Aphrodite's Rock --- Aphrodite, the Goddess of Love, was born on these one of these rocks (which one, I am not sure) and the other rocks were thrown by the gods to ward off the sea monsters. We stayed in a very nice villa at Aphrodite's Hill just up from here on the SW part of the island of Cyprus between Pafos to the west and Limassol to the east.
The Stavrovouni Monastery close to Larnaca -- Founded in the 4th Century by Saint Helena, Mother of Constantine I
The village of Kato Lefkara where lace is made -- the streets are very narrow as you will see in a following picture
Kato Lefkara was a very cute village on the hillside and it was one of, if not the best, village that we visited
Narrow streets, but well keep and lots of flowers
The doors were well keep and seemed to be special to the people of Kato Lefkara
What did I say? -- The streets are narrow in Kato Lefkara, and, yes, we did drive through this street -- made good use of the automatic fold-in side-view mirrors
A graveyard near Kato Lefkara
These Easter eggs were all over the place because we were there at Easter -- they keep them up for a week after the holiday -- this one was in the village of Vavla near Larnaca on the SE side of Cyprus
Recreated houses (on the original foundations) from the neolithic era 9,000 years ago. These were built on a hillside just south of the current town of Vavla in a place called Choirokotia
Nice day for a walk between 9K year old houses in the neolithic village of Choirokotia -- the hill up was steep, however
Another picture of the neolithic village south of Vavia
Nancy especially liked this view of the ruins because it shows the houses very well
Nancy took this picture of the three of us looking over the "rocks" at the neolithic village of Choirokotia
The streets were narrow in this 9,000 year old village
Good shot of Chuck and Marilyn enjoying the west coast of Cyprus with the Coral Bay beach in the background
Nancy and Tom enjoying the west coast of Cyprus
The road to the Avakos Gorge where we walked for a few miles following a stream
Nancy and Marilyn in the Gorge --- we saw a few wild goats, but not much else except for some pretty flowers and plants
Lara Bay is a protected area for turtles when they come ashore to lay their eggs -- you can't get to this place except over a long dirt road that tour buses don't travel
Chuck and Marilyn with Lara Bay in the background--
Tom and Nancy with the turtle bay (Lara Bay) in the background
The beautiful coastline on the west of the Akamas Peninsula
Going over the Pano Panagia mountains on the Akamas Peninsula on a dirt road with lots of bumps and twists and turns -- great views and Marilyn loved it!
The Baths of Aphrodite on the north shore of the Akamas Peninsula -- short walk from the parking and well worth it
Nan liked the house with the pool. This is in the hills south of Lakki on the Akamas Peninsula
The landscape in western Cyprus on the Akamas Peninsula -- Cyprus is very much like Southern California in landscape and climate
Looking north from the Akamas Peninsula -- nice area
This is in the Kato Pafos Roman ruins on the SW corner of Cyprus (the new city of Pafos has been built up around this area which was buried for many centuries until discovered in 1962
The Kato Pafos Roman ruins -- neat location from 320 BC -- earthquakes keep destroying things with the worse occuring in 365 BC
Nancy and Chuck checking the map while Marilyn looks around
Tom, doing his Sampson thing
Nancy taking a stroll
Roman pillars --- not the three people :-)
Marilyn looking over the ruins
There were four or five Roman villas at Kato Pafos and many had interesting mosaics on the floors
A Mosaic from the House of Thesrus
Another nice mosaic
Another Mosaic from the House of Thesrus
This mosaic is in the House of Dionynsus, I think
Another interesting mosaic from one of the Roman houses -- the House of Thesius
Chuck, Marilyn and Tom giving a performance at the Odeon
It's showtime
The Odeon at Kato Pafos
The Odeon to the left with a lighthouse (newer) in the background
Tom and Nancy at the Kato Pafos ruins
A Roman arch in the Kato Pafos ruins
Part of Kato Pafos Archeology Park Roman ruins
Sunset from the Aphrodite Rock area just east of Pafos and just down the hill from the villa in which we stayed (Aphrodite Hills)
Another view of the sunset
We had wine with us as we took in the wonderful sunset
Isn't this superb?
View from Old Kourion looking to the east -- those Romans knew a good location when they found one
The protected cover over the House of Eustolios (royal house) at Old Kourion just west of Limassol
Mosaic floor at Kourion
Tom looking over the Roman theatre at Old Kourion
Another view of the Roman theatre
The Basilica at Old Kourion
The Basilica at Old Kourion -- this was a very large structure in its day
The Basilica at Old Kourion
Tom had a comfortable seat at the Kourion Basilica
The view from Kourion -- those Romans knew good land value when they saw it
Showing the Roman baths at Kourion -- note the six-sided pool
The bath area in Old Kourion showing the hypocaust raised floor system used by the Romans. Heated air was forced under the floor this way
Tom giving Old Kourion a looking over
A Roman stadium near the Old Kourion ruins west of Limassol -- Ben Hur trained here (joke)
Can you picture the chariots racing around this two thousand years ago?
Part of the Sanctuary of Apollo Hylates near Kourion
Roman columns (Temple of Apollo)near Kourion west of Limassol
An old fort (Kalossi Castle) on the way to Limassol from the west
A church next to the Kalossi Castle
The Agia Napa Orthodox church in Limassol
One of the side streets in Limassol --- we had a nice walking tour around this southern seaside city -- this is an Islamic mosque
The flowers were in bloom in Limassol -- there is a shopping alley under the bougainvillea
A castle in Limassol that we walked around but didn't go inside
Nancy and Chuck checking out this guy in the park in Nicosia -- we had lunch in the park
Still don't know who he is
A plaque in the Parliment building showing the various influences found in Cyprus over the years
Our personal guide (Nancy asked for a tour very nicely) explaining the government in Cyprus
Our personal guide of the Parliment in Nicosia
The Parliment -- there is only one house in Cyprus -- the House of Representatives
Statue of Ghandi in Nicosia
A church in Nicosia
Nicosia looking north across the Green Line and into the Turkish side
A view looking north in the divided capital city of Nicosia. Note the Turkish flags painted on the hills up north
A panoramic of the capital city of Nicosia. It is a divided city with the Green Line down the middle from west to east. The Turkish part of Cyprus is to the north and the Republic (Greek) side is the south
This is the Panagia tis Podythou Byzantine Church in the town of Sinaoros in the Troodos mountains -- it dates from 1502. We got a good map and directions from a great visitors center in Pano Platres just as we entered the Troodos mountains from the south
Another view of Podythou. Note that there is a church built inside an outer protective church building
Byzantine church Theotokos/Archangelos originally built by a single family -- the door is only about four feet high
This is the Agios Nikolaos tis Stegis Church way off the beaten path in the Troodos
Another view of the Agios Nikolaos Church
We ate a picnic lunch behind the Agios Nikolaos church
The Byzantine church Agios Ioannis Lampadistis in the town of Kalopanagiotis
The courtyard of the Byzantine church Agios Ioannis Lampadistis -- note the priest reading the newspaper
The hillside town of Kalopanogiotis in the Troodos mountains -- near a Byzantine church that we visited
Another shot of Kalopanogiotis
The Tomb of the Kings in Pafos -- No kings actually buried here (just high ranking and rich officials) Nancy is giving us the gouge about the place
Another good tomb
Part of the Tomb of the Kings in Pafos -- these date from the 4th century BC
Tom has his eye on the long one on the left
Come on out Chuck, you can't stay here
Chuck and Nancy have picked out a good tomb --- for whose use?
Part of the Tomb of the Kings in Pafos -- these date from the 4th century BC
Chuck checking out one of the tombs
Nancy coming out of one of the tombs
Part of the Tomb of the Kings in Pafos -- these date from the 4th century BC
The old market in Pafos with Nancy checking the wares (with her hat on). Marilyn shopped here while the rest of us went to the tombs
The villa where we stayed looking from its backyard patio porch
Tom on the villa patio with a tall cool one in his hand
Practice golf hole just by the villa --- the villa sits on a great championship course -- some of the holes are WILD. Dave and Tom played nine holes and Chuck went along for the ride -- what a ride!
Dez getting in some good book reading on the patio
It's soup!! Liz and Gil at the stove
Dez is an avid reader ..... as is Marilyn
The girls doing something neat in the kitchen
The sitting room in the villa
David and Liz cooking something up in the kitchen
Marilyn was the chief toast cook. :-)
We consumed lots of good beer while at the villa -- Dez, Chuck, David and Tom
The Cyprus "gang" -- Tom, Dave, Dez, Liz, Gil, Marilyn and Chuck (Nancy was taking the picture)
Our Brit friends (Liz, Gil, Dave,and Dez). Dave and Gil were so kind to invite us to stay in their Villa while in Cyprus. Dave is Chuck's first cousin.
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