A Relaxing Break In Cyprus

Less than a month after we returned from Japan, we were off on another trip to another new country – Cyprus!

This was very much a holiday to recover from our holiday, which may sound ridiculous, but Japan was so full on (in case you couldn’t tell from the fourteen blog posts that I’ve published) that we were knackered. We arrived back in London in the morning, took the train back to Edinburgh, didn’t get home until the evening, and I was straight back in the office the next day. Complete madness, as usual!

So I was feeling quite smug that I’d had the foresight to book something relaxing.

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Cyprus isn’t somewhere that was very high on my list, which made it the perfect choice for a relaxing break – I wouldn’t be rushing around trying to see as much as possible, despite it being a new country for us; I’d actually be happy to sit by the pool at our hotel. Me?! That’s right.

So, while this isn’t going to be the most useful blog post I’ve ever written, I did want to cover some of the highlights of what we DID get up to. Because of course we needed one day to get out and about on the island, and there were a couple of things to do in Paphos itself that we were looking forward to.

First though, some background about the political landscape in Cyprus, which is complicated at best – essentially, the country is divided into two, with Northern Cyprus being owned by Turkey, and the rest of Cyprus being Greek Cypriot. There are swathes of no-go zones for tourists due to military operations along the buffer zone, with various crossing points along this border, and it’s only possible to fly to Northern Cyprus from Turkey. It’s been like this for fifty years, and while there’s no sign of any agreement being reached, the situation is far calmer than it used to be. There’s a great article here about the history and how the situation has evolved over the decades.

This is usually the sort of thing that fascinates me, so you might be surprised that I wasn’t bothered about getting over to Nicosia, the capital of Cyprus, where the city is divided across the border and offers an insight into Northern Cyprus.

So here’s what we DID get up to instead.

I’ll start with Paphos, where we stayed on the west coast of Cyprus. A lot of people fly into Larnaca and head straight to Ayia Napa in the east for a party holiday, but that’s not really our scene (even though it DOES look beautiful!) and there was more that we wanted to do around Paphos in general.

Here’s the one thing we did do in Paphos itself.

Tombs Of The Kings, Paphos

Fortuitously, we were staying right across the road from the Tombs Of The Kings, which is one of the biggest and best attractions in Cyprus. Oddly named considering there were no actual kings buried there, but nevertheless this is an archaeological marvel that we were excited to see.

In fact, there is an entire Archaeological Park, of which this is only part of the complex. We ended up opting just to do the Tombs as they interested us more, but the rest of the park offers some well-preserved mosaic floors as well as an amphitheatre.

Altogether, there are nine tombs spread across the park, and it took us a while to find them all.

The most impressive of them is tomb 5, which is stunning with Grecian pillars. We went in the late afternoon which gave us incredible lighting in this one.

There was a couple doing some sort of Instagram shoot, which was infuriating because I found the perfect angle for a shot, and as soon as it was empty, there would just be them, right in my way, in that specific spot. This went on for twenty minutes! TWENTY MINUTES! And then just as they finally left, a group of about six people came in and the moment was gone. Man, I hate people.

(I did eventually get a photo of the pillars without anyone in, but the framing is so much better in the damn photo I got the guy in. Typical!)

Not all of the tombs are accessible, but there are a couple of them that are particularly awesome to walk through. As well as tomb 5, there’s also this more gnarly pillared one. (I can’t remember which number it is! Eight?)

And also this one which is like an open-top maze.

It’s a great place to spend an hour or two, and costs very little to enter – just 2.50€! Absolute bargain.

I would recommend going early morning or late afternoon, as Cyprus gets seriously hot during the day and other than inside the tombs themselves, there is zero shelter above ground.

A day trip to the Troodos mountains

Our highlight of our Cyprus trip was a day tour into the Troodos mountains. Yup, I didn’t realise Cyprus had mountains, either!

In fact, I mentioned it to a colleague at work, and when he said you can ski in Cyprus, I honestly thought he was joking! But it’s true – you CAN ski in Cyprus!

The tour took us to the gorgeous mountain village of Lofou, the charming town of Omodos, a wine tasting at an excellent winery, a short walk to a beautiful waterfall, and ended with a stop at the famous Aphrodite’s Rock on the way back to Paphos.

Lofou

Our first stop was somewhere I’d never even heard of, let alone read about when researching Cyprus. It turned out to be probably my favourite place of the trip; a gorgeous little village plonked into the mountains.

We had a wander through the town with our guide, taking in the views from the top, before she left us for around half an hour to explore by ourselves.

She recommended that we try Cyprus coffee at Lofou Village Café; unfortunately I don’t like coffee at the best of times, but being as it’s similar to Turkish coffee, I definitely couldn’t handle anything that strong! However – the best thing about this place was that lots of older locals gather here to play board games. So if nothing else, it’s a fantastic place to people-watch and get some of the local culture.

We had time for a quick wander through the very quiet streets of Lofou. It felt like we were practically the only people there! There’s also not exactly a lot to do there, with only a couple of cafés and shops, but it was really enjoyable to just wander through the streets.

Including these silly flowerpot people!

Before we leave Lofou, I do need to show you these two lions which are equally ridiculous…

Wine tasting at Lambouri Winery

Our next stop would set us up for the day: a tasting at a winery.

We were actually meant to do this in the afternoon, after Omodos, but it was a bank holiday which meant it wouldn’t be open in the afternoon. It would probably have been better the other way around as we were yet to have lunch, but ah well.

To be honest I’ve never done a wine tasting at a winery before, so I have nothing to compare it to, and obviously there was a massive group of us so it wasn’t exactly an intimate experience, but the guy who briefed us on the wine and its history was so entertaining. Would have happily had a drink with him – technically we had five, but that doesn’t count.

He was so good that we ended up buying a couple of bottles of wine – one of their white wines, and a couple of bottles of a traditional wine that was more like a sherry. The bottle also has an interesting shape as you can basically lay it sideways.

It’s called “Commandaria” and we were surprised to learn that it’s the oldest type of wine in the world that’s still in production, dating from 800BC, and exclusively uses grapes that are native to Cyprus. Not only that but legislation dictates that it can only be produced in this region of Cyprus, so it’s exclusive to 14 villages in the Troodos mountains. A bit like champagne! It’s been known as Commandaria since the crusades in the 12th century, so there’s a lot of history behind it.

One bonus of a holiday like this: we actually had luggage to take it home in!

There was also an interesting bright blue wine which I was very tempted by – a few people tried it in the restaurant we went to for lunch!

Millomeris Waterfall

From there, we had another stop nearby. A short ten minute walk took us to a beautiful waterfall tucked away in the side of a cliff. Unfortunately they are currently building a huge resort at the top of the cliff a little further along, but hopefully it won’t take too much away from this lovely natural spot.

This is a gorgeous waterfall – I think there are a few dotted about and I wasn’t expecting anything spectacular, so this was a pleasant surprise.

Omodos

Onwards to Omodos.

Omodos is similar to Lofou, but much busier and a lot more going on; it has more of a bustling town feel than a sleepy mountain village. It’s a very popular town for locals to come to get out of the cities, particularly at weekends.

I’d read that The Black Geese is a great place for food in Omodos, and when we arrived in the village, our guide said we would normally go there for lunch. Unfortunately it was closed to the public for a wedding! I’d say that’s a sign that it’s good, if locals are using it for a wedding, and the menu isn’t even that expensive either.

Anyway, we ended up having lunch at a place which is on Google Maps as Η Παράδοση, which translates to The Tradition. They offered some great food in a quirky setting, which I loved.

I had to have halloumi, being as it originates from Cyprus, although there was a LOT of it stuffed into pita! And that’s coming from me. We got chatting to two Americans, a mother and son who were travelling through Europe. The son had ordered something massive too, and eventually we both had to admit defeat and finish up to explore the town.

Omodos itself is really pretty, although in some ways I preferred Lofou. I found myself taking more photos of houses than actual streets, whereas in Lofou it was all about the pretty alleyways.

The main square backs on to the town’s monastery, Timios Stavros Monastery, which makes for a striking central point of the town. It also meant we did at least see one of Cyprus’s mountain monasteries on our trip, as we were missing the more famous Kykkos Monastery.

Aphrodite’s Rock

There are various tours you can take to the Troodos mountains, but we chose this one because it included a lot, and also had a stop at Aphrodite’s Rock, which we might not have had the chance to visit otherwise.

It did mean that we missed one of the more famous stops in the Troodos mountains, Kykkos Monastery – but we definitely wanted to visit Aphrodite’s Rock, so this tour won out.

Legend has it that Aphrodite’s Rock is the birthplace of goddess Aphrodite herself, and the mythological associations have made it an instant tourist attraction.

And to be fair, it’s a very pretty location! My only complaint was that we didn’t have long enough there – we had barely half an hour to enjoy it, so it felt very much like a pit stop. It’s a fun walk from the car park through a tunnel to get to the beach, too!

There are signs telling you not to climb on the rock itself, but you can absolutely guess what people were doing. In fact, you can SEE it in this photo – look at the right hand side.

Unfortunately this marked the end of our day out – it’s definitely one I would highly recommend if you want to see a beautiful area of Cyprus that isn’t just the coast!

Our guide was brilliant too, with very dry humour and a heck of a lot of knowledge. This wasn’t her main job – she also works in academics and as an ambassador for various organisations. In fact, she spoke so much about her other jobs and everything that she’s involved with in the communtiy that I wondered how on earth she found the time! A very interesting lady, that’s for sure.

All in all, this was a fantastic tour, and definitely the best thing we did in Cyprus.

Book your Troodos Mountains Guided Tour here!

One thing to add is that on our first day in Cyprus, it was Orthodox Easter, which meant everything in Paphos was closed. We were on the perfect holiday for this, however day one is when I decided to get a massive migraine. My small travel bag had broken at the end of our Japan trip, and guess what I’d forgotten to pack in the new one? Painkillers. So other than a short walk through a ghost town to a closed Lidl, I spent the morning by the pool and the entire rest of the day in bed feeling ill. I am so good at relaxing.

Anyway, thankfully we still had a couple of full days to just relax, which is exactly what we needed. And very much a rarity for us!

The Avlida Hotel was perfect for what we needed as well – believe it or not, after talking about how all-inclusive holidays don’t appeal to me, we went on one anyway! We lounged by the pool every day with free cocktails (and plenty of mocktails too!), and the only meal we missed in the hotel was lunch the day we went to the Troodos mountains. That’s my main issue with all-inclusives; the FOMO if you have any other plans.

But for this holiday? Perfect!

And when we weren’t by the pool, I’d be on our balcony reading a book. Bliss in the sunshine – and by bliss, I mean blissfully unaware that it would be some of the only sun we get this year…

Book the Avlida Hotel here!

Cyprus isn’t somewhere I’m yearning to go back to, but while it was a good excuse to get to a new country, it also surprised me with how much it has to offer. We deliberately went with almost no plans in mind, which of course meant we missed out on plenty of things. It’s a great destination if you want a sunny holiday packed with history as an alternative to the Greek islands.

For us, we were happy to be able to relax without the pressures of rushing around to see everything like we normally do.

And sometimes when you’ve been mega busy, that’s just what you need, right?

Read about some more Mediterranean adventures here:
⭐ Four Days In Rhodes, A Greek Island Escape
⭐ What To Do On A Day Trip To Marmaris From Rhodes
⭐ A Relaxing Five Days In Malta: Our Itinerary
⭐ Exploring The Best Beaches On The Algarve
⭐ Surviving Dubrovnik – And Falling In Love With It