Limassol

I’m a big fan of islands, so I went to Cyprus for the holidays. Limassol is the second largest city in Cyprus by population. When I was there, the weather was mostly awful, but there was one sunny day.

Limassol seafront

Sea

Christmas decorations are around.

Christmas decorations

Mysterious bottle

I spent Catholic Christmas with other lost travellers from the hostel, just like last year. For the first time I met someone from Iowa. We cooked some presumably local dishes, although I don’t cook well so I contributed with wine. It was relaxed and cosy with the candles. Later that night, after 1AM, a man appeared with a mysterious bottle labeled in Greek and started talking about Western Africa. Out of habit, I started searching for the alcohol content of the drink but could only find “100%”. That’s when I decided it was time to go to sleep.

On Christmas Day we went swimming.

Christmas tree made out of bottles

Thin Christmas tree

Not much to see in the city. There are a couple of beautiful churches.

Churches

Although Cyprus is culturally European, the streets have a Middle Eastern vibe. Maybe it’s the yellowish buildings and poor city planning?

Streets

Street art

Outisde of city centre

By the bus station

Paphos

Paphos is like a big village. It reminds me of Fethiye.

Streets of Paphos

The main city is on a hill. Down by the sea they have archeological parks and, well, the sea.

View from city

I visited the archaeological site of the Tombs of the Kings.

Tombs of the Kings

Shipwreck

I came across an absurd map of how to reach different landmarks around Paphos by public transport. I especially like the boxes that say “SEA”. Fortunately, I escaped that toil by making nice friends, with whom we explored the island by car.

Aphrodite's Rock

According to Greek mythology, Aphrodite was born from the sea foam near this rock.

Aphrodite's Rock

People write their wishes on rocks around it in many different languages.

Wishes

The sea is violent.

Violent

Making a wish