Cyprus adventure

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When thinking of a destination for our Easter holiday, we wanted somewhere which offered good weather, good food, good sights and good hiking. Cyprus seemed to tick all of those boxes and so in April we found ourselves facing a 4 hour flight with Amy - we just hoped that it would be worth the journey!

We started with a few days in the Paphos / Polis area. Paphos is a touristy town, but offers some interesting sights and we were glad to have a chance to explore. The archaeological site near the coast is particularly interesting, with great mosaics which have been well preserved. We also enjoyed some good hiking, with great walks in the Akamas Peninsula, which is north of Paphos. None of the hikes were too intimidating, but they were hard work in the heat. Luckily we were rewarded with fantastic views. We found a great fish restaurant at Agios Georgios, overlooking the coast near the Akamas peninsula, the sunset and the food were perfect, highly recommended.

We had heard that people in Cyprus are fond of babies and after a few days here we certainly believed it. Amy has been something of a 'granny magnet' on our travels so far, but in Cyprus everyone was mad about her - even the teenagers.

After a few days we headed east across the Green Line into Northern Cyprus (see other blog!). Just before we crossed the border we stopped off at a border town to eat a picnic lunch on the beach. As we settled down to our cheese and bread, a UN jeep pulled up and some guys got out and walked onto the beach. We said hello and after a minute or so of just standing there they jumped back into the car and drove off. We like to think that they suspected we were international spies and using Amy as a decoy or something. More likely they just wanted a cigarette break...

After a few days in the north we returned to Cyprus via the capital city, Nicosia. It's a nice city and the southern part feels very modern. It is a thoroughly strange experience though to walk through a divided city. There is literally a big wall and load of barbed wire going right along the middle of the city splitting it in two, similar to Berlin before its wall came down.

Our final port of call in Cyprus was the spectacular Troodos Mountains. We based ourselves here for a few days and stayed at the fantastic 'To Spitiko Toy Archonta' in Treis Elias, owned by the very lovely Androulla. She provides lovely converted apartments and can cook meals to order in the evenings. We took full advantage of her home cooking and enjoyed some fantastic food - Amy was especially impressed!

We spent 4 fantastic days in the Troodos mountains, exploring the picturesque villages and hiking the well marked trails. The best known trail is around Mt. Olympus, which was a great hike but our favourite by far was to the summit of Mt. Triplyos in Cedar Valley. Beautiful scenery and very few people around.

Another highlight of the Troodos mountains is seeing the Byzantine churches with their centuries old paintings. Ten of them are UNESCO world heritage sights but they can be hard to find, and are not always open. There were 'no photo' signs in most of the churches but most of the guardians said we could take pictures, we think Amy won them over! These churches are well worth making the effort to see, and were probably the highlight of our trip (for Mum and Dad at least - Amy liked them too, but they were no match for the swings in the playground in Troodos).

After 10 days in Cyprus we had seen plenty but we've certainly left things to do on a return visit. Late April is a great time to visit Cyprus, it's not too crowded and the weather is good. It's a great destination with a baby, and we're sure we'll be back again some day.

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