|
PAPHOS
Cyprus
Cyprus is the third largest island in the
Mediterranean. It is situated at the North-Eastern end of the East Mediterranean
basin at a distance of 380km North of Egypt, 105km West of Syria and 75km South
of Turkey. The Greek mainland is some 800km to the West and the nearest Greek
islands are Rhodes and Carpathos 380km to the west.
Paphos
Pafos lies in the west of Cyprus, just below the Akamas
peninsula. It has a nice harbour where the tourists assemble to enjoy the sun,
sea and restaurants.
There is supposed to be a pelican here, but when we
were on holiday, he was on holiday too. He probably took his holiday somewhere
in Africa.
The medieval fortress in Pafos has a striking
resemblance with those in Larnika and Lemesos.
Aphrodite's rock
The Greek goddess Aphrodite is born on Cyprus. Or
actually, she is born from the foam of the sea around this rock, on the beach
close to Pafos. In ancient times, lots of people came here to join in the
fertility rituals here and at the nearby temple. In Greek, the rock is called Petra
tou Romiou.
It is a good place for pictures of sunset - when the sun
cooperates. In our case, the day before and after we were here, we had the most
magnificent sunsets with orange skies. When we were at Aphrodite's Rock, this
was the best as it got.
Avagas Gorge
Another thing you should see when going to Pafos, is the Avagas gorge. When
going with a guide, you can approach it from the upper end, but that path is
very hard to find. Almost as good is walking in from the down end. This way it
gets better every meter.
That is, if you dare to enter the gorge after reading all the warning signs
at the entrance. Beware, flash floods (the actual text is a lot longer, but the
meaning is the same). Beware of falling rocks. Never enter when an earthquake
might happen. Watch out for snakes. Etcetera, etcetera.
Town and Village Life
The towns of Cyprus present a modern cosmopolitan
atmosphere blended with historic buildings and ancient monuments. Imposing
colonial and classic style buildings rub shoulders with well designed
contemporary hotels, apartment blocks and attractive shopping streets, some
narrow and quaint, others thoroughly modern.
By contrast, life in the villages follows a slower
pace, reflecting the importance of agriculture, cottage industry and family
ties. Traditional flat roofed village houses made of mud brick are a common
sight, while stone-built dwellings with tiled roofs can be seen in the
mountains. Many village houses feature delightful vine-shaded court-yards and
the typical local oven "fourno" for home-made baking.
Its People
The people of Cyprus are traditionally warm and
welcoming and consider a visit to their island as a compliment - one thats
repaid with genuine hospitality, summed up in the Greek word Philoxenia :
Friendship towards the guest. Their naive tongue is Greek, but English is
readily spoken in all the shops, restaurants and hotels - in fact just about
everywhere. In a world of ever-increasing violence, Cyprus has a remarkably low
crime rate, and from just one visit to the Island the visitor can understand
why.
The pace is leisurely, the people kind and helpful,
always ready with a smile. The Cypriots are hard workers too - resilient people
who have withstood and accommodated the succession of invaders throughout their
long history.
Some text and photographs have been shared
with
various web sites on the internet, all are those without copyright symbols or
mentions. If I have shared any
of your text and photographs I thank you and if you wish me not to use them
please let me know and I will remove them. As a teachers in a secondary school I see the web as a source of freely
available knowledge as such if you wish to use any of my web site then feel free
to do so.
Attention : I have tried to do my best, to give a
brief analysis of Cyprus Geographical and and history, but this web page does
not officially represent the Cyprus government in any way, so any mistakes
that maybe contained on my site or any omission is my fault only (if there are any I
apologize), and has nothing to do with Cyprus Government.
| 
