Paphos, Cyprus Beaches and Brits

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I am just going to write two blog entries about my trip to Cyprus. This one is about my week in Paphos with my lovely friend, Lorraine, and her lovely daughter, Roxanne. We actually didn't do a whole lot in Paphos, so I won't bore you with a day-to-day account.

Paphos was not exactly what I expected. I think I expected it to be more like Greece. It looked sort of like Greece on the coast, but the architecture was just modern buildings and shops and Starbucks and McDonald's. There were no white, domed roofs or blue doors. There were loads of resorts housing loads of British tourists and restaurants catered heavily to the Brits. Nothing wrong with that I guess since so many Brits vacation there and own homes there, but I was a little disappointed. I don't know why I expected Paphos, of all the places on Cyprus, to be less touristy than it was, but I did.

We stayed in an okay hotel called Panareti Resort Hotel. It has a lovely pool, convenient mart, and a restaurant on site, but we never ate there. Our room had two bedrooms and was a great size. Plenty of room for three people, but the bathroom was tiny and our room was not so clean, nor was it cleaned properly while we were there. We weren't too bothered, but a good floor sweep every day would have been great.

We spent the week relaxing by the pool, walking by the beach, and visited a couple of nearby beaches. The beaches in west Cyprus are not sand beaches. They are either pebble or lava rock mostly. Beautiful, but not always swimmer friendly.

Happy hour in Paphos is excellent! I guess there are so many bars there is a lot of competition to draw a crowd. We ended up at Baywatch Bar one afternoon because they were advertising 1.80 euro beers. I was happy to spend a lot of time here because the Hungarian bartender was pretty easy on the eyes and so nice! They have live entertainment almost every night, and we went to see Brazilian dancers on a Wed and The Two Amigos on Thurs. All of the entertainment was good, but The Two Amigos were really excellent! These two guys were great musicians and funny without any gimics or silly costumes. They can sing, dance, and do a great Jersey Boys routine. Had a great time listening to the live music in Paphos.

We visited Aphrodite's Baths one day. Well, I guess I should say 'bath'. There was just one small pool of crystal clear water. It was worth seeing I guess, but there's a reason it's free. We also visited the Tombs of the Kings. It is called this not because kings were buried there but because there were a lot of important government people buried there. It is a huge area along the sea where the tombs have been uncovered. Only 2 euros to get in and it was pretty interesting. Great views of the sea from here too.

We decided to drive up to the northwest coast one day and found the beaches there to be absolutely stunning. I think there are far better beaches in Cyprus than the ones in Paphos. Paphos was largely a package holiday kind of place, or so it seemed. I probably won't go back, but I had a great week relaxing and tanning and seeing a few sights.

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