Limassol, Cyprus: A taste of Cyprus

My entire shore excursions team, with the exception of the manager, had never been into Limassol, Cyprus. Imagine selling tours to 2,000 guests and having no clue what you are selling! That’s pretty much the situation here! Again, it was me and Maya as it was in Haifa yesterday going to the Dead Sea. Our tour operator, Savvas, took us today in his own car. It started with a drive through the town of Limassol, which really isn’t that impressive to be honest. Just some shops and restaurants lining the streets of the old town – most quite expensive because that’s just the way that Cyprus is…expensive!

Cyprus folks are primarily Greek and speak an ancient dialect of Greek, but there’s a large population of Russians there as well, but also has British roots. They drive on the wrong side of the road (sorry, Kieran ;)) just like the British! After we got through the rubbish side of town, we made it to the wealthier side with beautiful homes on the water. Even managed to sneak a peek at Roman Abramovich’s home, which is the largest home in Cyprus and it’s even up for sale at a measly $25 million! It was cool because he used to own a yacht, the Polarus, and Kieran and I got to go on it a few weeks ago to take a look around since a friend of ours works there!

Back to Cyprus…

Our first official stop was at the Kolossi Castle, where we took a few photos and walked in. The whole idea of the day was just to get a feel for what we are selling to the guests and how to explain how many stairs there are and the basic information. Ten minutes later we were off…

Next stop: Kourian Theater and Eustolios’ house located right next to the theater. It was exactly what I expected from it - a typical Greek theater, but with a fabulous view of the water. My favorite part was that it’s still used today once a year for traditional Greek comedies and tragedies and the locals go and watch shows there. Eustolio’s house is what’s left of a home built right next to the theater. There are remnants of mosaics and baths/saunas. Several earthquakes damaged most of it, but what’s still there is still quite impressive.

  

For our last stop on the sightseeing tour, we stopped off at the Temple of Apollo. Honestly, more ruins! There was a “fighting place” where the men would cover themselves in oil and wrestle (what’s changed from then to now, right?) The temple itself had two pillars remaining and we walked around and took pictures of the bath houses and saunas there as well. The most incredible part of the whole thing was the view of the ocean. Not too impressed, but I think it’s because I’m getting sick of ruins (as snobby as that may sound!) – They’re all starting to look alike!

Savvas asked us if we were hungry and we said that we could go for something to eat and he took us to his favorite spot right on the beach. The restaurant was a typical beach restaurant in décor with its wooden floors, anchors and ropes lining the walls. We sat outside on the patio and had the most incredible views of the cliffs and the water. Savvas got a feel for the types of food we liked and he ordered several dishes of the freshest food I’ve had in a long time! We had fresh pita, tzatziki, fresh shrimp, fried calamari, grilled octopus, a huge Greek salad (sans olives for me, please!) and a side of fries. We ate until we were just ready for a nap…but the end to another lovely day. This job comes with more perks than I could have ever imagined!