Todays visit was to the ancient city of Paphos. We left a little later in the morning as we were given a little bit of a later start to the day, so that meant a little extra sleep. Our first stop was to Aphrodite’s Rock just outside of Paphos. When I say we were at a breath taking location I mean it. This place was BEAUTIFUL. The rocks, the sand, the beautiful water, the cliff coastlines, and more. It was all just beautiful. The story for the rock goes as follows, Aphrodite was born unto the sea near the rock and first stepped foot onto land by the rock. It is believed in local myth that for a man to receive eternal youth he must swim around the rock three times naked, at midnight, on a full moon to achieve eternal youth. For a woman to receive eternal beauty, she must do the same.
The next location we stopped to explore was the Tomb of the Kings. This site was a common burial ground for higher ranking Cypriots dating back to the Roman period. This was a cool place to check out as it was right on the coast and had free roam to check out some of the tombs and their designs. I even grabbed some photos of myself posing inside one of the tombs.
Before we went to our last site, three of the guys from the trip, including myself went to a local barber shop to check it out. Experiencing the local culture is something that is also very valuable to collect while being abroad, not just the history.
To wrap up our day in Paphos, we went to the Archeological site where ancient mosaics laid preserved and to be looked at. This mosaics told ranges of stories from greek mythology giving us some of the great stories we have today. One story being known to have given Shakespeare the inspiration to write Romeo and Juliet. These mosaics are some of the earliest mosaics known to man. Below are some photos of the mosaic art.
To conclude, the city of Paphos is really rich in its history and beauty, but has had a large sense of tourism rush into its area, poaching it of a lot of its true beauty. I hope that a balance can be brought to this city so that it truly can show it.