Paphos Hotels

a party atmosphere, with small fireworks and a fire eater outside.
At two other places we were served tainted meat, undercooked, overcooked & burnt meals. The unsettling thing was, these were places we would consider the more expensive establishments, although honestly there wasn\'t that great a difference in prices. Needless to say we won\'t recommend them but will give them the benefit of doubt, as others we met had enjoyed their meals there. Maybe we just picked the wrong nights to visit them. Personally, if I pass a restaurant that is obviously very quiet, I won\'t visit there for a few days until I can be sure that the stock of meat they had taken out/bought for that days business has been used or disposed of.
We didn\'t eat at the harbour as we were warned it was expensive and thought so ourselves when we wandered passed and checked out the prices.

A few prices to give you an idea -
(S)supermarket – (L)local shop
Coca-Cola, Sprite, Seven Up, etc. x 1.5ltr - (S) €1.89 (L) €2.50
Water x 1.5ltr – (S) x6 €1.89 (L) x1 from €1
Water x 500ml – (S) x12 €2.00 (L) x1 €0.5
Sliced bread averaged about €2.50

A couple of safety issues; beware of the street lamps in the area. These have been installed on bolts but they don\'t sit flush with the ground. The base plate sits about 1”- 2” above the pavement, just enough to catch your toes or ankles if you get too close. Those in the main streets and around the harbour have had this gap filled with cement, but not the side streets.
Also, watch out when you enter your apartment for little seed pods which can stick to your shoes and come off on the carpet. These are vicious little things, smaller than a finger nail, gray/beige in colour, with needle sharp points on them, something you wouldn\'t want to step on with bare feet. If you find them, pick them up very carefully as they will easily pierce the skin, and throw them outside or in the bin.

Travel – local bus service is good, fares very reasonable. A €2 day ticket will get you there and back, changing buses when you like, where you like, off and on at sites of interest. A good way to see what the tour buses won\'t show you if you don\'t want to hire a car. Try to avoid travelling between mid-day and 2p.m. as a lot of the buses go out of service to do the school runs. You may find yourself feeling like a sardine as the buses are designed to carry 34 seated and 60 standing passengers, plus space for one wheelchair, and drivers will squeeze as many people on as they can. Children under 12 travel free.

As with any holiday, it can be as hectic or as relaxing as you want it to be. There is a lot to see and do in the Paphos area alone, especially on the historic side of things. Visiting the areas of historic interest is very reasonable, €3.40 for the vast mosaics area down at the harbour, €1.70 for Paphos castle and the same for The Tombs of the Kings. Incidentally, as has been mentioned in other revues, take water with you, a good idea would be to freeze a bottle for each person the night before (it stays cool longer), as there is nowhere on the larger sites to purchase refreshments.

The only down side to our entire holiday were the terrible flight times, arriving and leaving at an earlier time would have been ideal. Our return flight got us into Glasgow at 2.30a.m. which, as we had become accustomed to over our two week stay, was 4.30a.m., Cyprus time. A very tiring five hour flight, but a very enjoyable holiday, you\'ll love it there.