It's been a bit of time since we've written. We've been busy, yes. Our friends Mariette and Jerry arrived right on time and we've gone from Larnaca to Paphos. We've also been writing a bit but not on the blog. Do emails count to our friends in Washington? Probably not.
One of the first things the four of us went to was Olepάdiko for Meze. After about ten not so small plates we had to beg for mercy.
The music was wonderful but Jerry and Dennis couldn't be persuaded to get up and dance. I know they would have been a hit.
The next day we headed for Paphos where we are still learning our way around. One of the first places we went to was the UNESCO Archeological World Heritage Site down near the harbor. This island has been inhabited for about 9,000 years beginning in the Neolithic Period. At the UNESCO site we saw stunning remains of mosaics from the villas of four Roman Noblemen that date from the 2nd to the 5th Century AD. Cyprus has survived Alexander the Great, the Macedonians, the Romans, The Franks, the Venetians, the Ottomans, the British and the Turks. They have survived and thrived. Knowing that somehow brings me peace and the ability to focus and pay attention to now and doing what one can do. And we have been doing lots of exploring.
Paphos is larger than Larnaca and not as walkable so we have been learning about taxis and Bolt, a version of Uber. We've been off-roading and survived, barely.
Our day ended with a huge rainstorm which is desperately needed. However it made getting a taxi very difficult. Jerry saved the day with the Bolt app on his iPhone. Nicholas was picking us up two minutes later. Yay! Home, drinking wine, plenty of food, no stress.
And now for a word from Den E. Baby--
Cindy filled you in on the history of Cyprus but I'll just concentrate on our first tour around Paphos. See the picture of the ship in the water listing precariously to the left? That was the "cruise" ship we had just disembarked from after a tour around "Aphrodite's Rock!"
The Captain asked me to take the tiller while he went below for a smoke. I told him I was unfamiliar with the controls but he said, "You'll do just fine..." (That's what I think he said cuz he only spoke Greek.) Off he went and you can see the result. He said a lot more things (in Greek) when we entered the life boats but I deleted the expletives...? I told him that I didn't know what I was doing, right?
See the photo of the Jeep?
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| Paco, our driver |
That's a really nice picture. This must have been a before picture. The tour touted "visit small villages with some off-road excitement!" Well, our guide and driver Paco, took this seriously. Whether we were on the highway or traversing the winding mountain off road dips, ruts, gullies, and ridges high up in the mountains, his job was to 1.) see if he could bounce us out of the jeep or at least 2.) scare the shit out of us by driving off a cliff or running over some hapless hiker who happened to be on the same trail!
At one point, Jerry and I both implored him to ease up on the pedal. 😱His response? "I've been doing this for 20 years and never had an accident. What went unsaid? "Buckle up, Bucko! I'm in charge here!"
I don't know about my partners but I think I had a few squirts in my pants when Paco dropped us off at day's end at our apartment. Did he make a memory for me? Ahh--yeah! You'll have to ask my partners about this and their underwear...on to the next adventure...😎
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