A Historical Weekend: Limassol and Paphos

Posted by Kim Miller on Jun 13, 2011 | 0 comments

This weekend was our first long excursion. All of the GLS students piled onto a tour bus and set out for Limassol. We stopped at several different places along the way, including Paphos, and learned so much in such a little bit of time.

Our first stop was Kolossi Castle, which wasn’t a castle at all. It was a stronghold, built centuries ago.

It was a giant fortress, and had a very eerie feeling inside. There were multiple levels, and a spiral staircase made out of stone that was incredibly difficult to maneuver, but the view from the top was just incredible and well-worth the trek up. The “rooms” inside were mostly empty, with small seating areas carved into the walls so you could look outside.

There were vineyards here where they made Commanderia, which is a drink that is native to Cyprus. It is a very sweet dessert wine made from what are essentially raisins. Two types of grapes that are also native to Cyprus, Xynisteri and Mavros, are left on the vine until they are overripe, then laid out in the sun to further increase their sugar content. While I have not personally tried the drink, others have and commented on how very sweet it was.

Our next stop on the journey was the Kourion Amphitheater. Now this place was truly incredible. There were excavated ruins all over the place that had been peoples’ homes and baths.

The land on the beach is protected from being built on because they are still excavating and discovering more and more ruins, which I think is astounding. It’s unreal that so much has been uncovered and learned from ruins and the analysis of them, but new sites are being excavated and new items being evaluated all the time. We’re constantly learning about ancient lives and how the world functioned without the internet or indoor plumbing.

 

This was also our first view of the beach since we’ve arrived… And I must say, it was breathtaking. I actually might not have minded taking a bath and looking out over the beautiful cerulean waters with that fantastic breeze we had going on.

 

This is the actual Amphitheater within the city of Kourion. It was mostly used for gladiator battles, but today is used to host cultural events such as plays and concerts.

Our third stop of the morning was at Petra tou Romiou, or “Rock of the Greek,” which is the birthplace of Aphrodite.  Absolutely no photograph could do the beauty of this place justice. The water was so blue, and the view from the ledge where we stopped to take pictures was spectacular.

And so soon as he had cut off the members with flint and cast them from the land into the surging sea, they were swept away over the main a long time: and a white foam spread around them from the immortal flesh, and in it there grew a maiden…and came forth an awful and lovely goddess, and grass grew up about her beneath her shapely feet. Her gods and men call Aphrodite…because she grew amid the foam. Theogony, 185 -200

The line of three rocks in the background of the picture are where mythology tells us that Aphrodite rose from the sea. There is a legend that says if you swim around the rock, you will be blessed with eternal beauty, however the area is not the safest to swim in and attempting to fulfill the legend is discouraged by the locals. My only regret here is that we did not get closer to the rock. I wish we could have gone down to the beach to at least have stood near it, instead of taking photographs from so far away, although the view was spectacular.

After a brief lunch period, we made our way to the final tourist destination of the day: The Paphos Mosaics. These mosaics are some of the most beautiful in the world, and were created over 16 centuries ago, and are still being excavated and prepared for public viewing.

It blew me away how intricate the designs were in these mosaics. The time and effort spent to create them is probably more than the time and effort we take to do most things in our own lives. There were so many of them in the House of Dionysus, which is the one we visited, and there were even more that were being cleaned and prepared for viewing, not to mention that there were more mosaics in the houses of Theseus and Aion, which we did not have time to see.

The rest of our weekend was spent lounging on the beach and exploring the nightlife of Limassol. It’s not very different from the nightlife anywhere else, though the beaches were beautiful. The water just so blue and crystal clear, so very unlike the beaches I am used to in America.

After the weekend was over, we all boarded the bus again and headed out to Lefkara, which is a village nestled into the Troodos mountains. After a nauseating bus ride, we arrived. The village is famous for their lace and silver filigree work, and we were not disappointed by the wares here. The entire city looked like a postcard. There were houses with bright blue roofs and shutters, cobblestone streets and window boxes overflowing with bright flowers. The people were friendly enough, but since we came on a Sunday and during a holiday and around the time of the daily siesta, the streets were dead. We did enjoy walking around and taking photos, though, and of course admiring the lefkaritika and silver pieces.

Now that our weekend has come to an end, we are back in Nicosia and ready toreally dive head-first into this production. As always, I am looking forward to what opportunities await me on this trip!