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Today was a day of deja-vu moments, cold water and dirt.
I started the day off determined to go for a morning swim, so I got out of bed nice and early and checked the weather out on the balcony. It was a glorious day, though the wind was just as ferocious as last night! It turned out the wind would continue to plague us all day. Barry joined me and we made our way down to the pool area. The pool opens at 8am and at 08:15 we watched the attendant leisurely take down the pool guard. European charm! It suits me fine, my internal clock runs a little later than most. It turned out, though, that the water was absolutely arctic. We decided to try the indoor pool instead, which was somehow just as cold but we were brave soldiers and got in anyway!
We thought we might try the sauna too but it turned out we had to walk through the gym to get to it and then they werenāt even hot, so that was a bit of a fail!
Time for breakfast! We wandered up to the dining area and found an incredibly well stocked and varied buffet. There were hot breakfasts, pancakes, omelettes, yoghurt, meats/cheeses, homemade bagels and an amazing array of pastries. I didnāt get a picture today but I will tomorrow!
After filling up on goodies (we figured we would skip lunch and wait until dinner), the first order of the day was the coastal walk up to the Archeological Site of Nea Paphos. This was the first Deja-vu of the day as I walked this exact route six years ago with Hannah! Though six years ago we were persuaded to board a glass-bottomed boat which left us both feeling a bit iffy! Today the waves were a bit out of hand so no boats for us, thanks heavens. Barry made friends with every cat he met on our way and some of them even got names. This one is called Patrick:
The archeological site wasā¦ breezyā¦ but a nice little wander looking at the mosaics. Barry exclaimed āitās just a lot of dirt!āand confessed he was expecting more intact structures but he would see those later!
After seeing the mosaics, we strolled further up the coast, past the restaurants and via a craft fair, to the small castle at the end. We didnāt pay to go inside but had fun watching the waves crash against it!
I had a scoop of gelato (delish) on our walk back to the hotel and we had a little rest before heading back out in the car to the Tombs of the Kings (more Deja-vu!). I drove this time and it took a while to get used to the Kiaās very low bite-pointā¦ had some embarrassing moments but we move on!
The Tombs of the Kings is another archaeological site a few miles north of where we are staying. There are many more intact structures and you can see where people would have been buried/entombed. Barry had a lot of fun getting into all the nooks and seemed to find this place a bit more interesting!
The sun was close to setting so we hopped in the car and I drove us to Sunset Point to watch it go down. Yet another deja-vu from six years ago and on of my favourites! Here is where we met my favourite cat, aptly named, Cypriot Church Cat. He followed us into the little church to explore and looked for attention from everyone sitting at the viewpoint. He even sat on someoneās lap for a while, so I took a family portrait for them.
The sunset was glorious, though very chilly as the wind had not given us a break! Barry was just in a t-shirt so we left as soon as the sun went down to seek shelter in the hotel room before leaving again to find dinner. Barry had suggested that there was a Chinese restaurant that had good reviews so we took the same coastal path in the dark and partook in its wares. It was a very cosy place with really attentive service and tasty food. I had the most delicious mango daiquiri and Barry sampled a local beer called Keo. We got a very firm handshake from the maĆ®tre dā for some reason - I thought I might lose my hand!
Itās been an interesting and productive first day in Cyprus. Tomorrow we travel East to the capital and further!
One word weather summary = breezier.
Worth noting, Morrisons sells Keo - our š