A week in Paphos, Cyprus

Paphos was the first time I travelled on a plane; my family and I spent a week in the city and it’s still one of my favourite holidays to date., so I thought I’d talk about about my experience, from dealing with the heat to flying for the first time and home sickness.

A week in Pahpos, Cyprus

We travelled from London to Paphos back in October of 2005 during my half term from college. I knew it would be hot but hadn’t anticipated just how hot it would be! We went from a rainy 10°C to a whopping 30°C in the midday sun, it was scorching!

I have farily pale skin and honestly need to use factor 50 suncream if we have a hot day in the UK, so you can imagine how unbearable I found the midday sun… Lets just say suncream and a baseball cap were life savers on this trip!

Accommodation

My dad’s work colleague had kindly rented us his apartment for the week which easily sleeps four. I shared the main bedroom with my sister our parents opted for the bed in the sitting room, so they could enjoy the use of the balcony.

There was a grocery store a 10 minute walk away which sold a range of items from bathing suits to groceries. They also had Heinz spaghetti (which I was very pleased about). 😅

Sightseeing in and around Paphos

As this was our first time flying abroad on holiday, I wasn’t sure what to expect from the flight but ended up throughougly enjoying the experience. even if I did spend most of the plane journeys asleep. My parents on the other hand hated it, especially landing.

There are so many things to see and do in and around Paphos, and my dad’s colleague had kindly left out some brochures for us to look through. Paphos zoo and the turtle sanctury caught my eye! Although we never did find the latter, but came across a cafe in an abandoned quarry on our travels.

Our taxi driver gave us a few recommendations too. Honestly I wish I could remember the taxi firm he worked for(!), as he was so attentive and friendly that we booked him throughout our holiday, for journeys to and from our apartment. For longer journeys we opted to hire a car.

Historic sites

One of the things I loved about Paphos was the architecture. The buildings were stunning! Even the ancient ruins where you could only imagine how life was like for the people who lived there.

We visited two archaeological sites on our holiday, the Kato Paphos Archaeological Park and the Agios Neophytos Monastery. Unfortunately I didn’t enjoy them as much as I hoped due to the heat, so spent a lot of my time in the shader areas. 🙁 There were plenty within the monastery but shade was limited around the archaeological site. So make sure you take plenty of water with you!

Both sites were breathtaking and offered some stunning views. The structures themselves stood the test of time and I enjoyed the tranquilty of both sites. Especially the monastery.

Adonis Baths Water Falls was another tranquil place we stumbled upon on our holiday. Unfortunately for me that was also the day I suffered from heat stroke! The sun and I don’t mix well at all.

We found out that you could paddle or bathe in the baths if you wanted to. But only after we left, lol. To be honest we didn’t see anyone in the baths while we were there.

The baths had a lovely cafe with wonderful sea views. I was intrigued by a cross on one of the rocks I could see in the distance.

Old town and the market

This was one of the places our taxi driver recommended and I’m very glad he did. I love old markets towns, you can always find unique items to buy and the buildings just seen more picturesque.

My mum came home with an Egyptian cotton bread basket which she’s been using over the Christmas period.  As we always have bread rolls as part of our Boxing Day lunch.

The harbour

I think the harbour was the place we visited most on our holiday but for good reason. It’s a great place to eat, drink or shop for souvenirs and has plenty of choice for each. Yes it can get a little too touristy but if you ignore the masses of people trying to sell you things, or pull you into their restaurants(!), it’s a lovely walk with wonderful sea views.

One of my favourite restaurants was the pelican which even had a real life pelican as it’s mascot. It was quite happily strolling up and down the harbourside near the restaurant.

Paphos Zoo

We went to Paphos (Pafos) zoo where dad and I had the opportunity to hold an albino boa constrictor. Originally I planned to hold it by myself but it was too heavy for one person. Thankfully my dad agreed to hold her with me for the photo.

The Hornbill bird at the zoo amazed my sister, as it’s the species of Zazu in The Lion King. She spent ages taking photos and a video of it. It was funny to watch it bounce around it’s enclosure.

It was a really good holiday, except the one day my sister and mum decided we had to sun bathe on the beach! Eh… Needless to say my dad and I didn’t last long! Haha.

We spent a lot of our evenings lounging around the pool near our apartment, the water was beautiful. It was fun swimming and playing around on the inflatable lounger – we kept falling off!

I think the trip brought us closer, but I did feel home sick at one point. I missed my friends and had no way to get in touch with them. There were no smartphones and if you wanted Wi-Fi you relied on internet cafes!

It definitely makes me appreciate how easy it is to keep in touch with family and friends now; I’m not sure how I would have got through a trip to San Francisco without being able to touch base with my family.

Have you ever been to Paphos? What other towns or cities in Cyprus do you enjoy? Let me know in the comments.

P.S. I have a few other older holidays I’d like to share, would that be of interest? My plan is to share them as part of “throwback Thursday” throughout the year.