Cyprus (Part 1)

We sailed over to Cyprus to catch up with friends we haven’t seen for a couple of years now because they are now working here. Mac and Jos very kindly put us up in their colonial style bungalow, which has some great rules: sleep as long as you want, eat and drink what you want and, most definitely, relax! We enjoyed staying with them enormously and tapped into their local area knowledge for good places to re-victual BV as well as tourist sights to see on Cyprus. It was quite strange to sleep in a normal bed after 6 months on board BV.

The other friends we were really looking forward to seeing again were Elliot and Trig. They have a young daughter, Holly, who we have only seen before as a baby so it was great to see her now as very lively 3 year old with a fantastic character. Elliot had run around tirelessly to make things easy for us, from brokering the best deal for a hire car, to trying to find the best place to moor BV and, along the way, introduced us to some really fun and interesting people.

As you would expect with 3 couples reunited after several years, there were some great social evenings both at restaurants in Limassol, in their homes, at bars meeting work colleagues and just enjoying life on the beach. It was a superb week and both Nicky and I felt quite sad to end the fun when we got back on board BV. We had definitely been spoilt!

It wasn’t all parties and dinners though, we also managed to squeeze in some sight-seeing too. Mac and Jos suggested that we visit the archaeological site of Kourion, just west of Episkopi, and that turned out to be very sound guidance.

The ancient city of Kourion sits on a ridge line with commanding views southwest over the coastline. The oldest architectural remains that have been found on the site date back to the Hellenstic period (325-50 BC) but most of the ruins we saw were from the Roman era, post 50 BC. A series of 6 earthquakes between 15 and 364 AD were extremely destructive and the city underwent extensive reconstruction building programmes as a result. The transition of the inhaitants to Christianity at the end of the 4^th century AD was also captured in the subjects of some of the mosaic floors that remain to this day.

The House of Eustolius

Once we had got our tickets the obvious place to start was the covered area of the House of Eustolius.

The ruins date from 50 BC but the house had been extended during the 3^rd and 4^th century AD. What we saw were the ruins of a major rebuild dating from 408-450 AD. The walls and bath houses were fascinating but what really impressed us was the quality of the mosaics. Some of these show the Christian symbol of the fish and text on the mosaic highlights the new link to Christianity. The superb mosaics would prove to be a theme for the whole site.

Adjacent to the covered area of the House of Eustolius is the impressive 2^nd century BC theatre which could seat up to 3000 people.

The theatre was actually destroyed by an earthquake and abandoned in the 4^th century BC so the theatre we looked at is a modern reconstruction.

Early Christian Basilica

The archaeological site stretches over quite an area and so a short walk brought us to the early Christian Basilica which dates from the beginnings of the 5^th century AD.

Early Christian Basilica

Adjacent, to the east, are the remains of the agora, a colonnade of 16 marble columns know as the stoa, and the Roman nymphaeum which was effectively the public baths and associated buildings.

The agora, the stoa and the hexagonal swimming pool in the Roman nymphaeum   

The public baths in the Roman nymphaeum

The excavation of the public baths clearly showed the supports for the raised floor associated with the heating system for the baths.

The house of Achilles

At the northern edge of the site is the house of Achilles named because of the mosaic. This shows Achilles and Ulysses in the house of Lycomedes where Achilles, disguised as a woman, had been sent by his mother to avoid the Trojan War.

The House of the Gladiators

Walking back we saw the House of the Gladiators, also named after the mosaics. Built in the second half of the 3^rd century AD it was destroyed by the earthquakes in the 4^th century AD covering up these amazing mosaics of the gladiators. Half closing your eyes you realise how clever the mosaic artists were with the armour and facemasks losing their pixelated effect and starting to look almost like a painting.

Earthquake House

The last area we visited was another private Roman house, now know as Earthquake House. It dates from the 1^st or early 2^nd century AD but was also reworked in the mid 4^th century. Shortly after that renovation it was completely destroyed by an earthquake in 365 AD. Just as at Pompei, human and animal skeletons have been found where they were buried by the collapse of the building giving a snapshot of life in the house at the time of the disaster.

BBQ on the beach

The archaeological site of Kourion wasn’t at all what we had expected. The site was spread over a much larger area than we had imagined and we were both amazed by the quality of the mosaics. But then, after a hard day of sight seeing, it was back to the wild social life including a fab BBQ on the beach.

Limassol, Cyprus