Paphos - a week isn't long enough (Paphos)

Member Name: rustifer

Product:	Paphos
Date:	05/06/01 (225 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Good food, nice people and beautiful weather

Disadvantages: None

This was our second visit to Cyprus. The first time was 3 years ago and that time we stayed in the beautiful resort of Protaras. While we were there we visited Paphos for the day and we decided that the next time we came to Cyprus we would give Paphos a go.

We booked our holiday with Libra/Priceright Holidays. We'd never travelled with them before but I wouldn't hesitate to book with them again. We stayed in the Palepaphos Apartments in the Kato district which is at the east side of the resort. The apartments were right in the heart of possibly the liveliest part of Paphos and we were surrounded by many bars, restaurants and discos. Our apartment was really clean, well decorated and spacious. My only complaint would be that the bedroom of the apartment had net curtains which meant that we were woken up every morning at around 5ish with the sun streaming in our window. I would also warn everybody to get down to Woolworths in the centre of Paphos and buy some anti-mosquito machines or incense as soon as they arrive as both of us were covered in bites within a couple of days. I'm not usually bothered by mosquitos but there seemed to be millions of them.

The main reason for our holiday was to go diving so the first 4 days of our holiday was taken up with that which left us only a couple of days to explore Paphos. However, in that time we managed to check out a few eateries and squeeze in a couple of excursions.

One of the best meals we had while in Paphos was at an Indian restaurant called The New Dehli. It was reasonably priced and the food was exquisite. I have never tasted dahl soup as good as the bowl I had there.

I tend to look for local agencies to book my trips with as I find the hotel reps prices a bit high so we had a search around Paphos to see which agency was offering the best deals. We decided to book with Nic's Tours which is on the main coastal road heading away from the castle (and quite near the New
Dehli Restaurant). It's a small business run by a local and his English wife, Hilary. Our tour of the Paphos villages, which we chose reluctantly, simply because there weren't any places on the other tours, turned out to be one of the best excursions we've been on for a long time. We were picked up in a minibus at 9am and taken first of all to a sweet factory specialising in Cypriot Delight. We got to try samples of the various sweets on offer and we ended up buying some of the Delight as well as a bottle of carob syrup at very reasonable prices.

From there we headed into a tiny village to a basket weaving factory. The factory was basically the house of 3 very old women who sit all day weaving these beautiful baskets which they sell for approximately £2.50 each. After that we visited a beautiful monastery up beside Paphos' golf course and met the orthodox priest who lives there, Father Barnabus, who is a bit of a character.

After that we stopped at the house of an old couple who run their own small farm. The woman has an old-fashioned loom in her kitchen and she weaves beautiful material which she makes into bags and wall hangings.

Our last stop of the day, which was around 1.30 was to a Turkish Cypriot restaurant owned by a Turkish goat farmer and his Greek Cypriot wife. We had 'Meze' which is a meal consisting of around 12 different dishes. I really enjoyed it because you get to try a great variety of food. My husband is a meat eater and I only eat fish and veg but there was enough dishes there for both of us to enjoy. Excellent value for £4.50 on top of the price of the excursion which was £7.50.

That evening we joined Nic's Tours once again for the Cypriot Night. I don't usually go for that type of excursion but we were assured it would be a restaurant which wasn't used by the other tourist companies and therefore would allow for a more intimate evening. The drink was free flowing and the
food, Meze once again, did not disappoint. The entertainment, including a magic show by Nic, was really good and we had an excellent time.

We are going to try and go back to Paphos in September for 2 weeks which should give us more time to explore the area and do some more sightseeing. We have picked up some leaflets for several short stay cruises to Syria and the Lebanon from Limassol which I've heard are very good as well.

Summary: