CYPRUS
November 21-25th, 2012
In this post: Live from Cyprus
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| Aphrodite's Rock & Beach |
Over the Thanksgiving break, we went to Pafos, Cyprus. Maybe sounds exotic if you're American, and really it was the farthest EAST the kids and I have ever been (the tip of the island is a mere 60 miles from Syria). But for Europeans, especially Brits, it's sort of like going to Florida. And to be honest, we got great prices (thanks EasyJet) because of the timing - most schools do NOT have a holiday at this time, and there were relatively few people there (because it's "low season"). All of this = huge savings and gain for us!! We felt like we owned the beaches and pools to ourselves =)
Our basic itinerary:
Day 1 Departure/travel time (5 hour flight), dinner at local restaurant, hotel pool
Day 2 Shopping and errands (rainy), walk the beach, "Thanksgiving dinner" in hotel
Day 3 Archaeological sites (Tombs of the Kings, Pafos Archaeological Site), Lara Beach
Day 4 Troodos Mountain hike, Aphrodite Rock and Beach, Traditional Meze dinner
Day 5 Beach/pool at hotel, return home
Now for those who have lots of time, feel free to read all the details....
I have been posting some entries lately from a year or more
ago. There has been some catching up to
do. I’ve been too busy with our
adventures to actually document them.
Here's the journal I kept during our 5 days in Cyprus....
Here's the journal I kept during our 5 days in Cyprus....
Day 1. Wednesday
November 21st, 2012
Departing our house just moments after 8am, we walked about
a half mile to an EasyBus pickup point and boarded our 8:26 bus, which was 10
minutes late, for Luton Airport. It’s
always an interesting decision, choosing how to arrive at one of London’s
airports. Some people swear by one
method. But you can choose to take a
taxi, take a bus, take a train, and sometimes an Express train (which is more
expensive). ..or any combination of them.
For this trip I booked us the bus there and train home. This combination was the most
economic way for our journey time and date.
Arriving at one of the London airports is never a calm
experience. Traveling anywhere in this
city with a very strict time frame causes one to suffer some serious anxiety. It’s just the way of London Life. Trains run late, buses and taxis sit in
traffic…it’s just how it goes.
Luckily we did indeed arrive at Luton with 1.5 hours to
spare, a bit later than anticipated because of – yes, heavy traffic. Luton is such a small airport though, it’s a
quick check-in once your there.
Our flight, scheduled to depart at 11:25, was delayed about
a half hour. NOTE TO SELF: when
traveling EasyJet – GET FOOD AND DRINK BEFORE BOARDING. We debated whether or not there might be a
beverage service, and couldn’t recall from the last time we took EasyJet. There are only items for purchase, at exuberant prices.
And you NEED fluids while flying!
Now we’re sitting here, over two hours to go until we touch
down in beautiful Paphos where the pilot has announced the weather is a sunny
23 degrees Celcius.
Looking over at our kids, Josh scored the window seat, Jonah
is in the middle, and Ally is on the aisle.
Dave and I are settled comfortably across the aisle from them! Nice! We could even pretend that we don’t
know them!
I see that Josh is digging in his backpack for his action
figures that he has carried along; Jonah and Ally are each hogging an
ipad. We’ve got a couple hours to go
yet…..
We landed at about 6:00 pm Cyprus time, walked out of the
plane into warm Mediterranean air and palm trees….I think we are going to like
this place! We proceeded to the Europcar
to collect our really cheap car that I rented.
It was a steal, offered to me just after I booked our tickets through
EasyJet. I knew it would be
basic…but…when we arrived at our vehicle in the lot…well, it certainly was
basic! Beat-up basic actually! The
kids balked, our 13 year-old made some pretty mean comments. I chirped that “It was a DEAL” remember, so
don’t expect NICE. They complained and
sneered that maybe it wouldn’t run. Well
it runs fine. It runs just fine. The brakes
make some noises, but it’s fine. It’s a
scratched up Ford Fiesta. And it’s a lot
nicer than our car in London (which is…NONE).
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| Our rental car - you can't see how beat up she is, but she ran great and I though it was PERFECT! |
Navigating our way through the darkness to our hotel, trying
to use my phone for navigation, we arrived at our hotel by about 7:00. The place is Gorgeous. Very Nice.
Amazing. Right on the beach,
relatively new and we scored a 3 bedroom suite with kitchen and living area
(it’s off-season here so it was a fantastic deal). We could just move right in! LOVE IT!!
I told the kids I had redeemed myself after the car incident. Ha!
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| kitchen area |
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| balcony view |
After settling in and realizing how awesome our hotel is, we
ventured out for dinner. Walking just
down the street and betting on which of the many restaurants would be best, we
finally settled at Joanna’s, because they had great choices on two set menus
for 9 and 13 euros. Everyone ordered a
set menu but Josh. He order fish sticks
and fries. Dave ordered: hummus – pizza
– lemon crepes, Ally ordered: tomato soup - spaghetti bolognaise – fresh fruit,
Jonah: spare ribs – chicken kiev – crème caramel, me: meze - sea bass – crepe
w/ice cream. The place is simple but
reasonably priced and decent food (my seabass was delicious). Total about 65 euros.
Day 2 Thursday November 22nd Happy
Thanksgiving from Paphos!
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| dinner at Joanna's |
The breakfast buffet made us linger until 10:00 (we’re on vacation
after all) and then, it was raining!
Storming actually! And we needed
to pick up a few items that had been forgotten.
So instead of sightseeing, we went shopping. Not my plan, but family vacations are like
that.
More frustrating, my camera, my
beloved-I’ve-had-it-for-I-dunno-how-long camera, seems to be dying a slow
death. It is not opening and closing –
it’s getting jammed. And it takes such
nice photos…oh well. We have an ipad and
my phone to use in order to try to document some of the beauties we see along
the way.
It was nice to drive around, doing some shopping, looking
for shorts for Ally, contact case for Dave, and food for a couple of quick
lunches. We got a sense of the lay of
the land, and it has that Mediterranean feel – sort of dry and brown ground and
low vegetation, moist air, random piles of rubble here and there that look like
they could have been some sort of historic site, very friendly people….
Prices do not seem expensive, it feels very safe, and people
are so warm and welcoming. Most people
we have met speak English. There are a
lot of Brits who live here and vacation here.
We lunched in our hotel room, at about 1:30 – hummus,
baguette, tomato, brie, apples, cheetos that the kids picked out!
By 2:30 we were in the pool area. If we can’t have sun, we can still enjoy the
hotel amenities. We had the entire place to ourselves. There is a small fitness area just adjacent
to the pool, where Dave and Jonah burned some calories. I eventually put a toe and then my entire
legs into the hot tub, which was really a warm
tub. It was not hot. The indoor pool is cold. Once you’re in there, it’s tolerable. The kids loved it. We are disappointed that the “outdoor heated
pool” is not yet heated. It’s gorgeous –
I’d be in there if it were warm….
We almost ventured over to the Tombs of the Kings but it was
too close to closing time (I swear we will do it first thing in the morning,
after that amazing buffet breakfast).
Instead, we walked the coast – it was my favorite thing of the day. Something about coastlines is so
captivating. We looked in tidepools and
jumped from the rock formations (which I just asked my family – how do you
describe the coastline rocks here? And there were four unanimous “I don’t
know”s thrown at me). The rocky coast
just looks old, full of holes, nature has really done a number carving out
mysteries for thousands of years there.
Have we forgotten it is Thanksgiving??? Returning to our hotel room, we cooked up some chicken drummies, rice, green beans, salad and tomato…it was the best we could do. Just now we were able to Skype with my family back in Minnesota, and now there is a game of Monopoly being played. Soon we’ll devour some Greek sweets recommended by the baker at the grocery store (baklava, profiteroles, ….)
Have we forgotten it is Thanksgiving??? Returning to our hotel room, we cooked up some chicken drummies, rice, green beans, salad and tomato…it was the best we could do. Just now we were able to Skype with my family back in Minnesota, and now there is a game of Monopoly being played. Soon we’ll devour some Greek sweets recommended by the baker at the grocery store (baklava, profiteroles, ….)
One curiosity of the day – during our dinner, our kids began
to explain how they were not “allowed” to flush toilet paper down the
toilet. WHAT? Excuse me?
No, Mom and Dad, you don’t understand, there is a sign next to our
toilet that says we CAN NOT flush the paper down the toilet! Hmmm… We were certain they were misreading
the sign or that there was a clear English error. Until we went and saw for ourselves. Again I say, hmmmm.
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| very strange signage - really? can't flush the toilet paper? |
DAY 3 Friday November 23rd
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| this is why we linger at breakfast |
We awoke to clear, beautiful sunny skies. Although the kids wanted to go directly into the ocean, after stuffing ourselves at the breakfast buffet, I was determined to see the UNESCO World Heritage sites – and some amazing examples of archeological digs. First stop: The Tombs of the Kings. Dragging their feet and of course asking how long it would take until we could be back to swim at the hotel or at a beach, they were shocked to discover that this place was cool! Imagine my delight to see the kids run off towards the underground tomb exclaiming “cool!” “whoa look at this!”….essentially you can walk into these ancient tombs – there are 8 total – and see where all the bodies lay long ago. They feel sort of like caves. The kids commented that it was especially fun “because there was nothing to read” – you know, when you drag your kids to museums and make them stand and read about the exhibit or artifact? It’s true – there was nothing to read here. Just cool caves/tombs to explore! The ocean is crashing onto the shore nearby and you’re on an adventure into underground tombs and chambers which feel like they belong in Egypt. We were there about an hour.
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| Tombs of the Kings |
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By now the kids were desperate to get into some water, and to be honest we felt the same way. Dave wanted to see Lara Beach, on the Akamas Pennisula, a wild, uninhabited area of Cyprus. Thus began our safari into the wilderness. There is no road really. A dirt, rocky, rugged trail stretches out and dares you to continue.
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| The road ahead.... |
I was nervous we’d get a flat tire with all the sharp rocks and our creaky car, and some of the slopes challenged the little vehicle so that I wondered if we’d make it back. In the end, the 5km that took 20 minutes to drive were well worth it, as we arrived in the middle of nowhere. Truly. There was nothing there. Nothing. No buildings, no signs of life, no homes along the horizon. It made us feel like explorers from centuries ago who set foot on ground discovering new lands. We had an entire, gorgeous, perfectly untouched beach to ourselves. Paradise found.
The area is apparently a protected region where rare turtles
emerge to lay eggs each year, and there is a conservation program supporting
their access.
The kids went running towards the water screaming and before
you know it they were all swimming. Dave
joined in and I watched the glorious scene unfold from the warm sand and
several times waded along the shore feeling the crashing waves roll over my
feet and the sand sinking beneath them.
These are those moments in life where you feel joy and peace that
surpass desciption. You gotta pinch
yourself cuz you’re lucky. That’s how we
all felt. =)
Hunger set in, and since we never did stop to get lunch on the way there like we had planned, we needed FOOD. Problem was that we walked back to the car barefoot and had caked so much mud to the bottom of our feet that we needed some serious cleaning before setting foot into any sort of restaurant or retail establishment! Unable to find anywhere to clean up, we landed back at our hotel and just grabbed a few items from the LIDL across the street. We could hardly scarf it down fast enough to get ourselves into the pool. Indoors, now it was 3:30ish, and the outdoor pool is teeth-chatteringly cold. We were in the pool area until 6:00! Rotating between the steam room, pool, hot tub, sauna, and then start over… FUN TIMES.
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| banana plantations |
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| The only inhabitants out there are these sheep! |
Hunger set in, and since we never did stop to get lunch on the way there like we had planned, we needed FOOD. Problem was that we walked back to the car barefoot and had caked so much mud to the bottom of our feet that we needed some serious cleaning before setting foot into any sort of restaurant or retail establishment! Unable to find anywhere to clean up, we landed back at our hotel and just grabbed a few items from the LIDL across the street. We could hardly scarf it down fast enough to get ourselves into the pool. Indoors, now it was 3:30ish, and the outdoor pool is teeth-chatteringly cold. We were in the pool area until 6:00! Rotating between the steam room, pool, hot tub, sauna, and then start over… FUN TIMES.
Meze was our goal for dinner. Unfortunately, the places recommended to us
were either too far to drive to or closed for the season. After driving around unlucky, we gave up and
found ourselves at Phucket, a Chinese-Thai restaurant which was recommended in
my DK Cyprus guide. It was good….Josh
ordered the Peking duck with pancakes and it was excellent. I had Green Thai vegetables, Ally sweet and
sour chicken, Dave thai noodles with veg, and Jonah had a flaming duck shaped
foil with duck and veg inside – it was a treat to see delivered to the
table. Our bill was about 70 euros.
After historical sites, our safari, ocean swimming, and pool
time….we are BEAT. Kids asleep in bed and
that is now where I am headed as well.
DAY 4 Saturday November 24th
Today we set off for an adventure of mountain
hiking. Nervous that the drive might
take too much of our day, I inquired at the hotel reception. The maitre d’ beamed at me. “Is it worth the drive?” I asked.
His reply was “I cannot tell you.
You go and you come back and tell me if it was worth it”. My fearless husband is wonderful at the
wheel, and my phone saved us again and again with the maps & navigation
option. We set off about 10:15, and
after winding our way past many goat herds and little Cypriot villages and
vineyards, we arrived in Platres, at the gateway to the Troodos Mountains.
I had several suggestions from internet sites and guidebooks regarding hiking. But we had been in the car for 90 minutes and decided to scrap those lovely descriptions and just follow the first trail head we found. It was called Kaledonia Trail, and it was about 2k to a waterfall and then you could continue on after that as far as you can imagine. We hiked upward, stopping to enjoy the waterfall and the kitty that seemed to live there and then continued for about 15 minutes further before turning back. It felt like fall. Down at the shore of the Mediterranean, it felt like summer to us; not here. Our total hiking time was perhaps 90 minutes, but it was glorious and we were all glad to explore this unique area of Cyprus.
I had several suggestions from internet sites and guidebooks regarding hiking. But we had been in the car for 90 minutes and decided to scrap those lovely descriptions and just follow the first trail head we found. It was called Kaledonia Trail, and it was about 2k to a waterfall and then you could continue on after that as far as you can imagine. We hiked upward, stopping to enjoy the waterfall and the kitty that seemed to live there and then continued for about 15 minutes further before turning back. It felt like fall. Down at the shore of the Mediterranean, it felt like summer to us; not here. Our total hiking time was perhaps 90 minutes, but it was glorious and we were all glad to explore this unique area of Cyprus.
On the return route our goal was to stop at Aphrodite’s
Rock, where the legend claims she was birthed out of the ocean. Apparently somewhere in Greece also claims
the same, but she’s a goddess, so perhaps she experienced two births? In any case, this was a truly enchanting spot
with breathtaking views and a pebbled beach.
The water called to the kids and they rode the waves. I
waded and felt the rush of the water but wasn’t lured in. I enjoyed watching the scene unfold and
soaking up the remaining moments of daylight and feeling again filled with joy
seeing our kids purely entranced by the ocean beach.
Sunset began to creep in and our stomachs began to rumble. We hadn’t eaten since our morning breakfast buffet, apart from a few snacks along our hike. But we must eat meze, and it was only 5:00? Could we possibly find somewhere to eat at this hour? I was doubtful. We stopped at one Taverna that our neighbors had recommended and it was closed. We decided that something near the Pafos Harbor would be our best bet. We found the most fantastic Taverna “San Marino” where the owner served us herself, with smiles and cheer and no other customers to tend to. We truly had the place to ourselves; it felt a bit awkward at first because it was such a huge place. Apparently it is the beginning of the low season and many places close completely for the winter or only open weekends or odd hours. We even qualified for a 15% discount because we were dining before 19:00. Perfect =) Josh ordered carbonara pasta, Ally ordered pizza, Jonah order shark, and Dave and I had the vegetarian meze. We had so many plates delivered to our table, I lost count. First some toasts. Then pita with the cold meze – hummus, tzaziki, tahini, seafood spread. Garlic bread followed. Next the kids’ meals. A hot aubergine and cucumber dish with tomatoe. Spaghetti. Rice. Potatoes. Grilled vegetables. Cooked vegetables. Then ice cream for the kids….
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Sunset began to creep in and our stomachs began to rumble. We hadn’t eaten since our morning breakfast buffet, apart from a few snacks along our hike. But we must eat meze, and it was only 5:00? Could we possibly find somewhere to eat at this hour? I was doubtful. We stopped at one Taverna that our neighbors had recommended and it was closed. We decided that something near the Pafos Harbor would be our best bet. We found the most fantastic Taverna “San Marino” where the owner served us herself, with smiles and cheer and no other customers to tend to. We truly had the place to ourselves; it felt a bit awkward at first because it was such a huge place. Apparently it is the beginning of the low season and many places close completely for the winter or only open weekends or odd hours. We even qualified for a 15% discount because we were dining before 19:00. Perfect =) Josh ordered carbonara pasta, Ally ordered pizza, Jonah order shark, and Dave and I had the vegetarian meze. We had so many plates delivered to our table, I lost count. First some toasts. Then pita with the cold meze – hummus, tzaziki, tahini, seafood spread. Garlic bread followed. Next the kids’ meals. A hot aubergine and cucumber dish with tomatoe. Spaghetti. Rice. Potatoes. Grilled vegetables. Cooked vegetables. Then ice cream for the kids….
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Whoa, we were stuffed.
The kids were delighted to receive those little umbrellas in their
drinks and sparklers dazzling atop their ice cream. There was a roaring fire in the hearth which
centered the tavern. All alone, our
family monopolized the place and ate to our hearts’ content!!
Arriving back at the hotel to enjoy the final hours of the pool and what heat remained in the now turned off steam room and sauna, we all said it was a perfect day in Cyprus!
Arriving back at the hotel to enjoy the final hours of the pool and what heat remained in the now turned off steam room and sauna, we all said it was a perfect day in Cyprus!
DAY 5 November 25th Sunday
Waking up today wasn’t quite the same; there is that tiny
dot of anxiety in our minds reminding us of packing up suitcases and catching
flights. Not to let this ruin our final
hours, we indulged in our final brunch and then immediately put on swimsuits to
finally swim at the beach that had been right outside our doorstep for the past
3 days, but we just had not had the chance to get there!
It was the most perfect morning – the sun felt so hot and the waves were swelling perfectly for body surfing. There were several others who were also swimming. For us Northerners, Cyprus seemed SUMMER LIKE the entire time we were here – SUN (except for that first morning), beautiful temperatures (70s), SO LOVELY! Our family was in the water every day. To the majority of others there, it was “winter”! Part of the reason we seemed to own this whole island is that there truly were very few other families with school age children. That is what I LOVE about our Thanksgiving holiday – there are few (probably only the other American Schools in Europe) who are on holiday – so it’s just a glorious time to escape, get a great bargain, and feel like you’re almost cheating because you get to be on holiday!
It was the most perfect morning – the sun felt so hot and the waves were swelling perfectly for body surfing. There were several others who were also swimming. For us Northerners, Cyprus seemed SUMMER LIKE the entire time we were here – SUN (except for that first morning), beautiful temperatures (70s), SO LOVELY! Our family was in the water every day. To the majority of others there, it was “winter”! Part of the reason we seemed to own this whole island is that there truly were very few other families with school age children. That is what I LOVE about our Thanksgiving holiday – there are few (probably only the other American Schools in Europe) who are on holiday – so it’s just a glorious time to escape, get a great bargain, and feel like you’re almost cheating because you get to be on holiday!
We will remember Cyprus for the exploring we did – the
ancient ruins, the uninhabited area of Lara beach, the hike in the Troodos
mountains, Aprodite’s Rock and Beach, having our hotel pool all to ourselves…it
is astounding the variety of landscape for a small island. We could have easily stayed for a full week!
We all feel lucky to have been able to visit Cyprus!
