Tuesday 28 March 2017
One of the reasons for hiring a car was so that we could do at least one trip to visit the Troodos Mountains which are no great distance from Paphos.
The car has sat nav, there are maps on the internet and there are road signs – what could possibly go wrong? Nothing does go wrong, I am pleased to report and we have an interesting trip.
We take the main road eastwards out of town and after a few miles there is a sign for Troodos Mountains so we take that exit and now the road seems to go uphill from time to time, although a lot of it seems flat. We pass through some rolling farming countryside and not much other traffic so an easy drive.
We follow some signs and we get onto some real back roads, including finding a bridge between two valley roads which really is single track. In accordance with our initial aim we find ourselves in Omodos which Jackie confirms she has visited before on a coach trip. A cup of coffee is needed. As we wander around the village we spy a couple of reasonable looking restaurants but it is a little early for us to take lunch. But at least one of them has rooms so we could come to Cyprus again and stay for two nights eating in both! There are also some interesting looking art shops and so on as we wander round – coach trips obviously stop here.
We carry on reaching Plano Platres at lunchtime where again there are a number of restaurants. We park in the main car park and we are supposed to pay and display. But we cannot get change from the Tourist Information so cannot pay for long enough. We ask a couple of times but are told that the car park only tends to get checked in the peak of the summer season and indeed we do not get a parking ticket. Always makes me nervous though if I do not pay enough for parking.
We have lunch in Skylight which is a huge restaurant – presumably with very heavy demand in summer from coach parties – it also has a swimming pool! As with all meals the Greek salad which comes is almost a meal in itself and we keep forgetting this – we really need to order one to share between us but don’t! Here is Jackie’s picture:
I had a better meal than Jackie. Our waitress (and possibly part owner?) originally came from Leeds but had been in Cyprus for many years.
The car is unclamped when we return to the car park and we head on up to Troodos which is the highest point around here. We pass snow/ice blocks by the side of the road as we ascend – it has not yet all melted at this time of year.
My few photographs of the day are here. Mainly Omodos and the view from Troodos when we briefly stop. It is definitely a lot cooler up here than down by the coast.
The journey from here is inevitably downhill and we are heading in the direction of Limassol as we use different roads to those used on the outward journey. What feels different about this journey is that I can tell we are going down, going down and down and definitely down all the time we are moving. This morning it was not so obvious we were ascending, but this feels relentless – constant use of brakes and so on.
We reach the outskirts of Limassol and then pick up the main road westwards back to Paphos. A very nice day trip. We know we did not see all the sights (missed waterfalls and so on) – but it is all part of an excuse to return here in the future.
One more post to come on our Cyprus trip.