The first stop on our tours today was Kourion which had an ancient bathhouse and theater. The ruins were on top of a cliff which made how the bathhouse acquired their water interesting. They used aqueducts which was the inspiration of the Roman’s famous aqueducts. The bathhouse was originally made by one person who opened it to the public. The theater was a unique ruin in Cyprus because when the Romans invaded, they remade most of the theaters into arenas for entertainment but this one still had the characteristics of a theater. These sights overlooked the gorgeous ocean, and we learned were destroyed by an earthquake in the far past but never built over which is also very uncommon.

The next stop on our tour was the Kolossi Castle. This castle was used by the Crusaders back in the time of the Holy Wars. It was sold to them by the conquer King Richard. The Crusaders would sell the wine and sugar made around the castle. The castle had three different floors that had uses for defense when people would attack.

An interesting thing the tour guide taught our group about was the Carob tree. Carob trees have fruits, which look like green beans. There are beans inside that taste similar to chocolate, and some people use it as a replacement for chocolate. Inside of the beans there is a seed. All seeds are an identical size and weigh the same. Before systems of weight existed, for example grams and pounds, people called the weight of 24 of these seeds a carot, and this is still used to say the weight of diamonds and gold.