Travels by Bus
See the world on bus, ON foot & on my own.
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CYPRUS
An extension of UK, Bombed buildings and Beautiful coasts.
PAPHOS, SALAMIS, FAMAGUSTA, AYIA NAPA, PROTARAS, FIG TREE, LEFKARA, PETRA TOU ROMIOU (Aphrodite), AKAMAS PENINSULA, AVAKAS GORGE
26/04 - 02/05/2012
07
days
Paphos is very modern and has a great promenade by the sea where you can eat and drink in nice restaurants with perfect sea view. It also has a well-paved walkway that is also for cyclists. I walked all the way from Limanaki where I was staying, passing by the Medieval Castle of Paphos, House of Dionysos, Archaelogical Park, Elysium Hotel to Tombs of the Kings one day. Google Map says it is 3.5 km but it felt longer under the sun but it was a really nice coastal walk I'd recommend it.
PAPHOS:
Waters so clear, it was tempting to jump in but it was also a very windy day and I have quite a distance to walk, I didn't bring a change of clothes.
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Finally arrived at the The Tombs of the Kings. It was an early necropolis dating from 300 BC. The burial niches were, however, looted of all artifacts long ago and the place is a ruins today. So windy it looks like the lines of the rock goes according to the wind direction.
I could use this ride.
On the way back, I dropped in at The House of Dionysos, Paphos mosaics. Dionysos is the God of wine. This restored Roman villa house mosaic decorations and the mythological compositions of Dionysus.
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CRUISE AROUND:
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I ended up taking a day cruise around Paphos one day. They sang and danced for us.
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NORTHERN CYPRUS: SALAMIS
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Travelling on your own to Northern Cyprus sounds too difficult, besides I don't have a lot of time to do it on my own so I joined a tour that took me to Nicosia, Cyprus’ divided capital. The border between the Greek south and Turkish occupied north was closed until 2003. As we crossed to Lefkosia, our tour guide was much quieter as there are things he is not allowed to speak of. Our mobile has no more network as well.
We stopped first at Salamis, visiting the Theater and the Gynasium.
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After Salamis, we drove on to Famagusta passing by first the "ghost town" with apartment blocks and hotels that were invaded by the Turkish troops 40 years ago, leaving behind bullet holes! That's how close we are to the war-torn zone. We were not allowed to stop and frankly speaking, I do not want to get off the bus either. We drove on to the historical walled city with a few Byzantine churches and a 14th-century cathedral, now inhabited by Turkish Cypriots. Some kind of market/festival was happening on this day. Children performed some kind of ritual/dance on stage.
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I was so happy when the tour bus took us back to southern Cyprus. It's like we can all breath again. And to be dropped off at Ayia Napa is also a treat as it was a hot day, I can finally put my feet in the waters!
AYIA NAPA
I stayed at the Faros Hotel because I want to be as close to the beach as possible. It is quite a nice hotel. The Manager, a Bulgarian lady was very chatty. Perhaps because I was on my own, she spent a lot of time chatting about me, about the other tourists from Russia. The hotel is unfortunately sold to Russian tourists. The place is filled with Russian tourists. They are young - in their 20s? - but they wear swimsuits/bikinis from the 70s; the boys wore white (sailor) pants. That's when I realise the Russia is still very communistic! The Manager said it's because these Russians are not very rich and they save up just for one holiday and they go on "all inclusive" holidays so they don't go out and spend any money. Kinda sad as it destroys the business/tourist industry.
Same bottle. different prices.
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PROTARAS and FIG TREE BAY
South-eastern Cyprus is Protaras looking out over pretty Fig Tree Bay. It is very pretty and lined with 5-star hotels and resorts, touted the best beaches on the island, 6 of them with Blue Flag status. The area is supposed to be full of craggy rock formations, sea caves and hidden coves which can be explored on foot but I went there late one day and it wasn't a beach day, it was pretty empty as you can see.
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TIME TO DRIVE
I have never driven a rental on my own in all of my travels but in Cyprus, I have no other choice as there were no long distance buses or the frequency of it won't take me back to Paphos for my flight home. It was very cheap to rent though. I got one for 20 EUR to be dropped off at Paphos Airport too. The woman at the Hertz rental was very nice. She made sure the guy who dropped off the car to me at my hotel drove around the car park with me so that I can make sure I can manage the manual shift as the automatic would be double the price otherwise. I can only say that I love my Kia.
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LEFKARA
My first stop about 85 km away was Lefkara which is known for its lace and needlecraft. It is at the foot of the Troodos Mountains 650m above sea level. The craft workshop sadly isn't my thing. I stopped off along the way to see a guy jump off with his parachute. What a lucky guy!
PETRA TOU ROMIOU
Another 90 km later, I got to the rock of Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of love and beauty. This is the spot where Aphrodite rose from the waves.
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AKAMAS PENINSULA
I drove another 50 km to Paphos to stay overnight at a seaside hotel before driving another 8 km to Agios Georgios, a stone church. I left very early in the morning because I wanted to see Avakas Gorge at the tip of the Akamas Peninsula before catching my flight home. Because of this and probably because it is outside tourist season, I was the only person in the park. My Kia is not a jeep and it is not made for the terrain but I drove it as close to the entrance to the Gorge as possible.
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AVAKAS GORGE
Being the only person in here, it is both peaceful and eerie at the same. It rained this morning while I was driving here and the sky was overcast but luckily it didn't rain further. The water level is very low so I had no problem to get right INTO the Gorge. My camera didn't capture the place in fine resolution but I think you can agree that this is a nice shot nevertheless.
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