Cyprus - Halloumi to introduce myself

I’m starting one of my A-Z writing challenges today to get the creative juices flowing. The way this challenge works is I pop the ingredients into a blender - motivation, inspiration, creativity, spinach, maybe some kale for encouragement and disappointment – whip it up, and a delicious and nutritious glass of blog post will emerge every single day (sorry, my brain is like a drunk baby). 

The idea is to write up to 500 words on a different topic on 26 occasions, not necessarily on successive days, and each topic will be based on that letter of the alphabet. 

This challenge will mostly (maybe) be about countries of the world, maybe e-travelling to its places and cities, review things here and there, and maybe venture into ancient civilisations that inhabited those countries - I shall see how it goes. I don’t have to have been to the country either, or indeed the ancient civilisation, which is good, because, well, you know, I’m a bit late for that.

First on my world traveller list is Cyprus. Straight up, I’ve skipped A and B, so that’s great, but that’s okay, I’ll circle back. Nobody said anything about the alphabet having to be in order. I chose Cyprus because it's a (like) Greek island. And that’s absolutely enough reason. 

Where is Cyprus? Well, that’s an excellent and worthy question, and quite rightly something you may wish to know before jumping on a plane to go there, or indeed before you drop a Google maps pin right on top of it. Let’s find out together. 

Cyprus is a tiny island country entrenched deep in the Mediterranean Sea, actually more in the Agean Sea, surrounded by - loosely - Greece, Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Israel and Egypt, and at a stretch, Tunisia, Bulgaria and Italy. All undeniably charming neighbours who all get along all of the time and don’t participate in civil wars with each other ever. 

Cyprus is well known, at least in my head, as one of a throng of sun-drenched islands in the Mediterranean, replete with white sand, turquoise water and ancient ruins.

Disregarding all practical and well-intentioned recommendations of trusted, complete strangers (Google - I consulted Google) who had maybe potentially or at the very least hypothetically but not necessarily literally travelled to Cyprus, I did ignore  the very handsome coastline as a first destination and instead dropped my first Google maps pin fairly haphazardly into a backstreet behind a bar in downtown Nicosia, the country capital and largest city, containing 1.2 million Cypriots.

If you listen to DFAT’s SmartTraveller, this was doubtless my first red flag, as y’all need to watch out for bag-snatching, pickpocketing and petty theft in tourist areas in Cyprus. 

But it’s all good SmartTraveller, because like all smart travellers, the first thing I did - after accepting a drink from a backstreet boy stranger called Yiorgos who appeared from a dark corner of the backstreet and kindly offered to carry my backpack containing my whole identity, and also offered to get me some money out of my bank account if I gave him my pin number - so thoughtful! - was to get myself out of that backstreet, because sometimes backstreets are not safe, even when they look safe with kind and helpful strangers like Yoirgos. 

So let’s see what’s going on in Cyprus.

You can not possibly journey to ancient terrains and not visit an active archaeological dig. I think they brand your passport at the airport that says as much. So, rules being rules, I Google maps pin dropped at Kato Paphos Archaeological Park. 

Built likely around the end of the 4^th century B.C. (2,407 years ago), its significant remains discovered include four large and elaborately decorated Roman villas with beautiful mosaic floors (the Pathos Mosaics) and also a necropolis; a series of underground tombs carved out of solid rock, known as the Tombs of the Kings. There are no kings buried there, but the name gives a clue to its grandiosity.

A Pathos mosaic

Next up I Google maps pinned at Aphrodite’s Rock, a mass of rocks in the shallow sea and is famous as the birthplace of the Ancient Greek goddess of love. Cyprus might be small, but it is historically and mythically mighty. 

According to Greek mythology, Aphrodite emerged from the waters at the sacred site and presumably headed into town to meet up with her other goddess single ladies for a night on the mosaic tiles. The beach looks a little pebbly but the waters are turquoise and the sand is white and no wonder she alighted from there.  

Aphrodite's Rock

How pretty is Cyprus (photo courtesy of
the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs SmartTraveller website).
I mean, those coastal curves.

After a big day of touristing, it's time to tourist at the beach. Nissi Beach is one of the best in Cyprus according to The Googles. We got ourselves white sand and clear waters until it meets the ocean in a blur of deep azure. 

You’ll likely have to battle the mass of tourists, so best to fly there during a pandemic. The water can reach 29 or 30 celsius (!!), and the Cyprus Sea is very salty, so you can just float around and ease your feeble and fatigued tourists muscles.

You can also explore ancient hiking trails – my ancient spidey senses are telling me you’ll trip over an ancient relic or two, or visit tiny villages containing cafes and yummy food - Yasou means ‘greeting’ or ‘welcome’ to help you on your way.

Yasou!