What an amazing find this must have been!

06-03-21, Thursday

Ammar wake up on his own and only needs time to drink his coffee, so I set off to breakfast and he joins me before I've even stirred the sugar in my cup! We're gradually getting our schedules in sync.  It will be perfect by the time we have to go home.

I've asked the man at reception if he can change dollars to Euros and he says it will take a few minutes, so I go back after breakfast.  Now there is a glitch with the printer;  but it's cool because there is a young woman, Victoria, who is tickled to talk to an American and we have a blast while he is futzing with the technology. So far I haven't spent a single Euro, so this is my first exchange!

Back to our room to organize our thoughts for the day and to ask the desk to call a taxi for us. Our big plan for the day is to explore the gigantic archeological park by the harbour. Our lady cab driver is so intent on convincing us to spend one hundred Euros going back to Larnaca (the bus will be less than twenty!) that she completely turns us off and we won't even think of calling her later today!  We're accumulating quite a collection of cab drivers' cards!

I snagged this off the internet in case there wasn't anything at the site to guide us!

This is the meeting place the cabbies use;  it's right by the entrance, if you know where you're going!

The reception hall of the House of Aion

One you get to a specific house, there is lots of information.  Just not too much guidance to get you from location to another.  But there are other tourists and it's really, really worth the slight hassle!

That's the castle in the distance.  It gives you an idea how large the site is, because it's right along the southern boundary and there is so much more to the north and east and west!

Oh my goodness!  The site is beyond belief!  And the views of the coast are breathtaking with the other-worldly turquoise water and the crashing whitecaps!  The signage is less than ideal;  but the ruins more than make up for that!  We visit several of the old houses before coming to the centerpiece of the site, the House of Dionysus. It was the first house with mosaic floors to be discovered in Pathos. There is an atrium with a garden pool surrounded by about forty rooms.  All the communal rooms and halls are paved with mosaics!!  Many of the mosaics depict portions of the Dionysus myth.

Source material!

Who know what wonders would be found in this structure??

This is really an amazing piece!  It is a pebble mosaic from a house that was actually under the House of Dionysus and dates to the early Hellenistic period!  This is the same type of mosaic we saw yesterday at the monastery.

Behind that is the lighthouse that guards the harbour and provides a view of the city.  There's an agora and an Odeon, which serves the same purpose but is smaller than the theatre, and many other houses.  Nothing can compare with the wonders of Dionysus!

Critter!

It's time for some refreshment and we cruise the beach front, doing a little shopping and finally settling in at the Captain's Bistro for espresso and an iced latte.  Ammar has been so good about not working, but instead enjoying the ruins with me.  He says these are the best mosaics he has seen, which is something coming from a Jordanian! Now he has a chance to catch up on his calls and I sit back and check my email and enjoy the cool breeze and the shade.  After a while we realize that it's well past lunch time and we order some seafood, of course!  Ammar has developed a taste for cod and orders the fish and chips.  I have a seafood sandwich with turns out to be tuna salad with some baby shrimp and "crab sticks".  It's very tasty and I feel virtuous because I leave most of the bread. And I snag Ammar's salad, so my tummy should be pleased with me!  Never mind about the French fries!

We think this is one of the entrances to the Old Town.

Everything is deserted.  We ask the lady in one of the few shops that is open, what is going on.  We know they close on Wednesday afternoons, and our cabbie thought today was Wednesday, but we know better than that!  She says it is because everything is so "low" which we take to mean that there aren't enough tourists top be worthwhile. Everyone is waiting for the British.  Right now they have primarily Russians and Israelis.

Interesting vending machine at our mini market!

Google maps tells us that it will take forty-five minutes to walk to Old Town.  Never gonna happen!  We walk just a bit and find where all the cabbies are hiding!  One takes us to the bus station, so we can check the time for us bus tomorrow and points us up the little hill to Old Town.  We do a lot of exploring but not much shopping because most of the shops are either closed for the day - or permanently.  COVID has taken quite a toll in Cyprus, as it has everywhere else.

Ammar is looking for a larger suitcase; but has no luck here.  Instead we decide to head home, since we will need to be up and out much earlier than usual to catch our 9:30 bus to Limasssol.  We'll have a layover there and then take the next intercity bus back to Larnaca.  I've heard by from the Frangiorgio, so we know we have a place to lay our heads tomorrow night!

Taxis don't just cruise the streets in Cyprus like they do in either Jordan or the US.  We've walked quite a bit when I pull out Google maps and see that we're really not far from home!  We set a course and I keep guaranteeing that we can get home this way!  Following the adage "Trust the process" that Margie Hallmark taught me, we happen upon a charity shop that supports several animal societies and that happens to have a suitcase for three Euros! And it's right around the corner from our hotel and across the street from Ammar's favorite little mini market!  He comes out of the market with a little blue bag full of goodies and in a matter of moments we are safely home!

Time to turn the A/C up to high and take some much needed rest!  Tonight we'll dine on the rest of the bread and cheese from last night.  And at the market Ammar bought me a little bottle of Zinvania and some pomegranate juice. I think they will go great together!  Maybe I'll have it in the blue souvenir cup he bought me earlier in the day!

We've enjoyed Pafos (as the natives spell it) and we're ready to return to Larnaca.  I hate that that means we'll be flying home in a few days, though.  But never mind!  Live for today!!