Paphos, Cyprus - Housesit
We couldn’t quite believe it when we secured a late housesit for 2 weeks in Paphos, Cyprus - the legendary birthplace of Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of love!
We had just 2 days back in Barcelona after our return from Mallorca before heading off to Cyprus for Dario, Annely and Frankie - the Bali rescue little man who we would be spending our time with. And what a fantastic time it has turned out to be aswell.
Frankie loves everything and goes with us everywhere. He hikes mountains, skips over bolders like a mountain goat and sit quietly getting his breath back when we sit in a restaurant or cafe on the way home. Dario and Annely leant us their car so we went a bit crazy seeing everything we could on this small island.
Our initial cultural adventures took us to Aphrodites Rock. A sea stack off the east coast of Cyprus, reportedly it represents Aphrodites birthplace. The beautiful Pissouri beach was our coffee stop after visiting the rock and our first swim in the warm Mediterranean water. We then went to explore the Avakas Gorge which was beautiful and our first big walk with Frankie the dog, but he loved it jumping over boulders and chasing around after the lizards (always to fast for him!).
Having tested the ‘car travel’ status with Frankie we then went a longer car trip, to Latsi on the north coast and did a big and hot walk on the Aphrodite Nature Trail. Lovely walk and great views of the ocean and the Blue Lagoon below but very hot and a bit exposed for walking in the heat of the day.
Interspersed with rest days when we would visit local historic sites like the Tombs of the Kings, preserved tombs since the 12th century.
The next day we then set off again, this time up into the mountains. It was cooler and we did a lovely waterfall walk on the Caledonian Waterfall Trail.
Once we had finished the most amazing sit ever, we still had three days of ‘free travel’ time before heading off to meet friends in Italy.
Our homeowners incredibly offered us the use of the car for this time so we headed off towards Nicosia to see if we may cross the border into the Turkish occupied north side of the island for a day or two. Having parked up the car on the Cyprus side we walked over the pedestrian border control into Turkey and then got a bus for a couple of euro to Kyrenia (30 mins bus ride). It was so easy and so much fun at the same time. We explored Kyrenia castle and settled in for a fabulous harbour front fish dinner.
The next day, we reversed our travels and border crossing, picked up the car again and headed across the middle of the island towards Mount Troodos. Unbelievably a ski area in winter at 2200m+ high but for us still a hot day but still cooler than being down on the coast. We had a lovely little cabin pre booked and the next day headed off to hike the Artemis Nature Trail.
Seems like the holiday time is really just starting as we head from here to Italy to the long awaited reunion with Dean and Lauren from Perth.