I was hyped for our weekend trip to Paphos! The first day was very full of organized cultural visits. We stopped at many locations on our bus ride over there. The first was the ruins of Kourion Archeological Site. Here, we were joined once again by the lovely tour guide, Georgia. At the site we visited the ancient Greek house and amphitheater. The weather was kind of poor that day with so many clouds, but seeing the ancient archeological site was very cool nonetheless. Next we drove over to Aphrodite’s Rock, the alleged birthplace of the God of Love in Greek and Roman legend. The views here were stunning, especially on top of the large rock that we were able to climb. I almost missed the bus back because I lost track of time while searching for cool rocks (I specifically wanted a heart shaped one, since it made sense). Our next bus stop was close to the city of Paphos. We briefly visited the Tomb of Kings which was very cool. These ancient tombs definitely deserved more time, but we had to make it over to lunch. The tombs were not actually the final resting place of any kings, rather they housed aristocrats. The preserved stonework and structures were impressive to see. I also built a small balancing rock tower that seemed to be a common thing done by visitors. Our last organized event of the day was lunch at The Pelican tavern. Much to my surprise, they delivered on the name! The had an actually Pelican that would walk around, and it was so funny. You could even pet it. The food, however, was okay, but the pelican was certainly a great move by their marketing department. Later in the day, a group of us did a sunset boat ride and swam around near a small island in the Mediterranean. It was a lot of fun and a great experience. Finally, we got dinner at an Italian place and when we got back to the hotel room I was out for the night.

The next morning, I woke and got breakfast, then headed over to the beach. We had a great time! Played some soccer, enjoyed the water, and chilled in the sand. I did not put on enough sunblock and got very burnt, but thats a common issue with extended trips to the beach. Plus, maybe I will get a tan out of it? We made a last minute stop at a local pub before boarding the bus back to Nicosia. We talked to one of the servers who seemed very nice but unfortunately had to let him know that we were in a hurry. The bus ride home felt quick because I napped for most of it, but at one point I was awake to see a group of APOEL Nicosia, Nicosia’s soccer team, fans getting ready to go to their last game. My friends convinced me to try and go to the game which we did. Once we got out of our rideshare, we could hear the stadium. It was bumpin! Everyone was singing and cheering loudly. The biggest failure of the trip so far was finding out the games were only available for Cypriots and tourists couldn’t attend. This was so disappointing, but we headed back nonetheless. I got dinner at a cute restaurant called To Anamma with nice outdoor garden seating. After that I called it a night.

I really enjoyed my weekend and Paphos and found that it was packed with special and unique experiences. Now, it’s time to get back to business and see what more Cyprus and Nicosia have to offer in the professional space.