I have been to... Cyprus

 As I seem to be posting three times a week now, I may as well put up more of the holiday snaps from last year. Next stop after Haifa was Cyprus. Never been there before either and was excited to visit. Dad was still in the RAF when the nationalist rebellion was going on and he said they were all terrified of being sent to Cyprus. Anyway, he didn't get posted there so all was well.

We docked in Limassol, looking bleached white from the sea.

And immediately set off to Paphos. The landscape remined me a lot of Crete. I suppose they share similar geology. Not a nice place to make a parachute landing anyway.

The Necropolis of Kings at Paphos was pretty amazing. This tomb has been restored and is missing its roof (as so many are).

The better preserved ones are still underground.

The coast was very barren and beautful.

This tomb is rather less restored but the stone columns have survived amazingly well considering their age.

This is a Roman burial chamber carved into one of the old pre-Roman tombs.

The British used the whole site as a stone quarry, using prisoners sentenced to hard labour to mine the stone.

Nearby was a large Roman site featuring the House of Dionysos. Built in the 2nd Century and destroyed (by an earthquake) in the 4th. Stunning mosaics survived.

As was common in the Eastern Empire, the script was Greek not Latin.

I tipped this hunting scene on its side to get the whole thing in.

There was also the remains of a Roman town around the site.

A well preserved Odeon/Ampitheatre.

There were a lot of Carob trees around with huge carob pods. Evidently very popular in Ancient times.

The Rock of Aphrodite. Supposedly Aphrodites birthplace where Gaia asked Cronos to mutilate Uranus and release her by throwing his severed 'private parts' into the Ocean. Ouch!

Kolossi Castle. An old Crusader stronghold on the outskirts of Limassol.

As we only had a few hours here, it was then back to the ship. Tbh I'd have preferred to spend a couple of days here and a couple of days less in Egypt and Israel.

I'm always a bit nervous of photographing Greek military installations and equipment given their propensity to throw people in prison for it, but here is a nice Frigate in the harbour. (yes I know Cyprus isn't Greece, but this is the Greek bit). 

And off we went followed by a glorious sunset. It was about 29 degrees, unseasonably warm for November.

What an interesting place and worthy of a return trip.