I’ve been looking forward to this day for a while now. We were finally able to sleep to recover form the last three days of company visits. While they are extremely informative, they are also extremely exhausting so being able to sleep in until 9:00 this morning was much needed.
Our first stop was at the Kolossi Ancient Castle. The three-story tower overlooked the entire surrounding area, and since the terrain around the castle was completely flat, it made for prime spot for a caste back in the 15th century. I was impressed to see that the fresco painting in the entrance of the castle still maintained most of its color and was almost completely in tact.
We then headed to Kourion ancient city and were able to see the hot baths that were used back in ancient Cyprus. I was confused as to how exactly the baths were heated, but it was said that they had a cold, warm, and hot baths. All of these baths were overlooking the coast as well, so I think it’s fair to say the ancient Cypriots of this era had is easy! In the same area was a Greek theater as well. This was a large semi-circle with rows in increasing height used for seating. The theater was massive already when got there, seating up to 1000 people, but back in the day it could seat up to 3500 people! The incredible construction of these sites was extremely impressive and showed how much the Cypriots valued leisure time.
By this time we were all starving, so we headed to get lunch on the beach of Agios Ermogenis. The lunch was great, but the beach was even better! Seeing the ocean from the ancient Greek theater did not even compare to how it felt down at the beach. It was interesting that the beaches here are mainly smooth, small rocks, while most commercial beaches back home are all sand.
Our final stop was the Limassol Castle. This castle was not even a five minute walk from the hotel we are staying at, but we never had time to visit while it was open. Inside was a museum-like display with uncovered clay pots and even a skeleton of a dismembered person from a precios invasion (some of these invasions must’ve been pretty brutal). I was interested to see that the castle had been added to multiple time in order to accommodate some of the changes in purpose over the years. It was used for protection and then as a jail at one point which was strange.