Papping Paphos

7/5/22

The day after the wedding! Today I was ready for a wander. After breakfast (and after waving Vee and Noona off), I had a mooch down the coast path past a few other fancy resorts, past a tiny but very cute Greek Orthodox church and along to some watersports kiosks. I sat on a boardwalk looking out to see awhile before heading back to meet Nenay at the pool. We had a good ol’ catch up and in the end, everyone congregated together and we chilled and chatted. Folk with all inclusive wristbands kindly got drinks for me and the girls that were staying in the hotel next door and we stayed poolside til around 5pm. Then, I grabbed my rucksack, saidy goodbyes and headed to get the bus into Paphos town. On arrival, I walked maybe half an hour up hill to reach my hostel. The hostel was in a beautiful part of town past some very wholesome looking restaurants. I ditched my stuff and headed out for food. I got a recommendation from the owner and went to a place with great halloumi wraps. Then I Netflixed in bed.

8/5/22

Today was a ‘let’s see Paphos’ day so I headed out towards the Tombs of the Kings, stopping for a lovely breakfast (with halloumi, obviously), named Paphos Benedict or some such thing! I walked through the bus station, past many beautiful coloured flowers and to the tomb site. One of the tourist officers welcomed me so warmly, asking where I was from and once he realised I was Welsh, the stories flowed! He used to dance traditional Greek dancing and was asked to dance in a festival in Llangollen. They would’ve been pleased to go, but sadly they had already agreed to dance in Australia!! After telling me the story, he handed me a leaflet on the tombs and wished me well – a happy chap!!

The tomb site was rather large and rather hot!! It was not actually a tomb site for Kings, but for VIPS and wealthy people of the third century AD – pretty old!! I walked round for a good few hours before escaping at the bottom corner onto the coast path. I stopped at a beach for a sarny and chips and a sunbathe before heading on, to reach Paphos marina, complete with tiny, old fort. The marina was bustling with tourists and restaurants, but didn’t look too old. I was keen to try and find the old town. I headed away from the marina and stopped by a long forgotten amphitheatre which was marked on the map and was in amidst a residential estate. I climbed through a gap in the fence and stood on the rough ground, looking up at the amphitheatre and down at a pile of numbered but given up on columns. It felt very much like Rome – too many ruins to give time of day to them all! Paphos had decided the amphitheatre was irrelevant, but it was pretty impressive nonetheless!!

Afterwards I was pretty tired so got the bus back to the hostel, even though I had to wait ages because it was Sunday. On returning, I stopped for a smoothie, grabbed an extra layer and headed out for dinner. I fancied going to a local taverna that I had passed by the day I had arrived. I sat inside, since outside was too cold (Greek island winds are vicious!), and ordered mussels in a tomato sauce. It came with heaps of bread, and I ordered olives. The olives too were vicious, the very strong, black ones – I ate them all regardless! Afterwards, I headed to the place I went for breakfast to meet Livia, a girl from my hostel who was away for the weekend, from studying International Relations and Arabic in Amman, Jordan. I admired Livia (British-French) for braving a year abroad in a country so different from home, and learning a language with a whole different alphabet!! She was experiencing reverse culture shock in Cyprus, same as I had in Dubai after being in Somaliland so long – so many bare legs, shoulders and midriffs, the world had gone mad!! We chatted, tried (and failed) to order a second drink – the barman had been on since the morning and had given up at this point – and then headed home!

9/5/22

Livia had told me she had been to the old town the day before so I thought I’d have a little mooch about before my flight. I got a coffee and pastry breakfast in a cute caf across the way from the hostel before heading on towards old plazas. It was very pretty, but pretty abandoned. I stocked up on goods in a nearby bakery ready for the airport and headed back to get the bus to the airport.

I was far too early for bag drop at the airport so sat on the floor near the check in desk for over an hour blogging before I could go through security. Too many nearly missed flights has made me leave lotssss of time for airports now! 🤣🤣🤣