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...

6/03/10 - Thursday - Kykkos Monastery

6/03/10 - Thursday - Kykkos Monastery

So, today we went to The Holy, Royal and Stavropegic Monastery of Kykkos (official name and museum link). In brief, it was founded in the 11th century, partially destroyed, and rebuilt a few times. Click the museum link to read the story of its founding. It is the largest and wealthiest monastery in Cyprus. Click here for a cool interactive virtual tour of the museum. Some more pictures can be found here.

The bells of the monastery

Archbishop Makarios III (first president of the republic) is buried here. He begun his education and was later ordained deacon at the monastery. Additional info can also be found here. This massive statue of Makarios was moved here from Nicosia after it was deemed too large for its location (really it overwhelmed the building).

Yours truly standing next to it for scale purposes.

Makarios' tomb - yes, that's a live guard at attention.

On the other side of the statue is the Throni. Story goes this is where "the" icon of the Virgin Mary of Kykkos was located. Now it's a small outdoor worship area.
If you noticed, from the first statue picture, there are paths left and right of the statue. This is a circular walkway studded with little alcoves where mosaics of saints are in the process of being made. One of them is of Saint Evanthia. Here you can see Evanthia with Saint Evanthia.

More views from the circular walkway

After we were done with the outdoor activities, we went inside the monastry. Since I was wearing shorts, I had to dress the part. Here I am in the proscribed purple robe, appropriately solemn.


Pictures of mosaics inside the church courtyard. They were so many, I'm only posting a small sample. Let me know if you want to see more.

One of the services the monastery provides is a free bed for visitors to sleep in. So if you go up there and want to spend the night, you can at no cost. Mom said they went on a school trip and stayed overnight (back then it took many hours to get there). The class used the two rooms on the top left. Neat!
We came home, took the obligatory nap, cooked some baked Kolokasi and had a visit with Revekka (O) till late night.

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