Blogs from Limassol, Cyprus, Middle East

Today, now we have our little hire car we have been just to the other side of Limassol to:.Kourion which has superbly preserved ruins and mosaics.Kolossi Castle.St Nicolas of the cats . A monastery but nuns not monks who grow beautifu flowers and tend bees and look after lots and lots of pretty cats.Lady's Mile Beach which we drove to across a milelong stretch of sandWe also Tried to get to Cape Gata but concluded there was no tarmac toad to it and didn't want to wreck our little hire car trying .We drove past the British RAF base at Akatori but decided not to go inWhat a super day... read more

The road to Cyprus was not a smooth one, but ultimately worth the effort! As part of the COVID protocols on ship, all voyagers are tested prior to arriving in any port. Each port's requirements for testing and quarantining if positive are slightly different, and in some cases changing what seems like almost daily. For Cyprus, voyagers were tested upon docking, and anyone testing positive had to quarantine on the ship for 5 days, which would mean they would miss the entire port as well as be isolated for their quarantine in a designated "COVID jail cell", aka quarantine cabin. Unfortunately, Maggie was informed upon arrival that she had tested positive and was immediately escorted to an isolation cabin after picking up a few belongings. To compound the situation, her roommate Caroline had made plans to ... read more

We spent the day in Nicosia, the capital of Cyprus and a divided city. The Green Line that separates occupied northern Cyprus from the rest runs right through Nicosia, and we bumped into it just as we entered the old city. These days you can cross it without problems at certain points, but elsewhere it is still barricaded. As we strolled through the winding, narrow streets I could hear a muezzin calling the faithful to prayer. I think that's the first time I've actually heard that! It was a pretty light day - no archaeological site and only one museum, albeit one with a rich collection. We were back to the hotel in plenty of time for a swim and lazing in the sun. This is a 4-star seaside resort after all!... read more

The Baptist is a professor of archaeology at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary named Tom Davis. The Earthquake House is a residential area in the Roman town of Kourion on Cyprus that was destroyed by an earthquake around 365 AD. Tom is a friend and former mentor of Kevin, the leader of our tour. He excavated the Earthquake House and discovered several skeletons - mostly human but also one donkey - of those who were apparently killed instantly by the earthquake. He's now working on a different area of the site and he gave us a guided tour of his current excavation as well as the rest of the town. It's really interesting to see an archaeological site together with the person working there! We also visited a Crusader castle today, so it was a great day ... read more

November 28 2015 Arrived at the port in Limassal Cyprus a city with a population of 230,000 out of a population of 500,000 for all of Cyprus. Traveling from the port to the Rudos mountains to Argos village where sweets are the Industry mainly carmel. Cypress is split greeks in the soth turks in the north. The borddr is opened ut youneed papers to cross, many greeks willnot go north. Next to the rose house which makes rose oil unique to the island. The Mellon falls 23 mhigh arethe tallest on the island nothing like the ones we find in BC..Heneia the village of arts are last stop.... read more