cypriot sunshine

Near Aphrodite's bath

Desert scrub, mountain pines and Aussie gum trees; Cyprus has a varied, if largely brown (due to months of drought)landscape. Yesterday brought the first rains in ten months flooding the roads hastening our exit from Paphos.

We were singularly unimpressed with Paphos. We entered the city and found ourselves in a traffic jam snaking endlessly through narrow streets in the city. We found our way to the beach to be met with an uneventful line of shops. In reality there were only three of them, but they were duplicated ad nauseam; over-priced largely tacky restaurant, tacky souvenir shop and clothing shop. We thought we’d play it relatively safe and cheap by getting fish and chips thinking that at least we’d get a passable version of something the area is reputed to specialize in. However, it seems that they can get it horribly wrong. The streets were crowded with overweight, underdressed, smoking, sunburnt non-natives. Perhaps we found a less desirable part of Paphos on a bad day.


Scenery along the back road home - Paphos to Kato Akourdaleia



Polis is old and a little less tourist oriented, but give it time and it will no doubt offer up the same charmless scene as Paphos.

What I do like in Cyprus is the things you discover off the main roads. There are any number of villages worth a visit. Many have breath-taking outlooks over mountains and sea. Roads through and around many of the villages are narrow and steep, but filled with delights.





Our host, Mrs Angela, cooks the best food we’ve discovered so far on the island. Eating out in the courtyard is lovely and very social. We’ve had some lovely evenings and have befriended a delightful Turkish man and his friendly German wife. We’ve met a Scotsman who has my daughter’s dream job. She always wanted to ‘blow the shit outa stuff’ for a living. He does just that as an explosives engineer. Mrs Angela’s Inn is in the tiniest of villages. It has just a few houses, lots of cats, a few dogs and extremely narrow roads! The buildings, gardens and countryside would best be described as ramshackle, but the village is quite charming with fruit and flowers bursting out of every nook and cranny.

Entrance to the Inn

Views in and around the village