Paphos Old Town

Kalispera! Ready for more of our Cypriot travelogue?

On Friday morning we headed to Paphos's Old Quarter, a thirty-five minute walk across town. Despite the weather forecast being for a day of rain, it was dry and gorgeously sunny. 

The Paphos Ethnographical Museum is located in a grand 19th Century mansion, purpose built in 1894 and still owned and managed by the original family, the Eliades. It provides an fascinating insight into the life and times of the people of Paphos with a huge variety range of quirky and interesting exhibits. Items on display include rural costumes, accessories, traditional carved wooden furniture, farming tools, kitchen utensils, clay artefacts and woven articles. Also incorporated into the museum are natural caves and a Hellenistic rock-cut tomb. 

We handed our €5 admission fee (€2.50 per person) and were directed downstairs where all the rooms were stuffed with themed collections. We were advised by the lady of the house to close the door and put down the catch to the room containing the textiles and vintage clothing as "the cat likes to sleep on the bed" and the cheeky madam soon let herself be known!

The more observant amongst you might spot that I'm wearing a different quilted jacket to the one I'd intended to travel in - a last minute change of plan as I headed for the door at 5.30am last Wednesday morning.  

I was drooling over some of the textiles - those Ottoman waistcoats and woven Cypriot dresses especially! 

Jon joked that it looked like the owner had ransacked my dressing table...the similarity to my collection of tribal jewellery and the museum's was uncanny....including the 1920s Egyptian beaded collar he bought me for my birthday last year! 

The upstairs, which remains a family home, was just as fascinating.

We continued to the Pafos District Archaeological Museum, situated 1.5km out of town. 

This modern and airy government-run establishment is open daily and admission is free. 

Just like Greece, the cabinets are packed with incredible jewellery, ceramics, religious idolatry and statues, thousands upon thousands of years old. How gorgeous is that gold bracelet? 

We learnt how to read the Ancient Greek grave steles (below) when we'd visited Athens. The departed is represented by the figure carved on the right and the figures to their left are their nearest and dearest - babies, pets, partners, siblings, even treasured slaves. I find them incredibly moving.

We tried to take a selfie but ended up videoing ourselves!

Lunch was a shared vegetarian platter of grilled haloumi, black olives, fasolada (a Cypriot bean stew), tahini, hummus, tzatziki and pitta bread accompanied by pints of Keo and a complimentary slice of orange cake - eaten outside in the sunshine.

The deserted Byzantine-era mosque (below) was just around the corner from where we ate in the Mouttalos area. Previously known as the Agia Sofia, in recent times goes by Cami Kebir, meaning Great Mosque. Prior to partition, Mouttalos was the Turkish area of the town. The graves are of young Turks who'd lost their lives during the communal violence of 1963-64 and the subsequent coup d'état of 1974

After enjoying some late afternoon sunshine on the balcony we showered, wrapped up and headed out for the night. The sunsets were spectacular!

As I alluded to in my last post, Paphos, although charming and with plenty to see and do, by night, it felt very Brits Abroad. The bars flanking Tomb of the Kings Road were UK-style pubs offering big screen football, darts, karaoke, bingo, pub quizzes, tribute acts, pie and chips and roast dinners - we aren't into that at home, let alone on holiday! On our third night we ended up in O'Neill's Irish Bar trying to ignore the football although, to be fair, about a third of the clientele were locals, the staff were lovely and they had some decent Cypriot lagers on draught. 

It was the same as the nearby restaurants, with those that were open being mostly of the chips with everything variety. Worried that the staff at Dias Zeus would start to think we were stalking them, we decided to eat at Martelli's, awarded Best Pizzas in Paphos for several years running. The staff were lovely, the pizzas exceptional (handmade and wood-fired with a superb choice for veggies and vegans) and the vast majority of diners were local. 

A post-dinner Aperol Spritz and the seven miles we'd walked earlier ensured another good night's sleep...

Thanks for reading, see you soon!