How the North-West Was Won

After yesterday's arrival in Cyprus and our subsequent rip-off taxi ride, we familiarized ourselves with the city of Pafos, particularly in the Kato (downtown) Pafos area. We walked around the streets beside our hotel and got a lay of the land. Oh yeah, and we got a 20 euro simcard for our cellphone that we got in Florence, Italy a few years back. If you feel the need, I don't know what it may cost you, but it doesn't cost us anything to receive a call or text: Cyprus prefix is 357; the number is 9906-1617 (yeah, they only have 8 digits - remember to add 8 hours to your time when thinking of an appropriate time to call - you might need to add an international prefix before the Cyprus country prefix if it's from the states, 011?). Cyprus is a pretty big island, however, and to get anywhere but the most proximal of touristy sights and sites you're going to need transportation of some sort.

We like scooters and I did just get my motorcycle permit; but we opted for the mini-eurocar (a steal at only 23 euros a day). Without a second thought we skirted Northward along the West coast to Coral Bay. Getting used to driving on the left side of the road wasn't so bad on the longer rural stretches, but city intersections were a bit more anxiety-inducing. Coral Bay is a beautiful stretch of beach. It's a bit less calm than the Mediterranean we're used to, but the waves weren't quite Ocean-worthy. We swam. We sunbathed. We ate some fruit. We moved on.

Next stop: Lara Beach. It's a bit further Northward. We had to take it very slow, because the terrain becomes offroad well before the beach. It's actually a reserve and known for it's nighttime sea turtle hatchlings rushing into the sea. It, too, was gorgeous. We just kind of walked around and took some pictures. But we decided to leave our real investigation of that area for another time when we might have an ATV of some sort.

We drove back to the hotel, cleaned up, rested a little and then hit up the Cypriot nightlife. People come out a little later here than in the states. It's not quite like Greece proper, given the abundance of British and other tourists; but the dinner standard is still pretty much 8 or much much later. We got a taste of Cypriot flavors: suckling pig, beef stifado, avocado salad, local prawn, dolmades. Afterwards, we took a stroll by the harbor, stopping for some sokolat souffle.

Today we were the first people up at our hotel for the continental breakfast, which was very simple and very european: some toast, jam, thinly sliced ham and cheese. Then we napped (ahh, vacation) and woke up in time to head to the southern beaches of the North-West. We wound around some of the local streets and found an isolated beach where we were literally the only people for miles around. Large pebbles and dark, almost black, sand composed the beachhead, which ran up to craggy cliffs. We swam briefly, sunned and napped, and hit the road again for some more of the southern North-West.

Petra tou Rhodiou, or Aphrodite's Rock is where we next stopped. Sheer and striking outcroppings were everywhere. We've got pictures. After returning to the hotel to clean up to go out, we made our last run at the North-West of the island. There's a small village home to a strange phenomenon, called, suprisingly, "Phainomenon." We had to tool around these winding mountain roads, all too narrow of course. We made it to the village, but couldn't find the road. According to the guidebook, if you turn your vehicle off at the bottom of the "Phainomenon" road, your car will make it's way to the top of the next hill from a dead stop (there's a magnetic stream that runs directly underneath the road).

On the way back to Kato Pafos we were well out of range of all things touristy and found a legitimate Cyprus taverna. At long last we partook in the much-famed "Mezes". What ends up happening is for about 90 minutes every 5 minutes or so the server(s) arrive with another dish of some sort, all traditional Cypriot cuisine or Greek cuisine prepared with a Cypriot twist of some sort. We had special bright green olives, oregano bread, tzatziki, chaloumi, tahini, salad, pita, thick olive oil fried potatoes, lamb, beef, pork, fried feta, stuffed mushrooms, sausage, zucchini with egg, eggplant, beets, pickled celery, meatballs, some unidentified dishes and a fruit plate finisher.

What else could you want? Now we're out on the town late at night. Until tomorrow...