Paphos (Cyprus)
ETAPS 2010, 20 - 28 March, 2010
Above: Had lunch today at “O’Solomon’s Irish Pub”. Had a nice beef burger which smelled amazing :)
Below (right): Cuba Libre a drink made from rum and cola. Reminds me the episode of Big Bang Theory
where Sheldon asks Penny to make a “Virgin Cuba Libre” and then “can you make it diet please”. Why is that funny, you ask. Well cos he wanted diet coke to begin with.
Left: The hotel provides some amazing sports activities. Even though we are a very large group (I hesitate to make a guess) we are after all computer scientists; no one has been seen using the tennis court/swimming pool. But the lobby (strongest wireless signal) is getting a lot of use.
Above: Room with the sea view and the renovated washrooms.
Below: Had Mousakka for dinner. Liked the top few layers (cheese/mashed potatoes/minced meet and some other veggies) did not like the bottom-most layer (loads and loads of eggplant)
Left: The ever burning candle which doesn’t even melt. How! cos its not a candle. Uses some kind of oil (kerosene perhaps).
Left: Finally got to order and taste some Greek coffee. Unfortunately, the waiter assumed I was a tourist just “trying” the local coffee and put so much sugar that it was quite tough drinking the sweet suspension.
Above: Disclaimer: No real King was buried during the making of these ruins. Instead really rich people got poor people to dig up holes in rocks to bury them once they died.
Below: The much talked about tombs
Right: So thats one of those rectangular burial chambers. I planned to lay down but it was way too dirty.
Above: The quarry caves: intricate passages leading to nowhere.
Below and to the left: Catacombs with locked doors. Inside we saw candles and pictures of priests.
My story is that this was where religious prisoners were kept (and possibly tortured?).
Above: Pafos castle. More like a glorified house really but it did have a moat around it. Did not bother to go in and explore since it didn't look worth the 1.70E.
Above and both sides: Archeological site near Paphos Harbor: recently discovered and under excavation. The mosaics are a key attraction. These are made of small stones (possibly dyed or maybe just colored to begin with) and make some very interesting and intricate patterns. I especially like the mosaic with the circular formation above which was in the “Villa of Theseus”.
Around: Some of the most intricate mosaics are found at the “House of Dinoysos. Mostly representing stories from Greek mythology which I know nothing about. But Clark and I sure did come up with interesting stories of our own.
I simply had to.
Above: Had another traditional Cypriot dish “Stifado” for lunch. Stewed beef with vegetables and rice and off course chips.
This cat spent the entire time we had lunch at Coral King rubbing against our legs hoping for some scrap or attention perhaps.
(in the interest of not overwhelming the internet
connection I broke the pictures into a number of pages)
Update: On further study (lonelyplanet) this was actually the “Agia Solomoni And the Christian Catacomb”. This is the place of burial of the Seven Machabee Brothers, who were martyred around 174 BC.