Paphos; Friday, 14 October, 2022

I had to get up relatively early this morning as I was booked on a day tour, and the pickup was at 08:30, so I was down having breakfast a little after service started at 7. It did mean that I practically had the restaurant to myself and the buffet was completely fresh.

The tour picked me up from the opposite side of the road from the hotel, and I was about halfway round the pickup locations so I was able to get a window seat whilst only having to sit through another 20 minutes of stopping at different hotels along the seafront.

After the final pickup of the morning the coach headed to the first stop, overlooking Aphrodite’s Rock – supposedly the birthplace of the Greek goddess. The three rock stacks coming out of the sea are pretty impressive by themselves and the scenery along this part of the coast is breath-taking.

Next stop along the coast was at the ancient city of Kourion. Once an independent Kingdom during the Roman period it became a city, but was completely destroyed by an earthquake in the middle of the 4th century. Today significant parts of the site have been uncovered, including several large buildings and the amphitheatre. We only had limited time on the stop here, so we only saw one of the largest houses and the amphitheatre, but it was enough to get a good idea of the impressiveness of the city before its destruction.

Slightly further along the coast and our most Easterly stop of the day was to look round the crusader era castle in Kolossi. Whilst there isn’t much to see in the castle itself, there were pretty good views to be had from the roof over the local area.

From Kolossi we drove up into the Troodos mountains stopping off at a winery for a tasting of their various products (and the inevitable opportunity to purchase) before moving on to the highest point on the tour in the small village of Fioni where we stopped for an included lunch which was made up of local Cypriot food.

From Fioni we traced our way partially back down the mountains to the town of Omodos where we stopped for an hour to explore the town and the 3rd century Monastery here that houses holy relics.

After the stop in Omodos it was back on the coach for the return journey to Paphos and the hotel drop-offs, with mine leaving me just enough time for a quick swim before the pool closed at sunset and then dinner.