When I used to go on holiday when I was younger, my Mum would give me a notebook and ask me to keep a diary of all the things I'd done. Usually I would last a day or two and then get bored and give up! However, when I went to Cyprus I found myself keeping notes (a bit different to a full diary - but I figured I could type it when I was home!) every day. Probably not the sort of thing a 21 year old should be doing, but never mind. Here's what we (Josh and I) got up to on holiday...
Sunday
I didn't start packing my bags until Sunday morning - very organised, I know! I had a mad rush trying to find some Coverse-style shoes; the shoes I found in Next were far too tight, TK Maxx had nothing I liked and eventually I ended up in Sports Direct. I found a nice pair of purple shoes - I've not had purple trainers since I was about 6, and I was quite excited to get a pair I really liked. They were only £10 (RRP £22.99 apparently).
We got the train straight from Leeds to Manchester Airport, and when we were checking in the woman asked if we had any liquids in our hand luggage. I thought it was 200ml you were allowed to take with you, but it turns out it's only 100ml. I'd made the mistake of telling Josh what I thought, though, and he took it as fact and didn't bother telling the woman about the cooling spray he had in his bag (3 for 2 offer when we bought two luggage locks). We went through to security and realised we would have to bin it, but I refused to waste it and walked straight back out to find someone who hadn't already checked in. I got a few funny looks - people are very suspicious, even though I clearly explained what had happened! - but eventually I found someone who was willing to take it. The man seemed reasonably grateful; the woman not so impressed... "I suppose I'll have to find the luggage key then!" Mardy.
Josh had asked for extra leg room on the aeroplane, and we ended up sat right by the door (I didn't have a seat in front of me, Josh did). I had a really good view out of the window and saw Manchester from the air. I didn't recognise anywhere else because the further we flew, the higher we were until you could just see fields and the odd patch of buildings. I didn't particularly need the toilet during the 4 hour 5 minute journey, and didn't fancy fighting my way down the aisle, until it occurred to me that I could have a wee in the air - something I've never done before.
We arrived after midnight, and there was a tiny duty-free shop. The only interesting thing I saw was a giant Kinder Egg "ornament" with 7 Kinder Surprises in. I wanted it, but Josh said I had to wait until we were going home (presumably hoping I'd forget... but I didn't, and I am now the proud owner of my own giant Kinder Egg!). It was 24 degrees outside, which was pretty scary considering the time of night, but the palm trees lining the car park were nice. We got on the coach, which was full by the time everyone else had got on. We stopped at four hotels - ours was the last one, and we were the only people left! The hotel seemed reasonably nice, but I wasn't that impressed with the room. I couldn't help but compare it to the rooms we'd stayed in in London a month earlier - the Malmaison (where we were upgraded due to a leaky sink!) and Novotel. It eventually "grew" on me though...
Monday
Our neighbour had recommended we visit a restaurant called Metaxas if we got chance - I expected it to be miles away from where we were staying, but I noticed a sign for it outside our window! We were overlooking a big open space which looked like it may get developed in the future, with other buildings around it, including The Elysium (where Rio Ferdinand recently stayed, apparently). Further in the distance we could see part of the Tombs of the Kings, to the left we could see a small bit of the sea and to the right we could see... KFC.
We decided to walk to the harbour down the beach path - I couldn't believe how hot it was, and we made sure we had plenty of sun lotion on. Of course I still got burned (later turned out I got second degree sunburn - blisters etc - and possibly a small amount of third degree sunburn!). We spotted some interesting plants and some lizards, which I got very excited about.
As we were walking down the path we met a Scottish man who was looking for wildlife - he'd spotted some yellow thistle which, being Scottish, he got very excited about! There were ridiculous numbers of snails gathered around the thistles too - obviously to keep away from the birds, but the numbers of them were unbelievable! He told us about the hooded crow too, which he was very interested in. Apparently there are some in Scotland, but they are quite uncommon.
We made it to the harbour and the first thing we saw was Paphos Castle. It's a fairly small, rectangular building which is clearly old but isn't particularly fancy like the castles we're used to in England. We went in and paid a small amount to look around it - it only takes 5 minutes to look around but it's interesting enough and has some good views. Afterwards we made our way along the harbour, but it's fairly tacky with lots of rubbish souvenir shops. We had a salad at a restaurant, where I noticed a fan with the name "Emily" on it - a fairly common fan brand, it turns out!
When we'd had enough we walked back to the hotel via the main roads, where we saw a catacomb. We went down and saw a pigeon nesting, and some lizards running around. There were lots of openings and stairways leading off into pitch black - I had a peep but was very scared, and Josh was just as much of a chicken!
We went out along the main road near the hotel and ate at a restaurant called San Marino. The portions of food are huge! I ate everything, of course, but it was a struggle... When we'd finished we walked past a Russian doll shop, where I decided I'd get a Winnie the Pooh set of 5 for my Mum, and I fell in love with a set of 10, the biggest of which is about 2" tall and the smallest is a few millimetres. We went back for both of them a few days later. Back at the hotel we had a wander around in the dark, and saw a huge beetle, lots of big ants and a cat.
Tuesday
Breakfast was fairly varied, although I soon got into a routine. There was cereal, meat and cheese, hot food, toast, bread and bready type foods. I did have a try of some of the more random options, but my main choice was a Coco Pops equivalent, followed by boiled eggs and pancakes or bread and cake with honey. The pancakes were on every other day - alternated with French toast. They were really delicious - it's so much nicer when you can enjoy someone else's pancakes and don't have to make them yourself!
We decided we'd have a fairly relaxing day, so we walked to the shop that arranged coach tours, booked trips to the Troodos mountains and Nicosia, and then went to play in the pool for a while. We were like two big children! None of this lilo nonsense for us. We sat on the deckchairs for a while - I made sure the parasol was covering me as much as possible! - and then we went to get ready to go and eat. We decided on Pizza Hut - we thought there was an "all you can eat" offer on salad and pizza, but it turned out to be one or the other. However, we were the only people there so the waiter decided to let us have both. We shared one bowl of salad and had half a pizza each, followed by chocolate brownie!
Josh insisted on going out somewhere else, so I went back to the hotel and slept for a while. Unfortunately once he was back I got no more rest, and he insisted we go to the harbour. I wasn't impressed - I had blisters from my shoes, and others from my sandals, but I walked with him anyway. We noticed another catacomb on the way - right near the first one we saw, only on the other side of the road. We saw fireworks as we headed towards the harbour, and lots of cats, which delighted Josh! Paphos Castle looked good in the dark (it was lit up, I'm not just being rude!), and we had a bit of a wander around the shops again, even though they weren't all that great. When we'd finished we walked back to the hotel down the beach path, but it was pitch black! It was quite creepy and it's definitely not something I would do again. I'm sure it was safe, but that's not the point... In the distance we could see the hotel, with the huge McDonald's and KFC logos lit up like Christmas trees - they really spoil the view! - and we went to sleep almost as soon as we got back.
Wednesday
Wednesday was another pancake day, so I had a lovely breakfast! We'd decided we'd go to the old market and then Paphos Mosaics, so we went back to the room and I took my top off ready to put sun lotion on. The cleaner knocked on the door. Josh hesitated to go and answer it, but told the cleaner just to hold on - which she didn't. She barged into the room, and I quickly tried to pull a sheet up to cover myself (I did have a bra on, but that's not the point!). She looked at us and asked, "You want me to clean room?" We said it was okay and that she could just do it tomorrow instead - but she began cleaning the bathroom anyway. When I heard the toilet flush, it suddenly occurred to us that neither of us had bothered flushing it all morning...
We got the bus straight to the market, and the driver was really funny - he kept making silly remarks over the tannoy system. We got off the bus and went straight to part of the market selling fruit. I made the mistake of trying a cherry - the man then tried to sell us €8 worth, but we'd agreed to €1 worth and Josh had asked for the two varieties to be mixed. When we realised what he was trying to sell us, we asked him to put some back - he threw lots of them back in a tantrum and the demanded €5 for the rest. We were eating cherries for quite a while after that...
The market was fairly boring generally - lots of souvenir shops aimed at tourists, and of course I do like souvenirs but so much of the stuff is just tacky and horrible! I did find a nice pashmina though, which proved to be extremely useful for the rest of the holiday. We had lunch in a small bakery a short walk from the market; we tried an olive roll (sausage roll with olives instead of sausage!) and a feta cheese pasty! We wandered around the area near the bakery, which was full of old steps, walls and archways, and then made our way towards the bus stop. On the way we spotted more cats, but for a change the cats were friendly and came running up to Josh for a fuss! He was really pleased to have met friendly cats, and it was nice to see people leave food and water out for them too.
We got off the bus at the harbour, bought some Kinder Joys from the supermarket and then walked to the Paphos Mosaics. I was quite excited to see these, but there were so many ruins and things to see that it actually got quite tedious. We spotted a black cat hiding under one of the walkways, and later we spotted another cat and her ginger kitten. They were very cute, but quite shy at first. We offered them water from a bottle lid and let them lick our crisp packet (we'd already finished the crisps unfortunately) and then we gave them some white chocolate from our last Kinder Joy. The cat got very friendly and jumped onto the bench beside us, but the kitten was still quite wary and on a few occasions he ran away and "miaowed" at his mum as if to say, "Come on will you, I want to go hoooome!" Eventually we left them alone, but we'd barely walked anywhere when some bratty child ran across and scared the two of them away into the grass. I hate parents who have no control over their children! We continued to walk around and saw the lighthouse and ampitheatre, where they were setting up for a performance, and then a bit further down some more ruins which were a bit more "complete" than the rest.
By the time we left the mosaics there were barely any other visitors - it had already closed by they obviously leave some of the exits open for people to get out. We wandered back to the harbour and went on the internet briefly to check our bank accounts. We had a lovely toasted baguette each, and then we went back to the hotel and I sat and wrote some postcards!
To be continued...
Sunday
I didn't start packing my bags until Sunday morning - very organised, I know! I had a mad rush trying to find some Coverse-style shoes; the shoes I found in Next were far too tight, TK Maxx had nothing I liked and eventually I ended up in Sports Direct. I found a nice pair of purple shoes - I've not had purple trainers since I was about 6, and I was quite excited to get a pair I really liked. They were only £10 (RRP £22.99 apparently).
We got the train straight from Leeds to Manchester Airport, and when we were checking in the woman asked if we had any liquids in our hand luggage. I thought it was 200ml you were allowed to take with you, but it turns out it's only 100ml. I'd made the mistake of telling Josh what I thought, though, and he took it as fact and didn't bother telling the woman about the cooling spray he had in his bag (3 for 2 offer when we bought two luggage locks). We went through to security and realised we would have to bin it, but I refused to waste it and walked straight back out to find someone who hadn't already checked in. I got a few funny looks - people are very suspicious, even though I clearly explained what had happened! - but eventually I found someone who was willing to take it. The man seemed reasonably grateful; the woman not so impressed... "I suppose I'll have to find the luggage key then!" Mardy.
Josh had asked for extra leg room on the aeroplane, and we ended up sat right by the door (I didn't have a seat in front of me, Josh did). I had a really good view out of the window and saw Manchester from the air. I didn't recognise anywhere else because the further we flew, the higher we were until you could just see fields and the odd patch of buildings. I didn't particularly need the toilet during the 4 hour 5 minute journey, and didn't fancy fighting my way down the aisle, until it occurred to me that I could have a wee in the air - something I've never done before.
We arrived after midnight, and there was a tiny duty-free shop. The only interesting thing I saw was a giant Kinder Egg "ornament" with 7 Kinder Surprises in. I wanted it, but Josh said I had to wait until we were going home (presumably hoping I'd forget... but I didn't, and I am now the proud owner of my own giant Kinder Egg!). It was 24 degrees outside, which was pretty scary considering the time of night, but the palm trees lining the car park were nice. We got on the coach, which was full by the time everyone else had got on. We stopped at four hotels - ours was the last one, and we were the only people left! The hotel seemed reasonably nice, but I wasn't that impressed with the room. I couldn't help but compare it to the rooms we'd stayed in in London a month earlier - the Malmaison (where we were upgraded due to a leaky sink!) and Novotel. It eventually "grew" on me though...
Monday
Our neighbour had recommended we visit a restaurant called Metaxas if we got chance - I expected it to be miles away from where we were staying, but I noticed a sign for it outside our window! We were overlooking a big open space which looked like it may get developed in the future, with other buildings around it, including The Elysium (where Rio Ferdinand recently stayed, apparently). Further in the distance we could see part of the Tombs of the Kings, to the left we could see a small bit of the sea and to the right we could see... KFC.
We decided to walk to the harbour down the beach path - I couldn't believe how hot it was, and we made sure we had plenty of sun lotion on. Of course I still got burned (later turned out I got second degree sunburn - blisters etc - and possibly a small amount of third degree sunburn!). We spotted some interesting plants and some lizards, which I got very excited about.
As we were walking down the path we met a Scottish man who was looking for wildlife - he'd spotted some yellow thistle which, being Scottish, he got very excited about! There were ridiculous numbers of snails gathered around the thistles too - obviously to keep away from the birds, but the numbers of them were unbelievable! He told us about the hooded crow too, which he was very interested in. Apparently there are some in Scotland, but they are quite uncommon.
We made it to the harbour and the first thing we saw was Paphos Castle. It's a fairly small, rectangular building which is clearly old but isn't particularly fancy like the castles we're used to in England. We went in and paid a small amount to look around it - it only takes 5 minutes to look around but it's interesting enough and has some good views. Afterwards we made our way along the harbour, but it's fairly tacky with lots of rubbish souvenir shops. We had a salad at a restaurant, where I noticed a fan with the name "Emily" on it - a fairly common fan brand, it turns out!
When we'd had enough we walked back to the hotel via the main roads, where we saw a catacomb. We went down and saw a pigeon nesting, and some lizards running around. There were lots of openings and stairways leading off into pitch black - I had a peep but was very scared, and Josh was just as much of a chicken!
We went out along the main road near the hotel and ate at a restaurant called San Marino. The portions of food are huge! I ate everything, of course, but it was a struggle... When we'd finished we walked past a Russian doll shop, where I decided I'd get a Winnie the Pooh set of 5 for my Mum, and I fell in love with a set of 10, the biggest of which is about 2" tall and the smallest is a few millimetres. We went back for both of them a few days later. Back at the hotel we had a wander around in the dark, and saw a huge beetle, lots of big ants and a cat.
Tuesday
Breakfast was fairly varied, although I soon got into a routine. There was cereal, meat and cheese, hot food, toast, bread and bready type foods. I did have a try of some of the more random options, but my main choice was a Coco Pops equivalent, followed by boiled eggs and pancakes or bread and cake with honey. The pancakes were on every other day - alternated with French toast. They were really delicious - it's so much nicer when you can enjoy someone else's pancakes and don't have to make them yourself!
We decided we'd have a fairly relaxing day, so we walked to the shop that arranged coach tours, booked trips to the Troodos mountains and Nicosia, and then went to play in the pool for a while. We were like two big children! None of this lilo nonsense for us. We sat on the deckchairs for a while - I made sure the parasol was covering me as much as possible! - and then we went to get ready to go and eat. We decided on Pizza Hut - we thought there was an "all you can eat" offer on salad and pizza, but it turned out to be one or the other. However, we were the only people there so the waiter decided to let us have both. We shared one bowl of salad and had half a pizza each, followed by chocolate brownie!
Josh insisted on going out somewhere else, so I went back to the hotel and slept for a while. Unfortunately once he was back I got no more rest, and he insisted we go to the harbour. I wasn't impressed - I had blisters from my shoes, and others from my sandals, but I walked with him anyway. We noticed another catacomb on the way - right near the first one we saw, only on the other side of the road. We saw fireworks as we headed towards the harbour, and lots of cats, which delighted Josh! Paphos Castle looked good in the dark (it was lit up, I'm not just being rude!), and we had a bit of a wander around the shops again, even though they weren't all that great. When we'd finished we walked back to the hotel down the beach path, but it was pitch black! It was quite creepy and it's definitely not something I would do again. I'm sure it was safe, but that's not the point... In the distance we could see the hotel, with the huge McDonald's and KFC logos lit up like Christmas trees - they really spoil the view! - and we went to sleep almost as soon as we got back.
Wednesday
Wednesday was another pancake day, so I had a lovely breakfast! We'd decided we'd go to the old market and then Paphos Mosaics, so we went back to the room and I took my top off ready to put sun lotion on. The cleaner knocked on the door. Josh hesitated to go and answer it, but told the cleaner just to hold on - which she didn't. She barged into the room, and I quickly tried to pull a sheet up to cover myself (I did have a bra on, but that's not the point!). She looked at us and asked, "You want me to clean room?" We said it was okay and that she could just do it tomorrow instead - but she began cleaning the bathroom anyway. When I heard the toilet flush, it suddenly occurred to us that neither of us had bothered flushing it all morning...
We got the bus straight to the market, and the driver was really funny - he kept making silly remarks over the tannoy system. We got off the bus and went straight to part of the market selling fruit. I made the mistake of trying a cherry - the man then tried to sell us €8 worth, but we'd agreed to €1 worth and Josh had asked for the two varieties to be mixed. When we realised what he was trying to sell us, we asked him to put some back - he threw lots of them back in a tantrum and the demanded €5 for the rest. We were eating cherries for quite a while after that...
The market was fairly boring generally - lots of souvenir shops aimed at tourists, and of course I do like souvenirs but so much of the stuff is just tacky and horrible! I did find a nice pashmina though, which proved to be extremely useful for the rest of the holiday. We had lunch in a small bakery a short walk from the market; we tried an olive roll (sausage roll with olives instead of sausage!) and a feta cheese pasty! We wandered around the area near the bakery, which was full of old steps, walls and archways, and then made our way towards the bus stop. On the way we spotted more cats, but for a change the cats were friendly and came running up to Josh for a fuss! He was really pleased to have met friendly cats, and it was nice to see people leave food and water out for them too.
We got off the bus at the harbour, bought some Kinder Joys from the supermarket and then walked to the Paphos Mosaics. I was quite excited to see these, but there were so many ruins and things to see that it actually got quite tedious. We spotted a black cat hiding under one of the walkways, and later we spotted another cat and her ginger kitten. They were very cute, but quite shy at first. We offered them water from a bottle lid and let them lick our crisp packet (we'd already finished the crisps unfortunately) and then we gave them some white chocolate from our last Kinder Joy. The cat got very friendly and jumped onto the bench beside us, but the kitten was still quite wary and on a few occasions he ran away and "miaowed" at his mum as if to say, "Come on will you, I want to go hoooome!" Eventually we left them alone, but we'd barely walked anywhere when some bratty child ran across and scared the two of them away into the grass. I hate parents who have no control over their children! We continued to walk around and saw the lighthouse and ampitheatre, where they were setting up for a performance, and then a bit further down some more ruins which were a bit more "complete" than the rest.
By the time we left the mosaics there were barely any other visitors - it had already closed by they obviously leave some of the exits open for people to get out. We wandered back to the harbour and went on the internet briefly to check our bank accounts. We had a lovely toasted baguette each, and then we went back to the hotel and I sat and wrote some postcards!
To be continued...