My blog post about Paphos will be huge. The reason is simple: it was my favourite destination on this trip. Here are the sights I visited during the two days I was there.
Petra tou Roumiou (aka Aphrodite’s Rock)
Even before reaching Paphos (we drove from Ayia Napa, past Larnaca and past Limassol which I had visited previously on the trip), you drive through one of the most beautiful landscapes with amazing views. Mountains on the left and the right and straight ahead you’ll see the sea.
As any self-respecting tourist would do we made a quick pit-stop to take a picture of Petra tou Roumiou (aka Aphrodite’s Rock). According to the legend, Aphrodite was born on this rock, hence the name. (Side note, on my trip to Cyprus in 2015 I took much better (SUNSET!) pictures of this place which I will share in a future post).
Pyramos Hotel
In Paphos, my friend and I stayed in Pyramos Hotel which is a great hotel in the middle of Kato Paphos. You can literally explore the whole area on foot. You can go to the harbour and you can go shopping in the King’s Avenue Mall. In addition, all the main sights are reachable on foot. If you want to go for nice dinner and drinks, the better bars and restaurants are slightly further away. Luckily, I was meeting friends of my friend there and they showed us around. Great bars to check out are Muse, Boulevard Bistro Wine Bar and Suite 48 (which is especially nice at sunset). Follow this advice guys, because this gives you a way out of the touristy city centre.
How gorgeous does this Chinese restaurant look? It was close to our hotel and I’m sad we didn’t get to check it out because I’m enamored by the looks of the place!
Ayia Kyriaki Chrysopolitissa
Right next to the hotel is a church surrounded by beautiful ruins. The church was built in the 12th century over the ruins of the largest Early Byzantine basilica on the island. It’s dedicated to… listen to this: Our Lady of the Golden Pomegranate. It’s a gorgeous site, and did I mention it’s free?
They also threw in some beautiful mosaics, just for good measure!
I don’t know if you can read the sign, but this is the most random tidbit about an item I have ever heard. This white pole, is the pole against which St. Paul was flogged by Romans for preaching Christianity. There you go, nice to know right?
Kato Paphos Archaeological Park
This is a UNESCO Heritage listed site. My friend and I didn’t really think about going to this place when we arrived; but we had some time to spare so we decided to pay it a visit. And I’m super happy we did!
The park includes sites and monuments from prehistoric times to the Middle Ages, but most remains date to the Roman period. The ruins are nice, but you can find Roman ruins in many other locations. What you will not find are mosaics which are as impressive and as intact as here (if there are mosaics like there out this, please let me know because I haven’t found them yet; Kourion for example has nothing compared to this). Most of the mosaics show Roman stories which I know very well having studied Latin in High School. Such an exciting UNESCO site!
Tombs of the Kings
This site is also UNESCO Heritage listed, but I didn’t find it as impressive as the mosaics in Kato Paphos Archeological Park. It seems that there are some ruins I like and some I don’t like, Tombs of the Kings was the example of ruins I’m not a fan of. I haven’t yet decided what my criteria are, right now I base my opinion on a gut feeling when I walk around an area.
The name of the place has been made up because of the magnificence of the tombs not because kings were buried there. It was “just” a burial site for high officials. The underground tombs were built in the 4th century BC and they were decorated with Doric pillars (all this information comes from the UNESCO website).
Conclusion
Paphos was my highlight of the Cyprus trip, not only because I met very nice people through a friend of mine, but also because I like the atmosphere of the city and the fact that such beautiful sites are in the middle of city centre. If you’ve read more of my blog posts, you should know by now that I like smaller cities. Paphos is one of those smaller cities. During our stay in Paphos we made a day trip through the Akamas Peninsula which I will describe in the next post.
