Thursday, after having an awesome night full of way too much guacamole and finally meeting our Nigerian neighbor, we hopped on yet another bus for our weekend trip to Limassol and Paphos (on the south/southwestern coast of Cyprus)! Looking out the window you can see random ancient ruins from over 2000 years ago! We saw one archeological site in particular that had five circular foundations of what used to be huts. I think Cyprus could be much more well-known and a huge history-geek tourist attraction if they cared (or were not so lazy) to unearth more of the history and advertise it. Anyways, we drove through Limassol and then went to the Limassol Fort and Castle. It was built in the 14th century on the site of an earlier Byzantine castle. It was here, according to tradition that Richard the Lionheart decided to claim Cyprus as a British possession, but today the castle houses the Medieval Museum. It was pretty boring from the outside (a small square “castle” built of plain limestone), but once we went in it was more interesting. We could walk through it and touch everything. In the museum part they had knight’s suits of armor, old jewelry, pottery, etc. on display in old jail cells. But, only parts of it had old relics, the rest looked like it was original and the knights had just left it – very cool! Outside of it was a huge wooden/concrete contraption where they used to make olive oil. It looked really confusing, and I couldn’t figure out how it worked, but it was still very interesting.
Then we went to the Kolossi Castle (above) built in 1200-1300 AD. It looked very similar to the Limassol castle (3-4 stories tall and small, square shape), but it had BEAUTIFUL flowers in around it. We went to the top and had a view of the fields/plantations around and a small village…much prettier than Makedonessita (where we live). It was in this castle where the knights perfected how to make the famous sweet wine of Cyprus – Commanderia.
We made our way up the side of a mountain/cliff to Kourion – an ancient city-kingdom. We went into the House of Eustolios, which used to be a private Roman villa built/renovated around 400 AD. It had huge mosaics on the floor. It was very well preserved – you can still clearly see the pictures, designs, and words. Next to this was an ancient Roman theater built in the 2nd century AD. This was also very well preserved, and we could sit/climb around on it. One of the guys with us was prodded to “testing the acoustics” and he did a whole song and dance to the Temptations for us – it was great!
Then we drove to a spot where we could overlook the Sea and Petra Tou Romiou (“The Rock of the Greek”): Birthplace of Aphrodite. It was here, at one of the small, black, mushroom-like rocks tha according to legend, Aphrodite, goddess of love and beauty, rose from the waves. The Greek name, Petra Tou Romiou, is associated with Dighenis Akritas, who kept the raiding Saracens at bay by throwing this large rock into the sea destroying the enemy’s ships. Anyways, the water was unbelievable!! It was turquoise blue and crystal clear – gorgeous!
We drove back to Limassol (about 30-45 minutes away), checked into our hotel and went in search of food! The restaurant we ate at was fine, but the family that owned it was so nice!! We met the owner (who was born in Cyprus, but lived in London all his life), his son was our waiter, and his daughter was another waitress. We stayed for karaoke – the owner started it off by singing “New York, New York” for us, “the ladies from the USA.” He was an unbelievable singer! Sounded exactly like Frank Sinatra!! After we sang, our waiter (the son) sang, and then the daughter. Then they did a duet to “Love Shack.” They were all awesome singers (but nothing compares to dancing/watching Erik dancing to Love Shack at every Koch wedding!)
Saturday – BEACH!!! We were FINALLY able to see the water (yep on an island ½ the size of Connecticut and have yet to be by the water)! We laid on the sand, went swimming in the Mediterranean, and went kayaking! The water was so blue; it looked like it had food coloring in it. And I could see to the bottom no matter how far I went out! It was unbelievable! For dinner I went out with a new group of girls and we had Greek/Cypriot meze and wine – nummy!! It was so much fun; the perfect day!
Sunday – we didn’t have to leave until 11:45, so we got some more beach time in for a couple hours before going to Lefkara (above), a small village in the mountains famous for their handmade lace and silver. According to tradition, Leonardo da Vinci visited the village and bought an altar cloth which he donated to the Milan Duomo (Cathedral). The little village was so cute! It had little winding roads with lace/silver shops everywhere! And the little old Greek men and women shopkeepers sitting outside (and occasionally taking a nap). In a lot of the stores, the woman made the lace and the man (husband) made the silver. A small lace piece (smaller than a placemat) takes over 1 month to make! The shopkeepers were so nice and hospitable – I guess it is true what they say about Greeks/Cypriots, just not in Nicosia! I LOVED the little village!
This trip was EXACTLY what I thought Cyprus was going to be like…I have been about an hour away from it this whole time, dang! (After this it is official, I do NOT like Makedonssita or Nicosia! Everyone on our trip concurred) It had ancient ruins, little villages, cute harbors, beautiful water, and overly nice people – I loved it! I guess I’ll just have to go back before I leave! :)
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