Cyprus With the summer weather at home having been so dismal (again) this year, we thought it might be nice to see some proper winter sun. As we were only going for a long weekend, we didn’t want to have to travel too far. It would have been a toss-up between the Canary Islands and Cyprus, except that British Airways have stopped flying to the Canary Islands. So Cyprus it was then.
Austrian Alps Once I'd gotten over the fact that 100 Euros had cost £94 at the airport, I settled down on the emptiest plane I've been on for many years to enjoy the view.This was the first time I'd ever flown over the Alps and the view was superb. It was also the only part of the flight that wasn't over unbroken cloud. Nice. It’s making me look forward to my next trip to Switzerland already.
Jimny Having arrived in Cyprus, we picked up our "Suzuki Vitara or similar". I suggest that Avis have a look at a car brochure before they update their website for 2009. A Toyota RAV4 is a "Suzuki Vitara or similar". A Jimny is at least from the class below, or possibly even the class below that.The Jimny has convincingly marched into my Top 3 worst hire cars of all time.
Elysium Still, at least the 5* Elysium hotel was exactly as specified. It was dark by the time we arrived and this was the view from our balcony (looking to the right at least - the sea was to the left).
Ruins? The hotel gives the appearance of having been built around some ruins, although the fact that it's not mentioned on the hotel's website makes me think it's just designed to look that way. They've done a good job though.
Corridor The corridor leading to the Epicurean restaurant. Very symmetrical. Nice.
Orpheus A view of the hotel from its Orpheus Amphitheatre.
Library The library. Very relaxing. This really is a very nice hotel.
Tombs Anyway, the hotel is right next to the Tomb of Kings, which was apparently a burial ground for esteemed politicians. Presumably the Tomb of Politicans wasn't drawing in the tourist crowds?
Tombs Most of the tombs are carved straight out of the rock, which must have been pretty hard work. Also, it can’t have been easy carving the pillars in exactly the right place.
Tombs Oooooo. Spooky.
View A view from the hills above Paphos.
Ski Club I'd heard that Cyprus was one the of only places in Europe where you can go sunbathing in the morning and skiing in the afternoon. Although, judging by the state of the Cyprus Ski Club, I think I'd probably spend the afternoon by the pool too.Notice the radar dome in the middle right of the picture. That’s the highest point in Cyprus (about 7,500 feet), but you can’t get near it because it’s part of a military base.
Terrace Back at the hotel and it's time for some lovely beer on the terrace. Mmmmm. And it needed to be lovely too because, what with the terrible exchange rate, it was almost six quid-a-pint. Yikes!
Company There are lots of sparrows around here, which might go some way to explaining why there are none left in the UK now.
Sunset Sunset from the hotel's beach.You may have noticed that there are comparatively more photos of the hotel than there are of Cyprus. That's because the hotel was superb and Cyprus was, well, a bit disappointing. Whilst the weather was lovely for the time of year (around 23C and dry, although regularly overcast), I'd imagined that Cyprus itself was going to be much more scenic than it actually turned out to be.If you're looking for a relaxing getaway, or a beach holiday, this would be a most excellent place to be. If you're looking for great scenery, or aren't overly enthused by ruins, then you'd probably be better off in the Canary Islands.