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Cyprus and Paris
  • James Byrne
  • Isabel Barrera
  • James Byrne
  • Isabel Barrera

Cyprus and Paris

A 9-day adventure by James & Isabel Read more
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  • Trip start
    March 1, 2023
    Cyprus and Paris
    12

    Paphos Day 2

    March 2, 2023 in Cyprus ⋅ ☁️ 20 °C

    With not much real knowledge of Cyprus or what to expect, we drove out to the Akamas Peninsula on the north-west coast. It turned into an incredibly scenic drive through a mix of shrubs, vines, dusty roads and mountain goats.

    We arrived into the small coastal port of Latchni and bought tickets onto the Lafsika II's tour of the Blue Lagoon. Here we sailed up the coast, past Aphrodite's Bath's and Bay (the legendary birthplace of the goddess) and docked at the crystal clear waters of the Blue Lagoon (actually very blue, made Australian beaches seem green). Feeding on wine, fruits and juice we apparently impressed the fellow cruise goers with a dive into the water. Seeing the interrogation of the swimming skills of each person wanting to swim was a strange experience; you forget how unique growing on the beach is.

    On a very precarious route home through the Avakas Gorge we stopped for a quick hike, and visited the Sea Caves and the famous Edro the III shipwreck    Read more

  • Cyprus and Paris

    Paphos > Limassol > Larnaca

    March 3, 2023 in Cyprus ⋅ ☀️ 24 °C

    This morning started with a little sleep in, followed by a hasty check out as we made our way to the ruins of Paphos. Today was supposedly 20°, but felt closer to 30° as we saw the ruins of incredible "houses" dedicated to gods or kings including Theseus, Orpheus and Aphrodite. The highlight of these were these beautiful mosaic floors that have been preserved from 200 A.D. or earlier, and showed a lot of mythical legends of heroes and battles.

    We then headed to Limassol where we met up with some of Isabel's Australian friends who live in Cyprus, and had lunch at waterfront beach club called the Columbia Bar. It was interesting to hear that Cyrpus is a bit of a tax haven and the big finance deals that go down at the beach club( they said it was the Ryan’s Bar equivalent). We are now heading to the eastern side of Cyprus and looking forward to more Cypriot beaches. While driving, right of way doesnt really mean a great deal and indicators purely optional, which makes it pretty chaotic driving in little cobblestone towns    Read more

  • Cyprus and Paris
    1

    Larnaca day 2

    March 4, 2023 in Cyprus

    Today was all about max relaxing as we made our way to the beaches of Larnaca. But first - pastries. A quick stop at Lazerís bakery then we made our way to Nissi beach resort. The water was crystal blue but it was quite windy so we decided to venture on to another beach more protected by the wind.

    On the way we stopped by a beautiful church on a hill called Profitis Ilias. We got to Fig Tree Bay and had a nap on the beach. On the way home we took a brief detour via the Monarchus Arch ("Love Bridge"). That night we had dinner at Vinaria and drank Commandaria, the reported oldest wine in the world, which has been served since 1000 BC. In 1191, King Richard the Lionheart had this wine at his wedding in Cyprus and was apparently so impressed that he proclaimed that it “the wine of kings and the king of wines.” - Isabel thought it tasted just like prune juice    Read more

  • Cyprus and Paris

    Nicosia day 1

    March 5, 2023 in Cyprus

    This morning we started with Mass at St Mary of Graces and then hung with a bunch of Isabel's relatives (surprisingly big Filo community in Larnarca). We haven't seen many Filo's around but i guess Sunday is a good a bet as any. After mass there was a little filipino market on where isabel bought pancit and puto.

    We then ventured onto Nicosia which is the only split capital remaining in Europe. It was a very unique experience walking through the DMZ and being passport checked in order to enter the "Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus". Courtesy of a lack of taxes being paid to the EU, we were able to find some quality deals in the markets and some cheap food. We definitely noticed more Turkish influence as well (architecture, coffee).

    We also realised today we should have been doing a daily count of stray cats - today probably would have been around 22.

    We rounded out our last night in Cyprus with potentially our tastiest Greek meat feast to date - a very high bar. The restaurant was “Piatsa Gourounaki”, which translates to "the place where little piglets meet and greet" - very fitting.    Read more

  • Cyprus and Paris

    Paris night 1

    March 6, 2023 in France ⋅ ☁️ 7 °C

    We spent today travelling, arriving into Paris quite late from the airport. Contrary to our expectations, and with some nerves regarding our complete lack of French, our first few conversations were all with lovely, hospitable locals.

    Arriving our hotel, we realised the photos of the room must have benlen taken with a very wide lens (aka shoebox). However, climbing through what used to be a window and onto the roof, we discovered a giant balcony with a view of both Sacré-Cœur and the Eiffel Tower! Incredible.

    Getting into the local spirit we then went for a very late dinner at Mamie's. James had an education into French wines with a classic error, ordering a bottle of rose instead of red wine. Red wine (rouge) should have been an obvious outlier with rose and champagne already French words    Read more

  • Cyprus and Paris

    Paris Day 1

    March 7, 2023 in France ⋅ ☁️ 9 °C

    Day two, we woke up keen and eager to explore Paris. We got our coffee and went to the Metro to make our way to the Palace of Versailles. To our surprise the Metro was closed as there was a nationwide strike. After deliberating, we decided to splash out and get an Uber which is about 40 minutes away from the city. The traffic was terrible and when we were about 10 minutes out from Versailles, I had received an email saying that the palace will be closed that day due to the strikes 🫠 we then had to turn around and head back into the city and head to Sacré-Cœur which was absolutely stunning and we got a panoramic view of the city. We then made our way down through Montmartre. Given that all the monuments were closed that day we decided to go shopping (YAY!) through the Galeries de Lafayette.
    On the way back to our hotel, we bought some prosciutto, salami, cheese and bread from the supermarket across the road and we had our charcuterie board in our hotel whole watching Ratatouille 🤤
    By the time dinner time rolled around, we decided to get some drinks in Montmartre in the hope that we would eventually get hungry, but we just ended up filling up with drinks then made our merry way home.    Read more

  • Cyprus and Paris

    Paris day 2

    March 8, 2023 in France ⋅ 🌧 14 °C

    Today was a big day as we had to make up for lost tourist time. We kicked off the morning at Angelinas, which is famous for their hot chocolate. Accompanied with a croissant, and it’s the perfect start to your day. We made our way to Saint Chapelle, commissioned by King Louis the 9th, where it housed the relics of the Passion of Christ which he purchased and preserved. Interesting fact: King Louis was canonised in 1296 for the amazing work he did. Many other remains of the Catholic Church were ruined during the revolution.
    Next up was the palace of Versailles. Public transport was not a friend whilst in Paris and the train that was meant to take us to Versailles never showed up so we decided to take a taxi. The kerfuffle was worth it, Versailles is incredible and gave us a glimpse into the obscene wealth of the royal family.
    As we are leaving, it’s started to completely pour as we ran to our bus stop. Eventually we got back into town and went to climb the Arc de Triomphe, however, upon arriving no surprise, here it was closed due to the strikes 🫠 we decided to visit the Eiffel Tower next. It was pretty miserable as the rain continued to pour down. We eventually found a little bar to seek refuge and have a wine before our dinner reservation. We had dinner at Moncier Bleu with a stunning view of the Eiffel Tower!    Read more

    Trip end
    March 9, 2023
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