Tomb of the Kings, Goodbye to Cyprus, and the UK
Trip Start
Jul 04, 2006
1
62
63
Trip End
Jan 16, 2007
Warrington, United Kingdom
Sunday, January 14, 2007
After the travel and excitement of the past four days, we are planning for a much quieter and easier day today. Our travels during this time have taken us to many ancient archeological sites where we have visited the temples of Gods, and we have also admired the beautiful mosaic floors that have survived almost 2000 years. We have visited ancient castles, and wondered at the magnificent Roman Odeon theatres of the past. Our day in the snow with all its unbridled pleasure was one we will remember forever, as was our visit to the city of Nicosia for very different reasons. During this time we knocked up almost 850klm on the clock of our hire car, so we think a days rest is well deserved.
This turns out to be a good plan, as the somewhat cold and overcast weather conditions of the past few days have gone, and it has been replaced with blue skies, and warm still conditions. Gail decides to forgo the pool deck at our resort, and finds a quiet place on the sand next to where the waves from the Mediterranean Sea roll endlessly onto the shore. As for me, after driving into the center of Paphos to return the hire car, I take some time to do a bit of sightseeing along the docks area, and enjoy a drink in one of the many cafes along the breakwater, before catching a bus back to the resort in the mid afternoon to join Gail on the beach.
In the evening we decide to enjoy the Cypriot banquet that is on offer in our resorts restaurant as we have developed quite a taste for Cypriot food, and have eaten out at a variety of places during our stay here. As my favorite food is lamb, I have especially enjoyed the Lamb Kleftico on offer, and order this every time it appears on the menu.
Tuesday 9th January
After yesterdays rest, I am ready to get out and about again, as this is to be our last full day in Cyprus. Gail is not so keen, and the blue sky and warm sunshine has called her back to the beach for the day. So with plans to meet up later in Paphos in the early evening for dinner, I head off to the bus stop to catch a ride into the "Tombs of the Kings" World Heritage Site that I have heard so much about.
After standing at the bus stop for a while with no bus in sight, a young bloke pulled up on a motor scooter to tell me there was a bus strike on all day today, so no buses anywhere. Faced with a 6 klm walk to the "Tombs", I asked the young bloke for a lift, so after he stopped laughing, he invited me to jump on the back, and as I held on tight, we headed off weaving in and out of traffic towards the centre of Paphos.
Arriving at the site, I thanked the bloke for his help, and wandered into one of the most amazing places I have ever visited. The "Tombs of the Kings" are one of the major archaeological attractions of Paphos, and these monumental underground tombs which are carved out of solid rock date back to the 4th century BC. Although high ranking officials rather than Kings were buried here, it is the magnificence of the tombs that gave the locality its grand name. I spent a memorable couple of hours wandering around, taking an endless number of photos, with each tomb I visited being only surpassed by the next.
From here it was only another couple of klms walk into the harbor of Paphos, so I took my time and enjoyed the sunshine while admiring the wonderful Cypriot churches and buildings along the way. Once there I did some "last minute" shopping, before settling down in the mid afternoon sunshine at a cafe with a cold drink and a good book, alongside the 13th century medieval Fort of Paphos which we had visited when we first arrived in Cyprus. I wasn't sure how Gail would go finding her way in here without busses running, but as I couldn't contact her (no-one could tell me the resort phone number nor did they have a phone directory in the dozen or so places I enquired with) there was nothing to do but settle down to see if she made it here.
With the sun beginning to set, and no Gail in sight (later I was to learn that after waiting at the bus stop for over half an hour, and finally being told there were no buses running, she headed back to the resort to wait for me to ring) it was time to find a cab to take me back to the resort where we finally met up, and enjoyed an "antipasto" meal and a bottle of wine on the balcony of our resort room to toast our last night in Cyprus.
Wednesday 10th January
Today we must leave Cyprus, so after a leisurely breakfast while gazing out over the blue waters of the Mediterranean Sea, we spend the rest of the morning packing and getting ready for the bus that will pick us up around midday. We are sorry to be leaving, and curse not having booked two weeks, as it has been a wonderful place with so much more to see, and the weather forecast for the next week is just brilliant.
We are picked up from our resort right on time at noon, and it will be another nine hours before we are picked up by Tony from Manchester International, and driven back at Dee and Tony's house in Warrington. They have been so good to us, allowing us to use their home as a base while we plan each of our adventures and travels, that we can never thank them enough, and only hope we can see them both out in Australia when we can repay their kindness and hospitality.
Thursday 11th January
All good things must come to an end, and sadly this must also be the case with our "Brian and Gail's Excellent Adventure". It has been over six months since we flew out of Australia for Thailand back in early July 2006, and although there is less than three weeks till we are booked to return to Australia, we both feel the time is right to go home now. We are desperately missing home, and although we try to talk to our daughters Jacki and Cathy every week, we both long to see and hold them again, along with our gorgeous Granddaughters, Rainee and Cara. When we left Aussie, the twins hardly spoke at all, and had only been walking for a couple of months. Now when we phone home, we hear them both chattering away over the phone, and the DVD Jacki sent to us for Christmas showed them both running around and climbing over everything. Also our daughter Cathy has a new man in her life since we left Aussie, and they have bought an apartment together, so Cathy moved out of home a couple of days ago to start her new life there.
Of course, the short days and cold overcast weather in the UK doesn't help to keep us here any longer, and if we were to stay, it would be by taking week long holidays at sunny resorts many hours flight south of the UK to places similar to Lanzarote and Cyprus.
So, a call to Qantas confirms a tentative enquiry we made prior to our weeks holiday in Cyprus is still available, so we have the booking confirmed and its all go for our flight home. We fly with British Airways from Manchester International 10.00am Monday 15th January to London, where after a 90 minute stop-off, we board Qantas flight QF30 at 12.25pm for the 22 hour 15 minute flight back to Australia. Taking into account the eleven hours time difference, it will be 9.40pm Tuesday 16th January before we are back on Aussie soil. While we were loath to bring our excellent adventure to an end, there is relief that we have made this decision, and are both very excited to be going home to family and friends.
The day is spent making our final arrangements for leaving, and preparing a small bag each of what we will need for our final few days here, and doing the final packing of our suitcases for home. In the evening we enjoy a meal with Tony & Dee for the second last time, and finish off with drinks where we are joined by Sue and Peter who have come around to say their goodbyes. They have all been great friends, and we are sad to say our goodbyes.
Friday 12th January
We head into Warrington this morning to pick up a hire car that we booked over the internet yesterday, and we are soon on our way to Derby where we will spend a couple of days with our son Alan, before we fly out from the UK on Monday. The drive takes us through the town of Uttoxeter where Alan works, so we time our drive so that we can pick him up as he finishes work around 2.00pm. From there it is back to his place in Derby, before we head into the city to catch up with the highlights of the first One Day International cricket game between Australia vs England on the giant screen at the Walkabout pub. We enjoy a few stubbies of VB while enjoying another Aussie win, and we are joined by Alan's girlfriend Jordy for an evening meal at Alan and Jordy's favorite Mexican restaurant. It was Jordy's birthday yesterday, so we give her a card and gift, and toast her birthday here in the UK. After moving onto another club for some late night drinks, it is back to Alan's for more chit chat, coffee and bed.
Saturday 13th January
Today, Alan and I are going to watch Derby vs Sheffield Wednesday in a Championship League match at Derby's home ground, and plan to stay with him for one last night before we will say our goodbyes. Alan and Jordy are currently planning to work in the UK for another six months, before doing some traveling of their own, and they plan to be back in Australia around the time of the AFL Grand Final in late September.
As for Gail and I, well we will drive back to Warrington tomorrow where we will visit my cousin Andrea and John to say goodbye, before a quiet and with luck an early night, to be ready for our long journey back to Aussie.
So there you have it. That has been our "excellent adventure", and we will add just the final epilogue once we land back in Aussie, before we return to some form of normality in South Caulfield, Melbourne.
To those we won't get a chance to see or call before leaving, thanks for your hospitality and friendship during our stay here in the UK, and we hope to see you all one day out in sunny Australia.
