Blogs from Cyprus, Middle East - page 4

Only a few days left of our holiday so we took ourselves off to the old town of Paphos. Of course since our last visit over 30 years ago everything has changed! We took a taxi rather than the local bus, glad we did because the bus stopped at the bottom of a very steep hill with steps leading up to the old town. Our taxi dropped us off right outside the municipal market, although even this now has a modern facade. We sat and enjoyed a coffee but seeing the faces of those people, young, old, fat & thin who were puffing hard as they reached the top of the steps made us think that perhaps the elevator just to the right was possibly out of order!! The old market has had some renovation, mainly ... read more

Not much to report since our boat trip on Wednesday. The weather continues to be in the high 20's. Our first week is over and what time started going very slowly now seems to be picking up pace sadly. As with most of the hotels in this area they all overlook the sea and with a flat promenade for several kilometres there is always people strolling, walking or jogging at various times of the day and night. I choose strolling so will share with you my stroll today. Our hotel has a floating pontoon jetty for those wanting to have a dip in the cool sea, accessed by a boardwalk and then a rigid wooden jetty the final part is a floating pontoon, it looked rather too wobbly for me to walk on as I definitely ... read more

Monday - We decided to have a change of scenery so took a taxi to the harbour area of Paphos. We passed by the Annabelle hotel where we had stayed 30 years ago, it was completely unrecognisable due to recent extensive refurbishment. Our friendly taxi driver dropped us close to the harbour, now completely pedestrianised with owners of cafes enticing you in for a coffee or drink. With a temperature of 30 degrees it didn't take us long to be enticed! Mr. M happy to sit & watch the different types of boats bobbing up & down but I took myself off to visit Paphos Castle. The man in the kiosk asked me "How old" no he wasn't referring to the ancient castle but me! As a pensioner the admission was only 1.25 Euro. Paphos Castle ... read more

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

We had now come to the last couple of days of the trip, a trip that had seen us so far sample three very different environments; the strange atmosphere of the divided city of Nicosia; a slice of Turkey in Northern Cyprus; and then the unique, energetic and intriguing liberal Arabic vibe of Beirut. Now we were back in Cyprus and we were going to explore what the Greeks and British have left behind in the Republic Of Cyprus. It had been a long day being carted across the Lebanese countryside and at the end of it, we now we were on our flight back over to Larnaca where we arrived around midnight. We had still to arrange a rental car however so we still had to keep going a bit longer before we could ge ... read more