6/04/10 - Friday - Paphos, Take two, The Pope

6/04/10 - Friday - Paphos, Take two, The Pope

So, today I went to Paphos to see the last items on my list (current) of ancient ruins. There are more things I'd like to see, but I sort of ran out of days having to divide between sightseeing and family.

I didn't know exactly where everything was, so I went to the Tombs of the Kings site and asked there. The guard was a friendly sort. We chatted a bit about where I was from, his visit to Washington DC and how to get to the site. On the way back to the car, I found a 2€ coin (bonus!) in the parking lot.

After getting lost only once, I found the place, parked the car by the castle, and walked up.

Said castle

This place is another UNESCO world heritage site. The mosaics (discovered by accident in the 1960s) are amazing. Here, take a look for yourselves.
As always, these are thumbnails. Click for full versions.

The MOST famous mosaic of the first wine drinkers.

More scenery from the site.




After walking around for a few hours, I got hungry and stopped for lunch at the port.
This was my view as I slowly drank a frosty KEO and enjoyed a souvlaki.
I overheard that the Pope was going to visit and that the roads would be closed. I made it out of town with a few minutes to spare.

We had dinner @ cousin Julie's house. Swordfish kebabs with all the accouterments. As usual, it was delicious and the company outstanding.

That's all for now... Stay tuned...

5/29/10 - Saturday - Tombs of the Kings, Gonia tou Anastasi

5/29/10 - Saturday - Tombs of the Kings, Gonia tou Anastasi So, today I went to the Tombs of the Kings in Paphos (map). This is another UNESCO world heritage site, but then again, the whole city of Paphos is... I don't know what to say about this site other than, wow. A whole necropolis, carved out of solid rock, dating back 2400 years to explore. There are still ongoing excavations at the site. No kings were buried here (only local aristocrats), but the name comes from the magnificence of the tombs and location. I think it's better to post links than try to describe it. Link 1, LInk2.

Here are some of the several hundred pictures I took.
These are thumbnails. Click for larger versions.

This is either an ongoing excavation site, or protection from a zombie attack.

For dinner, we went to Gonia to Anastasi. This is advertised as a restaurant that serves meze prepared in the old way. It's one of the 10 restaurants that is part of the Vakis project which certifies authenticity as to food prep going back 100 years. As it also happens, it is located in Tseri (village dad was from). We had:
KEO Beer
Salad
Tahini
Talatouri
Tsakkistes
Sauteed black olives
Halloumi and Tomato
more KEO Beer - Dang, I missed the stuff
Grilled mushrooms
Loukanika
Sheftallies
Afelia
Pagidakia (Pork Spare ribs)
fried Potatoes
Still More KEO Beer
Zivania
Bourgouri
Home made Yogurt
Karaolous - grilled escargot
Quail on the grill
Souvlakia
Bourekia
Fruit
I'm sure I'm forgetting something, but those are the basics. I was adamant about going to this place, and I'm glad we did. The tastes were all familiar, but I still enjoyed the presentation, pacing and company. Bear in mind that the links are adequate representations of the recipes. As always, mine are better. As always, the company was great.

That's all for now... Stay tuned...

5/10/10 - Monday - Communing with the Ancients

5/10/10 - Communing with the Ancients

So, today was dedicated to visiting antiquities. Visited 3 sites. First I went to Dali. Here they're currently excavating. Talked to the museum director before heading in to get the lay of the land. He gave some good info.

This is the Idalion settlement, and it's from around 500 BC. Interesting story about the name – don't know if it's true or not, but that never stopped me before... So here it goes (per my understanding). When the Phoenicians landed and wanted to start a settlement, it was early in the evening. The group decided to walk inland until the sun came up and start their village there. Therefore, the name was derived from that action. Eida – I saw, ilion – the sun. So it became Eida-ilion -> Idalion. Ta daaa!

I asked about pictures, and was told not to take any of the current excavations, but overall panoramic shots would be OK. Walked the 1/2 K to the site.

Walked around and saw the works in progress

These are reproduction Plithari (mud blocks) that were used along with stones to build whatever was needed. This is a modern reproduction house made with the same materials. It is still offered as a building option today. Very ecologically friendly, low maintenance, built in insulation, you get the idea...

The supervisor saw me walking around and came over to chat me up. Asked where I was from, what I did, how I found out about the site, why I was there, etc. I was able to calm his paranoia a bit and he opened up and talked to me about the site and the work that was being done there.

We talked for 45 minutes on ancient life, uses of buildings, roads, missing artifacts and stones, how life was 2500 years ago. He started working the site as a laborer in the 1970s and saw progress in excavation, the museum, foreign universities coming to excavate, etc. The dude was a fountain of knowledge and I drank as much as he was willing to offer. This was a very positive experience for me. He directed me to walk around to the ancient olive press to see how things were done. I took my time, walking slowly, touching the walls every few steps. I was moved just being in the middle of all this and actually being able to touch the same stones that were sculpted 2500+ years ago.

These are pictures from previously excavated areas.

I believe this was used in the olive press to collect and channel the oil into the slot in front for storage or flow into another vessel.

Sign says olive mill/press for making oil.

Stones that were used as weights after the olives were crushed and put into satchels to extract the goodness.

Closer look of the manual labor.

After Idalion, I moved further down to visit Choirokoitia. This is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It is a Neolithic village first inhabited ~9000 years ago, and was abandoned ~6000 years ago. You can read up on it from the Wikipedia link. Excavations still take place, but in August/September by a French team. I don't know who/where.
Link, link, link

To the reconstructed huts

Said reconstructed huts

After Choirokoitia, I moved on to Kalavasos where there's another neolithic site. This one is called Tenta (after the tent that's covering it). Click this link for a thorough description of everything that went/goes on about it.
















Grabbed a sandwich and puttered around the area and found... wait for it... More Cappari!

Collected some, and headed back to the house for R&R.

Had some excellent Kleftiko for dinner and called it a night.

That's all for now... Stay tuned...