a day of ruins

You may want to read Socs’ entry about our little road trip first.... and maybe stop there. She's got great pictures and a nice way of putting things in writing, what you will find below is a pathetic attempt to re-live the experience. You have been warned...

So we headed off from the hotel a bit later than planned and I managed to get on to the highway without causing a massive pileup nor leaving a trail of angry Cypriot drivers in my wake.

I was a bit apprehensive about getting lost in the middle of nowhere in a foreign country, but that was what this trip was all about. Good thing I had a pretty good navigator and we got to our first destination without any incidents.

First stop on our list was Kurion and it was huge! I think it was a village of some sort a very long time ago. There were ruins of houses, a theater, a gladiator’s house, public baths, a church or temple of some sort and a whole lot of ruin-like collection of stones. We got caught up in taking pictures of some little detail here and there, and the vast beauty of the place. I was really attracted to the bits and pieces of ruins lying wherever, the trees and the little yellow flowers growing in patches over the green expanse. Very nice. Socs found a nice view of the opposite cliff, and we spent a fair amount of time sitting on a stone in awe of the sight and feeling the cool breeze.

fallen


down to earth


unseen beauties


group pics


perfect place to sit down


Our initial plan (if you could call it that) was to eat at Paphos (our final and actual destination), but being too engrossed in the ruins of Kurion and me getting hungry every few hours, we decided to grab something to eat at a small restaurant nearby.

al fresco


Then we were off to the Sanctuary of Apollo. Now this place wasn’t as huge as Kurion but it was equally enthralling. The main attraction for me was the restored portion of the Temple of Apollo. It was massive, and to think it was just a corner of the original.

ooohhh


Temple of Apollo


Socs and me


We continued on to Aphrodite’s Rock, but before we got there I decided to pull over after a bend. It was a gut feel that it could be a nice place to stop and take pictures, besides I was tired of Socs seeing all the scenery while I was concentrating on driving hehehe. And I was right on the money. That particular stretch of road had some pretty scenic spots, and we stopped a couple of times to get a few more snapshots. (Unfortunately my camera's battery conked out before we left the Temple of Apollo, will get Socs' camera for some of the pics I took)

Paphos was a few more minutes away so we pushed on and we arrived at around quarter to five in the afternoon. In this part of the world, 5pm is a bit late. The sun was about to set (which was unfortunately uneventful) and most of the tourist attractions would’ve closed down. So we simply grabbed a bite (well I did, Socs just had coffee) and headed back. Although we weren't exactly able to do what we set out to do, we had a great day nonetheles.