, and then handed him over to David. David and Jordan had been playing a new game on Jordan’s iPad called Shark Attack. They were obsessed, but David put down the game for a moment, and instead started to pretend to be a shark, chomping at the baby. He loved it! That is, until he tried to stick his finger in David’s mouth and David bit him.
Yes, David bit a stranger’s baby.
The poor child started wailing, so the mother came over and picked him up, saying, “Oh he must be getting tired.” I was horrified and embarrassed, but there was no way I was admitting to this mother that David had just bit her child. For the rest of the trip, David was known as the Baby Biter.
During our vacation, we somehow got on a point system. I think it started when Jordan, our designated driver, kept mistaking the windshield wipers for the indicators. David and I would joke, “Minus one point for Jordan,” every time he did it. Jordan would counter with, “Minus three points for David for biting a baby!” I was the navigator, so I earned points with my map skills. We don’t really know how it started or who won, but we promised to bring it back while driving through Scotland to hike Ben Nevis later this Spring.
During the trip we also created some sidekicks.
While hiking along the Akamas Peninsula, David picked up a hiking stick and I mentioned that it looked like King Richard III’s crooked spine, and Scoliostick was born. (I apologize to any of our readers that may have suffered from scoliosis – David made me mention his sidekick.)
So by now you’re probably thinking, “What did you actually do in Cyprus? What was the island like?”
Day One was really just the flight and soaking up the sun. Once we landed, we checked into our hotel and then laid out by the beach and pool. Our hotel suite was enormous – more like an apartment. There were two bedrooms, three full bathrooms, a dining / living area and kitchen, and a giant balcony overlooking the pool and ocean with a hot tub in the corner. And because we were splitting the cost, it was incredibly cheap. Plus we cooked at home a couple of nights and made picnic lunches to eat on the beach, so we saved a lot of money on food. Cyprus was a bargain!
Pafos offers plenty to see and do, and since we had also rented a car, we were free to explore a lot of the island. Since we had relaxed on Friday, Saturday we hit the ground running.
We drove along the Southern coast to Lemesos, the largest harbor in Cyprus. The town is also home to Limassol Castle, where King Richard the Lionheart was married. King Richard, his fiancée, and his sister were on their way to the Crusades when a storm blew his sister’s and fiancée’s ship aground near Lemesos. Instead of helping the ladies, the local prince took them prisoner. Richard was not pleased. He landed with his entourage, crushed the local army, and imprisoned the prince before selling the island to the Knights Templar. Don’t mess with Richard the Lionheart!
While admiring the view of the Mediterranean from the roof of the castle, my eye caught an ice cream store. When I looked over, I saw that it was a Coldstone Creamery! In the middle of Cyprus! I started yelling, “Coldstone! Coldstone!” Apparently I was so loud that David, a floor below, could hear me chanting. He snapped this picture of Jordan and me, thrilled to know that we would be enjoying some cake batter ice cream in no time!
After our ice cream break (and finding a Taco Bell too!), we drove to Kolossi, the best-preserved medieval castle on the island. The castle was the headquarters of the Grand Master of the Knights Hospitaller. It was completely empty when we got there, so we had some fun jumping around.
Jordan really wanted to see the nearby salt lake on the Akrotiri Peninsula, the southernmost point of Cyprus. It is one of only two salt lakes on the island and supposedly home to a large number of flamingoes. So we went flamingo hunting, and came up with nada. (Minus 5 points for Jordan.) In fact, we hardly saw any birds and nothing interesting like a pelican or swan. Good thing there was a nearby monastery to save the day, St. Nicholas of the Cats. Plus Jordan needed to visit to ask forgiveness for almost running over a cat back in Lemesos.
The monastery was completely hidden away and when we pulled up, we weren’t even sure it was the right place because it didn’t resemble any kind of religious building we’d seen before. But inside, it was beautiful.
Last stop on the way back to Pafos was Kourion beach. Kourin was a religious town, home to the sanctuary of Apollo and the seat of the Christian bishop before it was destroyed by an earthquake in the 4th century. We could see the ruins on the bluff above the sea, but the site was closed.
After our hike, we had one of our picnic lunches on the beach at a cute coastal town called Latsi before heading to the Adonis Waterfall. Near the Mavrokolympos reservoir, there is a 32 ft. high waterfall said to be the place where Aphrodite and Adonis carried out their affair.
There were plenty of signs marking the road to the waterfall, but the problem was that the turn-off from the highway to the reservoir did not look drive-able. The sign even reassured us by stating, “Road suitable for all cars.”
As I was the navigator and Jordan was the driver, David was in the backseat yelling, “Just do it! It’s an adventure!” while I was hesitant and wanted to just hop out of the car and walk it (the sign also said ‘only 3 km’). Jordan and I felt like the parents because David entertained himself for hours in the backseat while we drove around the island, singing and dancing to Cypriot songs he couldn’t understand and taking goofy/creepy photos. We joked that he had eaten too much Cyprus delight, because on the back of the candy box it warns, “May have harmful effects on activity and attention of children.” Basically, Cyprus delight causes ADHD.
Well we finally made it to the waterfall… and that place has seen better days!
There are statues of naked men and women representing Adonis and Aphrodite all over the park and for each statue you touch, you increase your fertility. Same goes for the water, but the pool at the bottom of the waterfall was filthy and full of bugs and slime. So even though we had driven all the way (which seemed much further than 3 km) and paid admission, we did not go swimming.
While driving back from the waterfall, we saw two couples walking along the road. We told them it wasn’t worth it, and offered to give them a ride back to the highway since they had to go all the way back uphill in the heat. Both couples were nice, but declined. When we got to the top of the hill and back on a real road, we did pick up a hitch-hiker, a bumblebee! He flew right into the car and planted himself on the dashboard. That is one hitch-hiker we didn’t invite in! David jumped out of the car while it was still moving (Jordan and I heard, “I’m out!” before he tucked and rolled out the door) and then Jordan pulled over on the side of the road to shoo it out. It ended up being a fun adventure, though I wouldn’t recommend the Adonis Waterfall to anyone visiting Cyprus.
For Easter dinner later that night, the hotel recommended the meze platter at Hondros near Pafos harbor. It was so good! And meze was a great choice because it allowed us to try almost every dish in the restaurant. From the Greek salad and dips like spicy cheese and humus and tzatziki to start, to the fresh pitas and kebabs and fried seafood, everything was great! There wasn’t one dish we didn’t like.
The service was also wonderful and the owner, George, was even nice enough to send out a complimentary plate of the Easter specialty, suckling pig, for us to end our meal. Good ol’ George! After dinner, he invited us to go to his favorite local bar, Temple, with him and the only other American in Cyprus, Luke. It was a cool local place, where everyone was very friendly like all other Cypriots we had met. We had a few drinks, and then called a taxi to take us home. That’s when Limo Taxi showed up!
On our final full day on the island, we planned to finally explore Pafos.
We started off at the Tomb of the Kings down the road from our hotel.
The site is a necropolis full of cave and rock tombs dating from the 3rd century BC to the 3rd century AD. There were no kings in Cyprus during that time, so the tombs were actually for prominent citizens. Christians hid there during times of persectuion and later the site was used as a quarry. The tombs were raided by grave robbers, so nothing remains inside of them, but the shells were still fun to climb on and explore.
Next up was Kato Pafos, or ancient Pafos, which used to be the capital of Cyprus. The archaeological park is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and reminded me a lot of a scaled-down version of Pompeii. There’s a Roman theatre, a crumbling castle, and beautiful homes and palaces containing mosaics that are 2,000 years old.
We left Kato Pafos and drove down the road to Agia Kyriak, a church built on the ruins of the largest Christian Byzantine basilica on Cyprus.
The basilica was destroyed by the Arabs, but parts of the mosaic floor and some columns still stand. One of the columns is called St. Paul’s Pillar because the apostle was flogged against the pillar after he came to Cyprus to preach Christianity with fellow apostle, Barnabus. After his torture, Paul had his accuser blinded. This somehow convinced the governor of the greatness of Christianity and he converted. Mission accomplished!
Nearby are the Catacombs of Solomoni, dedicated to the Jewish woman whose seven children were tortured in front of her. The underground church had a couple of rooms, one of which is considered the “sanctuary” and the other a cave containing a tank which holds “miraculous” water.
For our last meal on Cyprus, we ate at Romeo’s, where Romeo himself greets you at the door. The guys split another meze platter, while I had garlic mushrooms and scampi, with Greek yogurt and honey for dessert. The Greek yogurt in the Mediterranean cannot be beat. It’s so creamy and sweet that it’s like eating ice cream. And again with the hospitality – after dessert, our waitress brought out some complimentary ouzo for the guys and a glass of Mastika liquor for me. The Mastika smelled sweet like almond extract and tasted delicious.
And finally – we had to conquer Aphrodite’s Rock!
We had been putting it off all week because the Med can be pretty cold. We decided to try to swim (according to legend, each time you swim around the rock, you turn a year younger) in the morning when the sea would be calm. That was a bad idea. The sea was not calm at all on Tuesday morning! In fact, it was choppier than we had seen it all week! I thought that I would grow older by trying to get out there, and I’m a good swimmer so I was sure that the boys wouldn’t try it, either. But then they put it out there, “Minus 20 points for anyone that doesn’t get in!” NOOOO!
We must’ve stood there for at least 30 minutes debating and egging each other on, before Jordan finally just jumped in! I sucked it up, and followed him. The water wasn’t even that cold; I was more worried about the current slamming me into one of the boulders out there. And finally, David came out after tip-toeing across the rocky beach.
I started to swim out towards Aphrodite’s birthplace, but the waves were just too bad. They don’t look scary at all in the pictures or videos, but trust us, it was a different story once we were in the water. And we knew we were crazy because we were literally the only people there, Cyprus’ most popular beach.
So we didn’t swim around Aphrodite’s rock, but we still had a great holiday! After many long, dark, cold months in London we finally saw the sun! We got our tan on, learned all about Cyprus’s history by visiting some amazing sites, and relaxed!
Only evidence we saw of the financial crisis
Our trip started off… strangely. David, Jordan, and I spent the night at Jordan’s place since he lives closer to Gatwick. Our flight left at 7:00 Friday morning, which meant we had to leave the flat by 4:30. I crashed at about 10:30, Jordan at 12, and at 4:00 when my alarm went off, I realized David was not in bed. I walked out to the living room and he was sitting on the sofa watching a live basketball game. Crazy kid! He stayed up all night… and he wasn’t the only one. Driving through London at 4:30 on our way to the airport, we saw a ton of drunken boys getting off the Night Buses or shuffling along the streets like zombies on their way home. And then out of nowhere, a naked man ran in front of the car! Keep in mind it’s been snowing in London so this streaker was freezing! He was hopping along the street barefoot, holding tight to his “valuables.”
Our second strange occurrence happened on our flight. David and I had not flown EasyJet since the landing incident coming home from Nice (when a gust of wind made us bounce off the runway during landing and we had to take back off), but this flight definitely changed our minds about the budget airline. It was smooth and the crew was super-friendly. The flight was 4 hours long, so halfway through, all children were invited to go to the front of the plane to play some games. The family sitting across from us was helping their older son get into the games, so they handed over their 6-month old baby to Jordan. I was reading my book and before I knew it, there was a baby in my lap! “Where did this baby come from?” I asked, and then handed him over to David. David and Jordan had been playing a new game on Jordan’s iPad called Shark Attack. They were obsessed, but David put down the game for a moment, and instead started to pretend to be a shark, chomping at the baby. He loved it! That is, until he tried to stick his finger in David’s mouth and David bit him.
Yes, David bit a stranger’s baby.
The poor child started wailing, so the mother came over and picked him up, saying, “Oh he must be getting tired.” I was horrified and embarrassed, but there was no way I was admitting to this mother that David had just bit her child. For the rest of the trip, David was known as the Baby Biter.
During our vacation, we somehow got on a point system. I think it started when Jordan, our designated driver, kept mistaking the windshield wipers for the indicators. David and I would joke, “Minus one point for Jordan,” every time he did it. Jordan would counter with, “Minus three points for David for biting a baby!” I was the navigator, so I earned points with my map skills. We don’t really know how it started or who won, but we promised to bring it back while driving through Scotland to hike Ben Nevis later this Spring.
During the trip we also created some sidekicks.
Jordan’s was Mounty, his amazing camera tripod that
would stick to any surface.
While hiking along the Akamas Peninsula, David picked up a hiking stick and I mentioned that it looked like King Richard III’s crooked spine, and Scoliostick was born. (I apologize to any of our readers that may have suffered from scoliosis – David made me mention his sidekick.)
Bugs were my sidekicks, I guess. First, while enjoying the local beverage of
choice, iced coffees called Frappes, outside Central Market in Lemesos, we were
swarmed by gnats trying to snack on our sugary Cyprus delights (same as Turkish
delight). In mid-sentence, I asked, “Did
I just swallow a bug?” And apparently I said it with a very strong Texas accent
and the boys thought it was the funniest thing they’ve ever heard. Plus I’m married to the Bugman. During our Easter hike, David put on so much
sunscreen that any bug that landed on him got stuck to his skin. At one point, I looked over and David’s face
and chest were covered in tiny black gnats.
He became the Bugman.
Right before I swallowed a bug!
So by now you’re probably thinking, “What did you actually do in Cyprus? What was the island like?”
Day One was really just the flight and soaking up the sun. Once we landed, we checked into our hotel and then laid out by the beach and pool. Our hotel suite was enormous – more like an apartment. There were two bedrooms, three full bathrooms, a dining / living area and kitchen, and a giant balcony overlooking the pool and ocean with a hot tub in the corner. And because we were splitting the cost, it was incredibly cheap. Plus we cooked at home a couple of nights and made picnic lunches to eat on the beach, so we saved a lot of money on food. Cyprus was a bargain!
Pafos offers plenty to see and do, and since we had also rented a car, we were free to explore a lot of the island. Since we had relaxed on Friday, Saturday we hit the ground running.
We drove along the Southern coast to Lemesos, the largest harbor in Cyprus. The town is also home to Limassol Castle, where King Richard the Lionheart was married. King Richard, his fiancée, and his sister were on their way to the Crusades when a storm blew his sister’s and fiancée’s ship aground near Lemesos. Instead of helping the ladies, the local prince took them prisoner. Richard was not pleased. He landed with his entourage, crushed the local army, and imprisoned the prince before selling the island to the Knights Templar. Don’t mess with Richard the Lionheart!
Limassol Castle
While admiring the view of the Mediterranean from the roof of the castle, my eye caught an ice cream store. When I looked over, I saw that it was a Coldstone Creamery! In the middle of Cyprus! I started yelling, “Coldstone! Coldstone!” Apparently I was so loud that David, a floor below, could hear me chanting. He snapped this picture of Jordan and me, thrilled to know that we would be enjoying some cake batter ice cream in no time!
After our ice cream break (and finding a Taco Bell too!), we drove to Kolossi, the best-preserved medieval castle on the island. The castle was the headquarters of the Grand Master of the Knights Hospitaller. It was completely empty when we got there, so we had some fun jumping around.
Jordan really wanted to see the nearby salt lake on the Akrotiri Peninsula, the southernmost point of Cyprus. It is one of only two salt lakes on the island and supposedly home to a large number of flamingoes. So we went flamingo hunting, and came up with nada. (Minus 5 points for Jordan.) In fact, we hardly saw any birds and nothing interesting like a pelican or swan. Good thing there was a nearby monastery to save the day, St. Nicholas of the Cats. Plus Jordan needed to visit to ask forgiveness for almost running over a cat back in Lemesos.
The monastery was completely hidden away and when we pulled up, we weren’t even sure it was the right place because it didn’t resemble any kind of religious building we’d seen before. But inside, it was beautiful.
The interior of the church featured guilded iconostasis 700 years old
St. Helena, the mother of Constantine the
Great, visited Cyprus while returning from the Holy Land. She was appalled by the number of poisonous
snakes on the island, so she sent a ship full of cats to Cyprus to take care of
the problem. The monks cared for the
creatures and rallied them to fight by the ringing of the church bells. And we think it really worked! We saw a ton of cats everywhere we went, but
not one snake!
Last stop on the way back to Pafos was Kourion beach. Kourin was a religious town, home to the sanctuary of Apollo and the seat of the Christian bishop before it was destroyed by an earthquake in the 4th century. We could see the ruins on the bluff above the sea, but the site was closed.
On Easter Sunday we hiked along the Akamas
Peninsula. The peninsula is covered in
forests and the shortage of roads means it can only be explored on foot or by
four-wheeler. There are a few trails,
so we decided to do the longest one – Aphrodite, starting from her Baths.
Aphrodite’s
Baths, a hidden grotto shaded by fig trees
The end of the trail is in sight!
After our hike, we had one of our picnic lunches on the beach at a cute coastal town called Latsi before heading to the Adonis Waterfall. Near the Mavrokolympos reservoir, there is a 32 ft. high waterfall said to be the place where Aphrodite and Adonis carried out their affair.
There were plenty of signs marking the road to the waterfall, but the problem was that the turn-off from the highway to the reservoir did not look drive-able. The sign even reassured us by stating, “Road suitable for all cars.”
Yeah, right.
Thank goodness Jordan was driving (plus one point!) because I think we
would’ve gotten a flat tire or smashed windshield from all of the rocks flying
off the narrow, rocky road had I been driving.
And David… we would be at the bottom of a cliff from him turning a
corner too fast.
As I was the navigator and Jordan was the driver, David was in the backseat yelling, “Just do it! It’s an adventure!” while I was hesitant and wanted to just hop out of the car and walk it (the sign also said ‘only 3 km’). Jordan and I felt like the parents because David entertained himself for hours in the backseat while we drove around the island, singing and dancing to Cypriot songs he couldn’t understand and taking goofy/creepy photos. We joked that he had eaten too much Cyprus delight, because on the back of the candy box it warns, “May have harmful effects on activity and attention of children.” Basically, Cyprus delight causes ADHD.
Well we finally made it to the waterfall… and that place has seen better days!
There are statues of naked men and women representing Adonis and Aphrodite all over the park and for each statue you touch, you increase your fertility. Same goes for the water, but the pool at the bottom of the waterfall was filthy and full of bugs and slime. So even though we had driven all the way (which seemed much further than 3 km) and paid admission, we did not go swimming.
While driving back from the waterfall, we saw two couples walking along the road. We told them it wasn’t worth it, and offered to give them a ride back to the highway since they had to go all the way back uphill in the heat. Both couples were nice, but declined. When we got to the top of the hill and back on a real road, we did pick up a hitch-hiker, a bumblebee! He flew right into the car and planted himself on the dashboard. That is one hitch-hiker we didn’t invite in! David jumped out of the car while it was still moving (Jordan and I heard, “I’m out!” before he tucked and rolled out the door) and then Jordan pulled over on the side of the road to shoo it out. It ended up being a fun adventure, though I wouldn’t recommend the Adonis Waterfall to anyone visiting Cyprus.
For Easter dinner later that night, the hotel recommended the meze platter at Hondros near Pafos harbor. It was so good! And meze was a great choice because it allowed us to try almost every dish in the restaurant. From the Greek salad and dips like spicy cheese and humus and tzatziki to start, to the fresh pitas and kebabs and fried seafood, everything was great! There wasn’t one dish we didn’t like.
The service was also wonderful and the owner, George, was even nice enough to send out a complimentary plate of the Easter specialty, suckling pig, for us to end our meal. Good ol’ George! After dinner, he invited us to go to his favorite local bar, Temple, with him and the only other American in Cyprus, Luke. It was a cool local place, where everyone was very friendly like all other Cypriots we had met. We had a few drinks, and then called a taxi to take us home. That’s when Limo Taxi showed up!
Largest taxi ever! The driver was insane and seriously got us
across town to the beach within 4 minutes, yet she still charged us 12
Euros. Crazy woman!
On our final full day on the island, we planned to finally explore Pafos.
We started off at the Tomb of the Kings down the road from our hotel.
The site is a necropolis full of cave and rock tombs dating from the 3rd century BC to the 3rd century AD. There were no kings in Cyprus during that time, so the tombs were actually for prominent citizens. Christians hid there during times of persectuion and later the site was used as a quarry. The tombs were raided by grave robbers, so nothing remains inside of them, but the shells were still fun to climb on and explore.
Next up was Kato Pafos, or ancient Pafos, which used to be the capital of Cyprus. The archaeological park is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and reminded me a lot of a scaled-down version of Pompeii. There’s a Roman theatre, a crumbling castle, and beautiful homes and palaces containing mosaics that are 2,000 years old.
We left Kato Pafos and drove down the road to Agia Kyriak, a church built on the ruins of the largest Christian Byzantine basilica on Cyprus.
The basilica was destroyed by the Arabs, but parts of the mosaic floor and some columns still stand. One of the columns is called St. Paul’s Pillar because the apostle was flogged against the pillar after he came to Cyprus to preach Christianity with fellow apostle, Barnabus. After his torture, Paul had his accuser blinded. This somehow convinced the governor of the greatness of Christianity and he converted. Mission accomplished!
Nearby are the Catacombs of Solomoni, dedicated to the Jewish woman whose seven children were tortured in front of her. The underground church had a couple of rooms, one of which is considered the “sanctuary” and the other a cave containing a tank which holds “miraculous” water.
For our last meal on Cyprus, we ate at Romeo’s, where Romeo himself greets you at the door. The guys split another meze platter, while I had garlic mushrooms and scampi, with Greek yogurt and honey for dessert. The Greek yogurt in the Mediterranean cannot be beat. It’s so creamy and sweet that it’s like eating ice cream. And again with the hospitality – after dessert, our waitress brought out some complimentary ouzo for the guys and a glass of Mastika liquor for me. The Mastika smelled sweet like almond extract and tasted delicious.
And finally – we had to conquer Aphrodite’s Rock!
We had been putting it off all week because the Med can be pretty cold. We decided to try to swim (according to legend, each time you swim around the rock, you turn a year younger) in the morning when the sea would be calm. That was a bad idea. The sea was not calm at all on Tuesday morning! In fact, it was choppier than we had seen it all week! I thought that I would grow older by trying to get out there, and I’m a good swimmer so I was sure that the boys wouldn’t try it, either. But then they put it out there, “Minus 20 points for anyone that doesn’t get in!” NOOOO!
We must’ve stood there for at least 30 minutes debating and egging each other on, before Jordan finally just jumped in! I sucked it up, and followed him. The water wasn’t even that cold; I was more worried about the current slamming me into one of the boulders out there. And finally, David came out after tip-toeing across the rocky beach.
I started to swim out towards Aphrodite’s birthplace, but the waves were just too bad. They don’t look scary at all in the pictures or videos, but trust us, it was a different story once we were in the water. And we knew we were crazy because we were literally the only people there, Cyprus’ most popular beach.
So we didn’t swim around Aphrodite’s rock, but we still had a great holiday! After many long, dark, cold months in London we finally saw the sun! We got our tan on, learned all about Cyprus’s history by visiting some amazing sites, and relaxed!
