Tag: Paphos

Paphos 28.11.25 – 5.12.25

6 December 2025 / admin

View from Hotel room Paphos 28.11.25

We have been to Paphos before – but not since I retired so it was well over 10 years ago. Last time we hired a car and toured along the coast and also visited the Troodos Mountains. This time we were going with the hope (subject to the weather) of seeing some winter sun and getting away from the domestic cold and those slate grey skies which have been prevalent throughout 2025.

A particularly early flight out of Gatwick was offset by using valet parking. Take the car into the right car park, hand over the keys and walk across into the departures area to drop cases and then go through security. On this Friday morning it is pretty quiet and apart from the usual need to inspect my carry on bag we are soon through the other side. A decent breakfast courtesy of Sonoma and then the usual wait for the plane to be ready. It is at one of the nearer gates which makes a pleasant change. The flight is full and it is a 4.5 hour flight to Paphos – earphones in and away we go.

We are staying at the Amavi which is one of about four major hotels along the sea front and I can heartily recommend it – after all at reception we are offered an upgrade and end up in an impressive fourth floor suite which has a balcony with loungers, table and chairs and is completely protected from the prevailing wind – meaning we can enjoy fresh air all the way through the week.

The hotel has extensive grounds and allocates residents a pair of sunbeds for the week – it is relatively quiet this time of year but in the busy times it means there are no towels reserving sunbeds or similar. It is also quiet. We do not see anyone in the outdoor pools as they are probably simply too cold. We do not use the indoor one as we prefer the open air. We only use the sunbeds a couple times – but the weather is warm enough to mean we can return with some tan rather than none.

In the peak the hotel has three special restaurants. At the time we visited the outside ones are closed but the inside one operates in two different formats – half the time serving European food and on other nights it is a Japanese menu as it seems this is in favour in Cyprus at present – it seems to be on offer elsewhere.

Paphos Wine Tasting 4.12.25

On the first day we were supposed to go on a local tour with wine tasting but regrettably (and without being told) it was cancelled – all funds re-imbursed. We had expected it to go ahead having had an email the previous day and quite why no-one managed to let us know it was cancelled we did not understand. (Autogenerated emails from Trip Advisor are not to be trusted it seems). Later in the week the hotel organised a small wine tasting and I can confirm that there are some excellent local wines available with the Persephone being local to Paphos apparently – and from a winery we should have visited!

During our stay we wandered into central Paphos and since our last visit the main front has been pedestrianised and therefore it all looks a little different. It no doubt makes it far safer but it seems quieter – but that may just be the time of year. It is obvious that there has been some development away from the main front and this includes “The Lodge” a newish restaurant serving South African barbecue food where we dine one evening. Recommended even if the service is just a little rapid.

On the main front we stopped in Aphrodite’s Secret and selected some excellent supplies – so many nuts that we brought a lot home and some wines. They also told us that one of the wineries we had been due to visit was not actually that good (no names) so we may have had a lucky escape!

A restful week and the temperatures were around 20 deg C – slightly warmer on some days too – which makes it pleasant. We had thought about visiting the Roman remains and the Old Town but decided to save those delights for a return visit at some future date.

However a decent week away despite the high winds one one day and I am told we ended up under budget.

Paphos Archaeological Park

12 April 2017 / admin

Sunday 1 April 2017

Tomorrow we go home but first we have a major historical site to visit and it is within walking distance! Jackie came here on a previous visit and was brought by coach – from the Anabel at the other end of the sea front – but did not go via the direct route!

Most of the Paphos Archaeological Park relates to excavations of Roman remains and typically dates from the first century AD when the Roman empire was at its greatest strength.

As the photos show here, as in Sicily and also in recent discoveries at Silchester, the high quality of the floor mosaics stands out. It feels like there was a competition in progress between various rich Romans to demonstrate their individual wealth through the mosaics used in the flooring.

The photos are here.

The overall site is huge and many of the mosaics are covered at this time of year – there is obviously much more here than is on display at the time of our visit as a number of displays have explanation boards but the mosaics are covered by a layer of small stones (probably covering some protective plastic sheeting). Some of the best mosaics are now under cover of buildings and this process will no doubt continue as money becomes available.

The Park is also close to the castle and the restaurants around the remaining port area (commercial port operations have all moved to Limassol). Down in this area someone is playing music loudly which is carrying up to us as we inspect the Saranta Colones castle. We had not really noticed it but then they play “Somewhere over the Rainbow” – a piece we always associate with our daughter Stephanie and which I always feel means she is somewhere close by keeping an eye on what we are doing.

We cover only some of the site – it would take much longer to see the entirety if all of the mosaics were on display – in about two hours during the morning – and we feel a few spots of rain so assume it means it is lunchtime. But in fact all we get are those few spots!

Lunch is taken in one of the many restaurants along the harbour seafront – and there is plenty of choice both of restaurant and then on the menus themselves.

We wander back to the hotel and try and enjoy a little sunshine; although the sun is there it is perhaps not quite warm enough as we might like.

Off home tomorrow so we pack cases this evening. In the morning after breakfast we leave them locked away before heading into Paphos for one last meal before it is time to return to the airport. Elephant are on the case this time to recover the car (the damage from the concrete ball seems to go unnoticed). BTW I did not hit the concrete ball – we merely found it near the car and with evidence that someone had rolled it there – not easily as it was heavy and nor could we identify where the ball had been before it was moved as there were no missing balls!

And we arrive home early on Monday morning. Next up is a short trip to Devon but with more posts than this.

Paphos Cyprus

10 April 2017 / admin

Sunday 26 March to Monday 3 April 2017

A cheap week away in the sunshine. There will be this post on the holiday and then two more – one on our trip to the Troodos Mountain and another on our visit to the Archaeological Park in Paphos.

The holiday is cheap because we travelling on Air Miles (or Avios Points as they are known these days) reflecting a pay back for our trip to Australia. We have merely paid the taxes and the flights are “free”. Jackie has been to Cyprus previously with Veronica and stayed at the Annabel, so she should know her way around and where we need to go.

We are not staying at the Annabel but across the road and round the corner in the Anemi which is a little less expensive. But first we have to get there and Elephant who are supplying our hire car are not waiting for us. A lady from another company enables us to make a phone call and they turn up with the car and we are off. It is now after 10 and we know the hotel locks up at 11. We make it! We do take a wrong turn as the final part is a paved area and it is not obvious it is a road to take. The sat nav then takes us round in a circle to get us to the right place!

The area around the pool is in reasonable order and from the outside it is clear that some rooms in the hotel have been refurbished as the external windows have been changed – and it is equally obvious that the refurbishment work has not yet reached our end of the hotel. It is therefore a little old and a little worn but the owners are obviously re-investing as the funds become available. We are there for B&B only and we have a small kitchen area as it is an apart-hotel. Towards the end of our stay we do establish that the main restaurant can serve a decent evening meal (and entertainment).

To Jackie the biggest surprise is that we can walk out of the hotel and along on to the main strip and there is a profusion of restaurants from which we need to make a choice most days. Although she had been here before she was staying on half board terms and when she left the hotel the coach did not go along the front and so she was unaware of all the restaurants that exist.

A fish restaurant is selected for the first night and a Chinese for later in the week. We have also booked St Georges which has been mentioned in the Sunday Times recently as being very good. One lunchtime we eat in the beachfront cafe of the Almyra which is one of the very upmarket hotels. All good places to eat. Lot of seafood of course!

On Tuesday we are heading to the Troodos Mountains (which is a separate post) and on Friday 31 March we drove along the coast to Limassol which is a big port and the weather is wet, so when we get there it does not look terribly attractive, nor do we fancy wandering around in the rain! Some photos taken along the coast road are here. We head back towards Paphos and then find Melanda beach where Jackie found some prawns in the restaurant:

Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday are days spent doing very little – mainly finding different places to lie in the sun by the pool and absorb the sun. We also do some observing of the local cat population. The photos around Paphos are here.

During the week we wander along the front at Paphos and have a drink in a few of the many bars. However it is not until nearly the end of the week that we find that there is a further group of restaurants right along at the far end by the castle – we did not go that far initially. Also in the bit of town close to us we have a look at some of the other hotels and apartments to investigate possibilities for future visits. A number of these have not opened up yet for 2017 and at least one is being redecorated in readiness for the main season. So in the full season the choice would be almost mind bending – we had difficulty choosing from the selection that was open!

Generally pleasantly warm it is only the end of March. A nice rest and not too expensive. 1976 miles by air for the single journey, so in total over 4000 miles covered this week. There are other sights and other places to go, so we may well return to Cyprus in the future.