The Colony Hotel - A Park Heritage Hotel Kyrenia

KAKOPETRIA VILLAGE

This beautiful village is just 15 km from Mount Olympus.

It is a very popular summer resort, but during winter is also popular with skiers, and people who come here to relax for the weekend and walk in the beautiful natural trails found in the area.

Kakopetria is divided into two parts; the original, medieval settlement which is situated on the east bank of ...

... and enjoying this evening late until wee hours of the morning.

It is much fun, and it is here that I have the chance to meet people from the Cypriot choir and have time to chat.

A successful festival night ends here.

... and he had the chance to recite for the whole choir in the graveyard next to the tombs. It was so moving! After so many years, he has the chance now to recite in front of the tombs – a moment he longed all these years!

The people from the museum heard of his story and were glad when after his recitation, he informed them that he wanted this long hand written poem to remain in the museum. It was a great gesture ...

OUR PARTY IN KAKOPETRIA



I just want to show here, how Cypriots dance and have fun.

Of course I hate loud music, but I hate that I cannot dance all these dances that you see here. This is from our party in the lodge where we are staying, just outside the village, just 3 km from Kakopetria ...

... tissues to wipe their tears, and I , too, am moved by this parade. A friend of mine said that he has never had such a moving moment in his life, on any 28th October ever!

It is time to leave, and we are ready for our second destination this day. Women show each other what they have bought, and they are all so happy to have had such touching moments out here. Everyone seems to be excited and a good sign of a successful trip!

... let's see!" and "I'm going to be late! I'm going to be late!" We had our photographer Wayne there recording my metamorphosis and Ems was videoing me screaming into the air just to relieve some of my immensely pent up nerves!!! Getting into my dress was hysterical. Not only was I sweating like a pig due to the heat but we couldn't get the dress done up!! Els, Heidi AND Sam were all behind me going "you hold that bit...." "you zip that bit up..." "right Lois, breathe in..." god ...

... we catch a bus into the waterfront and port of Paphos, where we spend a couple of hours wandering though the shops and tourist areas before heading out on the breakwater to visit the Medieval Castle of Paphos built by the Lusignans in the 13th century, but later dismantled by the Venetians. It was again rebuilt by the Ottomans in the 16th century when they conquered the island. After that we visit the World Heritage Site that is known as the Kato Pafos ...

Checking out Turkish Cyprus has been cool. It's beautiful and less populated but has much worse road signs and isn't really any cheaper than the Greek side. Ben I decided to go to Kirena, the main tourist town because of a beautiful old harbor and castle. Those were kind of cool but what was really great was the 5 star hotel i got to hang out at for free all day because Ben went scuba diving. After sleeping on beaches, castles, etc and rushing around to do ...

... for dinner and left for a circular tour of the Trodos mountains. Firstly up to the highest peak on the island, Mount Olympus. The summit of nearly 2000 metres has two army bases side by side, one Cypriot and the other a British sovereign base - there are lots of signs saying "No Photos". The view from over the razor wire was great. Then I completed a circular tour taking in an old church manned (or nuned ...

... west ). Cyprus did have a decent variety of activities and even though I'd sampled most, I would be leaving with a rather disappointed view of the place and wondering whether I would have been better off going back to Syria to spend the last 9 days of my trip in the Middle East. Regardless, coming to Cyprus bumped up the "number of countries visited" on my trip and I learned alot about the conflict between the Turks and the Greeks. That had to count for something. Right? Right...