Today, we were able to go to Paphos. It was about an hour bus ride from Limassol, but we made a few stops along the way, so the ride was divided up. Our first stop was Aphrodite’s Rock. It is said that Aphrodite was brought into the world at the bottom of the oceans where Aphrodite’s Rock is. It is also said that if someone swims to Aphrodite’s Rock naked at midnight under a full moon, they will get eternal youth.
After Aphrodite’s Rock, we went to the Tomb of the Kings. These tombs were carved out of one stone and could house 20 people. The ancient Greeks believed that one could not be distributed or else it would ruin their chances of getting into the afterlife. Because of this, they carved tombs into the side of the stones while the main section of the tomb was a brilliant courtroom. Also, every grave had a symbolic well in it. This was because the Ancient Greeks believed that one passed through water to get to the afterlife, so to help the deceased, they gave them a well in their tomb.
We went to Paphos for lunch after leaving the Tomb of the Kings. I got lunch, and there was a beautiful view out into the harbor of Paphos.
Once lunch was over, we went to see mosaics. These mosaics were from The Ancient Romans. The mosaics were never moved. They were all discovered precisely where they were displayed. They also was never tampered with, so one could imagine the size of the building if the floor took up as much room as it did. It fascinates me how the ancient Romans were able to create such mosaics with the tiny stones that they had. One, they had to carve the stones, and they were terrifyingly accurate from the mosaics. Also, they had to find what stones would be the right color for each part of the mosaics.