Winter Sun in Paphos, Cyprus

Yassos! Have you missed me? We've just spent a week visiting Aphrodite's birthplace, the Mediterranean island of Cyprus, where we've explored ancient sites & fascinating museums, taken a thousand photos, walked over 50 miles, basked in gorgeous sunshine and eaten our body weight in haloumi, pitta bread and bougatsa. 

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Many people mistakenly think Cyprus is a Greek island, it's not. Cyprus is an independent republic and the third largest and most populous island in the Mediterranean. It's geographically located in West Asia, closer to Beirut than it is to Athens and a five hour flight from the UK. Cyprus has a chequered history, it was originally settled by hunter gatherers around 13,000 years ago, invaded by Mycenaean Greeks in 2000BC, followed by the Assyrians, the Ancient Egyptians and the Persians, from whom the island was seized by Alexander the Great in 333BC. After subsequent rule by Egypt, the Roman Empire, the Arab caliphates, the Franks and the Venetians, for the next three centuries it belonged to the Ottoman Empire (from 1571 and 1878) until being placed under British administration. For over a century the Greek Cypriot population sought a union with Greece whilst the Turkish Cypriot population wanted a union with Türkiye. Cyprus was granted independence in 1960 but following intercommunal violence in 1963 - 64 and an Athenian- funded coup d'état in 1974, a separate Turkish state was established in the north of the island in 1983 with the capital, Nicosia, being split in two.

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Neither of us had visited Cyprus before and were keen to discover how similar it would be to our beloved Greece. Our arrival to the country was typically informal with cats roaming the arrivals hall and the bus driver asking the male passengers to get off and give him a push as he couldn't get the bus into reverse. Once we'd finally managed to get going, we arrived at our destination, the coastal city of Paphos, just over thirty minutes later. Despite the malfunctioning bus, the service perfectly ran to time and at just €2 each, a far better option than a €40 taxi ride. 

Our home for the next seven nights, Angela Apartments, was situated on the fabulously named Tomb of the Kings Road (more on that very soon!) and our host, Evelyn, was waiting in reception to hand over the keys. Flat 1, our studio apartment with a pool-facing balcony, was a lot larger and more modern than we'd expected and a real bargain at £32 a night. Booking.com rocks! 

After unpacking our bags we set off for a sunset walk and it seemed rude not to take advantage of happy hour at Alfie T's, sampling the local Cypriot lager, Aeon. The British owners were friendly and at €1.80 a pint, the prices were the equivalent of Wetherspoons' but we didn't really fancy hanging around for the Rod Stewart tribute act set to kick off at 9pm. Earlier we'd passed a pretty blue and white taverna, Dios Zeus, and decided to eat there. Although similar to Greek cuisine, there were differences - the dolmades (stuffed vine leaves) were served warm in a herby tomato sauce and there was haloumi and tahini on the menu (not usually available in Greece) but the Cypriot courgette fritters were just as fantastic as their Greek counterparts as was the hospitality and service. 

The following morning, after a short walk to the Farmer's Market to stock up on local fruit & Greek yoghurt, which we ate on our balcony in the sunshine, we headed towards the harbour. It didn't take us long to get distracted, exploring this insanely over-the-top hotel, apparently Russian-owned, abandoned since the Ukrainian invasion.  

 

Next we entered the Agia Solomoni Catacomb, an underground chapel adorned with 12th century frescos, dedicated to St Solomon, the first woman to reject paganism and was forced to witness her seven sons being boiled in oil by the Romans.

The rags hanging in the tree are left by pilgrims who believe doing so will cure them of various ailments.

 

After coffees at pretty Paphos harbour ....

We excitedly handed over our €4.50 entrance fees for the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Nea Pafos.

The archaeological site of Neo Pafos, which is still being excavated, includes monuments that date back to prehistoric times, the Middle Ages and the Roman period. Among the most significant remains discovered so far are four large and elaborate Roman villas: the House of Dionysus, the House of Aeon, the House of Theseus and the House of Orpheus, all with superb preserved mosaic floors.

The House of Theseus (below) was an exceptionally large villa and the residence of the Roman governor built in the second half of the 2nd Century AD and occupied until the 7th Century AD. The name derives from the beautiful mosaic of Theseus and the Minotaur. So far only the southern half of the villa has been fully excavated.

Be still my beating heart, how amazing is this?!  

The rich villa below is named after Dionysus who features on several of the mosaics. It was built at the end of the 2nd century AD and was destroyed and abandoned after the earthquakes of the 4th century AD.

Although only three rooms of this large villa have been excavated the mosaic floor from the House of Aeon is considered one of the most exceptional works of ancient Roman art. It dates from around the mid-4th century AD and is named after the god shown in the middle of the mosaic.

The House of Theseus (below) features mosaics from the 3rd Century AD have three mythological representations, Orpheus and his Lyre, Hercules and the Lion of Nemea and the Amazon.

Nea Pafos extends much further than the glorious Roman villas & the breath-takingly beautiful mosaics I've shown here so, in order to do it justice, we decided to return another day.

We popped into Paphos Castle. The original building was destroyed by an earthquake in 1222 and the one standing today was restored by the Ottomans in 1592. Handing over our €2 admission fee we climbed the stairs to admire the views from the rooftop.

After a pitstop for salads, pitta and beer....

...it was time to explore a bit more.

Located in Panagia Chrysopolitissa, less than a 10-minute walk from the harbour, we discovered St Paul's Pillar, an unassuming, stump of marble standing amongst the ruins of the early Christian basilica. Legend has it that, in AD 45, the Roman Governor, Sergius Paulus, ordered St. Paul to be tied to one of the columns and flogged for preaching Christianity on the island. Apparently, St. Paul wrote about it in the bible (Acts 13, verses 5 - 12).

The church was built in 1540 on the site of an early Christian basilica destroyed in an earthquake in 365AD. I think the amazing mosaic floor dates to the original church. 

These Ottoman baths, sadly not open to the public, stand in the shadow of the church, patrolled by cats.

Initially identified as a Ptolemaic army camp, and later believed to have functioned as a temple to the god Apollo, Toumpallos is a splendid underground complex carved into the natural rock. The site features halls and corridors and is currently undergoing systematic excavations by the Italian Archaeological Mission from the University of Catania.

Leading out on to Fabrica Hill and some fantastic early Roman pebble mosaics featuring dolphins.

Back at Angela's we stripped off and took full advantage of the late afternoon sun on our sheltered balcony. Days earlier, Cyprus had experienced the lowest winter temperatures for over three years so we weren't expecting sunbathing weather although, after sunset, it got pretty chilly (but infinity better than February evenings in the UK!)

After a few drinks in a local bar we'd spotted the previous night - very touristy but not quite as "Brits Abroad" as Alfie T's! - we headed back to Dias Zeus for a Greek Cypriot feast. Accompanied by a carafe of the local dry red wine, Jon chose baked pork ribs and I had briam (a herby vegetable casserole). We shared a slice of orange cake & Jon had the ice cream and enjoyed a glass of Commandaria from the Troodos Mountains, an ancient wine style documented in Cyprus back to the 800BC and having the distinction of having the oldest named wine still in production, with the name Commandaria dating back to the 12th Century crusades. 

I'm not sure if it was the ancient wine or the 8 miles we'd walked during the day but we slept like babies that night.

Thanks for reading! Hopefully I'll catch up with all I've missed in Blogland this weekend. Stay tuned for more of our Cypriot adventures very soon!