Kourion

The first place we visited was Kourion. Kourion was an old stadium and bathhouse built on a mountain by the seaside. The tour started with us walking through the remains of the bathhouse which had amazing artwork still in great condition, along with multiple baths that also have smaller baths made for feet washing. As we moved through the bathhouse we entered the stadium. The stadium was very large even though they were only able to preserve 1/3 of it. The stadium was known for hosting orchestras and plays along with other entertainment. Most of the tour was outside so we had an amazing view of the beach as-well. The stadium is still used today in the summer and it hosts similar entertainment to what it originally hosted.

Kolossi Castle

The second tour of the day was of a castle. As we first arrived to the castle there were trees outside that grew beans called carob. These beans looked almost like sugar snap peas when they weren’t ripe but when they are ripe they turn brown. The beans in the plant are often used as a chocolate substitute because they were sweet and very healthy. I tried one and it wasn’t bad it tasted a bit like dark chocolate. After that we entered the castle and went to all three floors. The first two floors were empty rooms and the third floor was the roof. On the roof there were walls with small slits so bows and arrows could shoot through. They would also throw hot oil down onto enemies that tried to go through the castles entrance. The castle was simple but it was very interesting to learn about.

We learned a lot in the first day just from these tours but what interested me the most was the versatility of Limassol. after the two tours we sat down and had lunch and after that out tour guide brought us on another brief walking tour of some of Limassol. After walking around for a bit I realized that at some points we would walk down a narrow alley and we would end up in a big area filled with restaurants and lots of people. This was something I wasn’t expecting because usually in America places like this were out in the open for everyone to see. But here it didn’t seem like most people were locals that already knew where these places were which was very interesting.