The best of Cyprus, like Greece, great wines, museums and archaeology.
Wonderful Wines
We had a wine tasting at the Wine Museum. The wine museum had a video of stunning slides, plus straight-forward, but illuminating, stories about wine through the ages. Originally wine was stored in clay pots underground, with pointed bottoms to collect the unwanted debris of skins called the lees. (Getting rid of the lees is one reason for decanting or taking wine out of the bottle and leaving in a flask, nowadays.)
Cyprus has a wine trail, numerous wineries open to the public, offering tastings for a small fee. The famous wine of Cyprus, Kommanderia, is named after the military commanders.
From the forts which you see around the coast, are a series of archaeological areas. Near Paphos, the small seaside town where we flew in, are the so called tombs of the kings. These ancient, king-size rock cut tombs, a short flight of steep steps down to an arched and sometimes open to the air area surrounded by one two or three niches which once held bodies and bones. No kings were around at the dates of these tombs. So I think of them as king-size.
This was free. You just register for a ticket. At the entrance are a small number of gifts. Books. And jewellery in the local style, rings covered with cloth. Great idea. I have some old rings whose tops are no longer shiny or of interest. I could cover them with cloth to match an outfit or co-ordinate. Inexpensive, as jewellery goes. About ten Euros.
Coffee - Cypriot
Cypriot coffee you might know of as Greek coffee or Turkish coffee. If you have eaten and drunk coffee in Greek, Turkish or Cypriot restaurants in those countries or London, England, or elsewhere, you will be familiar with the heavy grounds and great flavour of the coffee which can come ready sugared or half sugared or with no sugar.
You find the famous worldwide coffee brands everywhere. Starbucks. Caffe Nero. The local version is called Cafe Island, with ecological actions and ideas at the centre of their marketing.
If you are not into alcohol or coffee, you can try Pomegranate wine.
Chris N Tsolakis, owner of the family business, the Rose Factory, near Rodon Hotel, Agros Village, Cyprus. The factory makes rose liqueur, rose tea, and rose cosmetics and more. Photo by Angela Lansbury.
Marvelous Mezze
If you can't decide what to eat, opt for mezze, a mixture, a mini buffet. On our first evening in the large city of Limassol, further south east along the coast, we had a mezze. After the first course of hummous, taramasalata, beetroot, bread, yogurt dip (tahini), olives, I was already full and thought, that was a good, tasty filling meal. But that was just starters! The main course was grilled meat, kebabs, sausages and British style thick chips.
In the tourist places everyone speaks English, as well as other languages. Cypriots in the tourist industry are polyglots. When it comes to the main Europeans languages, Greek, English, German, French, sometimes some Spanish.
What else, apart from speaking good English, is left over from the British days? An English enclave marked on the map. Lots of UK visitors and hence the locals speaking English. Also, they drive on the same side of the road. You see Marks & Spencer shops in Paphos.
Limassol in the centre and coastal promenade road is full of outlet stores. Big name brands. Also seconds and second hand stores, and even charity shops.
I've left to the last what's not to like. Only fair to warn you what to expect and how best to cope.
Mosquitos
More than the UK, more than Singapore, where the government organizes and enforces fogging around major public buildings and private condos once or twice a week according the number of cases of malaria and dengue fever.
We took spray-on Deet. And Stingoes (sting goes) which we had to order in bulk from Australia or New Zealand.
In Limassol we had so many insects and I had so many bites that I got up in the middle of the night and put on my Mosiquard high neck shirt, my face covering Outdoor hat, and my hiking trousers and thick socks. What I need is a roomy onesie in mosquito-proof fabric, or pyjamas with tight elastic at the wrists and ankles, insect-proof socks, maybe an insect-proof sleeping bag. I am sure a camping shop somewhere has something suitable. I don't want to set up a tent or mosquito net inside a hotel bedroom. Though some people travel with mosquito nets.
Toilets and Plumbing
I vividly recall going up to the American representative of New York at the World Travel Market trade show in London, when I was a London based very active travel writer. I asked her, "What would you say to a tourist who said, I don't want to go to New York or the USA. It has no history. I'd rather go to Greece."
She glared at me and replied loudly and angrily, "Greece! Two thousand years of democracy - and they still can't get the plumbing right!" She meant, in New York, and America, the UK and Europe, and most of the world, you can flush the toilet paper down the toilets.
In Cyprus, like Greece, the pipes are thin, narrow. They quickly clog up. Signs above toilets warn you that you must throw the toilet paper in the bin beside the toilet.
Yuck. Where does that smelly stuff go?
Could an American billionaire set up a business installing large pipes and sewage systems in all the modern buildings being built in Paphos and elsewhere? Or would that simply pollute the sea? Maybe there's a business opportunity for somebody.
So now you know. What is good about Greece and Cyprus? Wine, food and archaeology are good. Mosquitos and plumbing need some prevention or precautions.
After the plumbing and pee, another P, power cuts. However, the hotels have their own emergency generators. When the garage could not give us petrol because the power went off the pump, grandad called a younger man who went to start the generator and we were away again. Some of the garages (petrol stations) had assistants who put the petrol in your tank and wiped your vehicle's windscreen. Like stepping back in time, sometimes bad, sometimes good.
Recommended - tips
5 star
Casa Mespilea, Paphos, Greece. Highly recommended.
Caffe Nero, great.
5 star
Agrovino Lofou Studios, Cyprus.
The huge rustic bedroom contained a fully equipped kitchen and washing machine. In the restaurant, the jolly owner played the bazooki. Highly recommended. He knows the owner of the Wine Museum, who often dines here.
Wine Museum, Cyprus. Highly recommended. The owner is also a pianist, composer and singer, who you can see singing on YouTube.
One star/Not rated
Eins, Limassol.
Advantages
1 Fully equipped kitchen.
2 Newly decorated. Red grouting in shower room.
3 Others loved it.
4 Padded hanging wall pillows to protect your head
5 We agreed the location was great.,
Disadvantages
We left after one night, although we had paid for two, because of
1 mosquitos, probably some repellent somewhere in the large number of kitchen items in the under sink drawer. The rooms needed insect netting on windows, instructions to the cleaner not to leave windows open letting in insects, and English language catalogue of sprays listed alphabetically and place in a numbered box grid so you could find a fly spray.
2 noise from people leaving local bars, all through the early hours of the morning, on Friday night. We reckoned Saturday would be worse.
3 Lack of parking and no pull in. We created a traffic jam in the narrow street with people honking when we stopped to unload and next day to put suitcases into our car.
4 Claustrophobic and depressing View of back alley wall. Either ask the alley owner to paint the wall, or install flower pots, or install blinds with a fake outside view
5 Building site and scaffolding alongside and opposite. Alarmed me. Felt unsafe.
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Agrovino Lofou Studios,
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