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Published: August 8th 2007
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We (Mum, Dad, Colin, my sister Jo and I) left Stanstead early on a typical charter flight. We were all squished in for the 4 ½ hour flight to Paphos, watching the movie in silence as we didn’t pay the extra for the headphones.
England was wet and chilly when we left, but Cyprus was a lovely warm, sunny 26C. We picked up the hire car (a Citroen Berlingo - underpowered, ugly, but fitted us all in with our bags) and headed off for the villa.
The villa is just outside a village called Argaka, north of Paphos. It had three bedrooms, a good size living area, and a pool - great for summer but the water is a bit chilly now! After settling in and unpacking the food we got earlier, we wandered down to the local (and only) restaurant for dinner. More of a tavern than a restaurant, Demetris served decent food and drink. The local beer, Keo, was good, the house white wine nice but a bit bland, the house red much better.
The following day we headed into Polis, the nearest town to Argaka. Almost as soon as we left the car we were
hit upon by the café-bar owners, touting for business. We chatted with one, who claimed Argaka was his home village (marketing ploy or the truth?), and invited us in for a free drink. Great marketing ploy as we ended back there for dinner!!
Colin and I left the others and went to the small archaeological museum, fascinating and very well done. Some of the pottery was similar in style and colour to pieces we saw in South America, using the same natural materials and dyes/paints. We wandered past a couple of old churches and tried to find the remains of two of the old villages that used to occupy this site. All we could find were some foundations that looked old but rebuilt, if that makes sense!
Next stop was the baths of Aphrodite, along the coast from Polis. This was a pool and grotto where Aphrodite was said to bathe, hence the name! It was heaving with tourists, and not especially exciting. There was a nice track along the coast that we walked for a few km’s though, with some great views back across Chrysochou Bay to Polis, Argaka and further.
Back at the villa, we
tried the pool, but not for long as it was pretty cold. We went back into Polis for dinner at Chix Chox, where we had those free drinks in the morning. The owner gave us a bottle of wine (house of course!) free with dinner, which was very good (the food and the wine).
Today we took in some ruins round the south of the island. First stop was Episkopi for the museum, an interesting couple of rooms full of the pottery, bone, metalwork and statues found at the various sites in the area.
The first ‘ruin’ was a Crusader Castle at Kolossi; it had been destroyed and restored a few times, and was in a good shape. It was a simple, easily defendable design, with an old sugar production plant outside.
Just down the road were two sets of old Roman ruins. First we went to the ones at Kourion where there were the remains of a villa, bathhouse, church, temple and various other unrecognisable buildings, as well as a reconstructed theatre. There were some nice mosaics and the remains of an extensive under-floor heating system. A bit further along was the ruins of a stadium.
It was long and narrow, with only a small part of the seating left.
We didn’t stop for long at the Sanctuary of Apollo Hylates as it had started to rain. These ruins were more complete, it was easier to picture what the building would have been like. A corner of the Temple of Apollo has been restored, and the mosaics were in good condition.
On the way back we stopped for a quick look at Petra tou Romiou, a rock in the sea subject to various legends including being the birthplace of Aphrodite.
Colin and I are cooking dinner tonight, we have got some chops and salad, and a bottle of wine that hopefully wont taste acidic or like drain cleaner, it wasn’t very expensive!
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