Blogs from Limassol, Cyprus, Middle East

Advertisement

Middle East » Cyprus » Limassol January 25th 2022

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
Sunshine in Cyprus
Maggie Coby Kalyn and Allegra in Cyprus Sea Cave
Cyprus Sea Cave

Middle East » Cyprus » Limassol April 5th 2019

Limassol 4th April Our first visit to Cyprus and the city of Limassol, Cyprus is the third largest island in the Mediterranean and lies tucked away in the North East corner. The history of Cyprus goes way back with Richard the Lionheart seizing the island on the way to the Holy Land to do battle with Saladin. When he left to continue the Crusade he sold the island to the Knights Templar. Limassol is a city on the southern coast of Cyprus. It’s known for the centuries-old Limassol Castle, home to the Cyprus Medieval Museum and its collection of pottery and tombstones. On the seafront is the Sculpture Park, with sculptures by Cypriot, Greek and international artists. To the northeast is the Limassol Archaeological Museum, exhibiting artifacts from the Neolithic to the Roman periods. As always ... read more
02645832-DA97-4EB5-937A-F209A8C62A29.
32E4FCB4-2BD7-4591-8AD1-BD365AA8F825.
E5108B12-F384-4A08-A875-7A98B670B4A5.

Middle East » Cyprus » Limassol May 24th 2016

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

Middle East » Cyprus » Limassol May 23rd 2016

Today we had one of the highlights of the tour: a visit to the site that our tour leader Kevin is working on. It's a town from the Late Bronze Age (about 1400-1200 BC) that has a very large building in it that looks rather like a palace. Whoever ruled the place based his wealth on olive oil: one room in this building held around 40 giant jars of olive oil, and there were two large areas of the building that seem to have been used to produce oil on an industrial scale. There are letters from the "King of Cyprus" to the Pharaoh of Egypt at this time, and Kevin speculates that the Cypriot king may have lived in this "palace". We also visited the really lovely village nearby where Kevin and Sheri go for ... read more

Middle East » Cyprus » Limassol May 22nd 2016

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

Middle East » Cyprus » Limassol March 26th 2016

The first day at sea after leaving Aqaba was pretty uneventful. I basically spent the day working on my photos from Jordan and writing the previous blog entry. We had to sail back down the Gulf of Aqaba and around the Sinai Peninsula into the Gulf of Suez. We reached the coast off Suez at about 4:30pm and set anchor. At that point it was just a matter of waiting until the next morning when we would join a convoy entering the Suez Canal. Most of the passengers on board the Aegean Odyssey were pretty excited about going through the canal, including myself. It is a pretty amazing feat of human engineering and political will, really. The facts you can look up for yourself if you’re interested, but one tidbit we were told was that passage ... read more
Cruising up the Suez Canal
Bridge over the Suez Canal
Ferry waiting to cross the Suez Canal

Middle East » Cyprus » Limassol December 16th 2015

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
DSC02601
Sweet factory
sweet factory

Middle East » Cyprus » Limassol August 12th 2015

Yes, this is my first visit to Cyprus....discovering the most I can in a truly packed 48 hours...even drinking some local wine! You will not see me lying on any of those beaches....I'm sure they have better one than those I saw, but what I witness here is truly not for me. No luxury hotel here for me, just decent one, as I'm waking up early, go to sleep late, and pack a lot in the middle. I picked my rental car at midnight from Avis. For once over the last few weeks, this car doesn't look like a wreck. My first stop, the little city of Larnaca...interesting place to drive in, most roads are one way, and finding my hotel in the Old Town in the middle of the night is an interesting game! Once ... read more
Diving the Zenobia
IMG_5864
Pretty amazing Aphrodites golf course...

Middle East » Cyprus » Limassol July 18th 2015

July 18, 2015 - This morning ended up being quite the kerfuffle. I woke up at 7am, had breakfast, internetted, got ready and left the guesthouse by 8:25 for my 9am bus. Of course I got lost on the way to the bus station. It was actually much closer than expected. But I got there at 8:55, so no worries. But at 9:10, a bus with a different destination and 9:30 departure time rolled in, and I got nervous. Seems I missed the bus! These buses never leave early. So annoyed, because the next bus left at 10:30. So I had to just sit and wait. At 9:30, another bus pulled into a parking spot, and I wondered if that would be the bus to Limassol I needed. Later it sounded like the bus was running, ... read more
Castle area by day - empty. So hot.
Castle area at night - cooler. Full of life.
In Limossol castle

Middle East » Cyprus » Limassol May 28th 2013

This was our first trip to Cyprus. This, like Israel, is another divided country. We docked in Limassol, which is the Greek part of the island. The northern part of the island is controlled by Turkey. Our guide, Naflia, said that it has been occupied by the Turks since they invaded in 1974. Even the capitol city of Nicosia is divided by The Green Line which separates the Turkish Cypriots from the Greek Cypriots. Cyprus has fallen on hard times and is in the throes of a terrible financial crisis. This is not so evident to the visiting traveler. We had a private van tour with John and Brooks and Bert and Lani. We went up into the foothills to the lovely village of Omodos, which is a well preserved country town. We ... read more
LEMUEL
OMODOS VILLAGE
APHRODITE AT KOURION




Tot: 0.133s; Tpl: 0.006s; cc: 8; qc: 84; dbt: 0.0717s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1; ; mem: 1.2mb