Onwards Journey

Couldn't believe we were holidaying in Cyprus again, exactly in the same month after a year!

Our flight to Paphos was at 13:35. We left home on time, drove to the Stansted airport without any glitch. (Well, before leaving home for the airport, I found my big toe had a small cut & was oozing blood - didn't know how, but whether I could swim in the pool next day remained to be seen.) 

Despite huge queues at the Security check-in, had to wait at the Departure Lounge for an hour or so for the flight boarding gate to be announced.

We were really looking forward to our holiday, to revisit the Mediterranean island country and to find out whether it was still the truly amazing place we discovered a year ago.

Front door, Villa Artemis

Reached Paphos around 19:45 local time. Cyprus follows Eastern European time, 2 hours ahead of London. As soon as we stepped out of the plane and started climbing down the steps onto the tarmac, it felt HOT! Clothes started sticking to the skin, it felt like I was back in Calcutta (India) in the summer heat.

We drove to our holiday stay Villa Artemis in our hired Honda Jazz after a sojourn in the local supermarket Papa Antoniou to pick up our essentials. This time we were staying pretty close to Kato Paphos (Lower Paphos, the more tourist-oriented part of this coastal city), which has some of the stores open even after 9pm. The city has most of the crowd pleasing fast-food chains - MacD, KFC, Pizza Hut. We even saw a Wagamama and Costa Coffee on our way. 

View from our balcony

The villa seemed to be very clean and well maintained. We found out later that, the villa owner has his own cleaning staff rather than depend on the villa agency. 

Loved the views of the sea from our bedroom balcony, the only image sifter was the sight of the ship MV Demetrios II, which ran aground off the Paphos Lighthouse in 1988 in heavy seas, during a voyage from Greece to Syria with a cargo of timber with no one being hurt. The story goes that, it would cost more to salvage the ship than it was worth. So, the wreck still remains on the rocks today, gradually rusting away. Amazing how a grounded ship is upright even after so many years - but heh time goes slowly in Cyprus.