Paphos, Cyprus
May 2009
Back in early May (well before then, but bear with me), we decided that we needed to get away, out of the country, away from the stresses of house moving which were already building at that point (in fact, in the early days, we actually thought there was a chance of a quick move in June - how little we knew). So we elected to have a week (Monday 4th to Monday 11th) in Paphos, Cyprus, staying at Kefalos Beach Village, who laid on an impressive double swan towel display in our room. We got there fairly late on the first night so not much time for anything, apart from a couple of beers in the local beer.
The next day, it didn't take long for Lynne to disappear into a shop, the Cypriot phrases "low prices" and "huge variety" being particular pulls.
The skies were angry as we look out from the hotel...
But an hour later it was sunnier when looking out to sea, past the swimming pool area.
Sunny enough, in fact, to prompt one of the lampposts to take a break from lighting duty, kick back and enjoy the weather.
We went up into old town Pafos and discovered the unthinkable... a shop named after the avid shopper herself. And a fashion club, no less - how apt. (That said, you don't often see Hello Kitty apparel on the catwalks of Paris and Milan.)
Looking west, back out to sea, there was a strange aura in the distance.
If the red beams of light signified anything, it was that it was going to rain its arse off very shortly. We sought refuge in a bar restaurant for a quick Keo (the local beer) and a bit of halloumi (the local cheese) - not a bad combination by any means.
However, with the weather bad and most of old town Pafos closed for the evening (it seemed more shops and offices than bars and restaurants), we decided to get a taxi back down to the strip near the hotel, to go to a restaurant there. Lynne tucked into some croquette-type things with gusto.
More soon. Ish.
Or, rather than soon, it could be ages before I update it. What can I say? I'm easily distracted. Well, I'm updating it now, before 2010 ends. So here we go. Amidst the Beach Village there was a small church-type building.
As you might have guessed with a Beach Village, we were not far from the beach. Lynne obligingly posed near a tree.
She also pointed out the existence of a bright pink flower. She likes bright pink flowers. She also likes that hat.
Next in the list of stunningly informative photo updates, we went to a place. There was a beach and a stunning view. Unfortunately, I will have to dig out my memorabilia before providing more information on these pictures.
I tried a bit of an arty close up with the sun reflecting. It sort of works.
Here is the first glimpse of the hotel bar guy who was to become our friend (in the loosest sense of course, since we knew him for less than one week). He's served up some sort of cocktail for Lynne. We chatted to him most nights after this initial meeting. Lynne recalls his having a British girlfriend, perhaps from Cambridge or Oxford. It seemed a strange set-up, but who were we to argue.
It turned into a bit of a cocktails night in fact, with Lynne particularly liking the cocktail slushy. It certainly left a mark on her tongue. Probably the less said the better.
There was a unique system for reserving your poolside seating. You had to befriend one of the local insects and ask it to mind the sun lounger for you. It was a strange system but it did work. I would recommend it to a friend.
i
Meanwhile, we were starting to feel a bit adventurous. And by we I mean me. So we hired a car. This was partly planned since I had managed to remember to bring my driving license. And that's no mean feat on top of all the other things one has to remember. Anyway, here we are at a stop off point on the journey, with me showing off our [insert car model here]. The surroundings were fairly mountainous, with plenty of hairy corners with nice steep fall-offs beyond the roadside.
The bonus of being high up is the fact that you can take some shots of cracking scenery. Like this.
And this. Steady now.
From memory, I think we headed east along the south coast of Cyprus - towards, but not as far as, Limassol (the second largest city in Cyprus, behind its capital Nicosia). In holiday rep terminology, Paphos and Limassol tend to be linked together. Anyway, we didn't get there, and in fact went quite a lot off the beaten track, before ending up at this beach restaurant. It seemed like a hang-out for surfers. In the absence of a better plan, we stopped here for a drink.
Don't you just hate it when you can't remember where you parked your car?
We decide to do some poses. Lynne first, with her half of lager and my - gah - coke for the designated driver. As you can see, it was tricky to get a seat.
In reality, this was because it was shutting. Clearly it does not do (or intend to do) much business in the evenings. Speaking of designated drivers, here he is!
This photo is only on here because it says "Michael Supermarket", which is inherently funny. Well, it was to us.
Later that night we engaged in a bit of karaoke. Well, Lynne did. I can't remember if this is the time I did it. Possibly not. Anyway, the lyrics are "I can't believe you kiss your car", which are strange lyrics. But they never have to mean anything, do they? A generic quick internet search later and I discover that these are the lyrics to Shania Twain's When You Kiss Me. That it was Shania Twain rings a bell actually - from memory, we agreed it wasn't the best song choice. And I can also confirm that I did not, at any time, kiss the hire car. I did do some karaoke later that night - I performed Some Might Say by Oasis at a subsequent bar (I think) and then No Surprises by Radiohead back at the hotel bar. It was fairly empty but there were a number of Germans nearby who were constructively heckling, including do a big round of applause when they thought I had finished - it was only an instrumental section, however.
Shot of the pool as a break between days. All photos shown are chronological so I did take it the morning after the karaoke shot.
After we had refuelled on breakfast, it was time for another automobile adventure; this time to the northern coast. It probably took something like an hour to an hour and a half to get there. Here is a small harbour.
We had a splendid view as we got a table at a renowned fish restaurant. Lynne certainly seemed contented.
We sat there as the sun went down, although to take this I had to head to the other side of the restaurant.
This shot should probably have gone nearer the start to set the scene, but it was taken towards the end of the holiday. The weather certainly improved after the first couple of days - in fact, by the end of the week it was starting to get uncomfortably hot. We are not sun worshippers.
Whilst we did relax by the sea, there was definitely no worshipping of the sun going on. Honest. What we did do was watch a game of beach volleyball. Unfortunately, the guy trying to hit the ball doesn't look like he has done it entirely successfully.
Now this is my kind of car - a beer car.
As we walked back to the Beach Village on our last day, we caught sight of this outside an Indian restaurant which we didn't go to. Yes, not sure why. Anyway, this was an amusing sign outside restaurant. It seems they had also travelled from Manchester. Small world.
And finally, a shot of the beach that we were near, with a strange marked out bit. By the end of the week, the sea was becalmed and the sky was completely cloudless.
And that was our visit to Cyprus.