After checking out of our hotel in Limassol, we headed to Aphrodite’s rock. Despite the cloudy weather, it was absolutely beautiful. The water was so clear than you could see all the stones below and the rock was an impressive sight. We had discussed this rock a few times in our pre-departure classes, so I was excited to finally see it in person and it did not disappoint. Greek mythology states that this is the rock where the goddess Aphrodite was born and found by fairies who guided her to shore. She is known as the goddess of love and while Zeus had her marry Hephaestus, she was in love with the Prince of Paphos until he passed away.
After leaving Aphrodite’s rock, we headed to a building near Paphos Harbor to have a guided tour of some mosaics. When we first entered, our tour guide showed us a mosaic that had a mythological monster in the center. It was the oldest mosaic found on the island and it was made with techniques from the Hellenistic period. The mosaic was created by using black and white pebbles. The mythological monster was a women with a dragon’s tale and 5 dog heads. The legend they are depicting is that she was sinking ships around the island. Our guide explained that in the piece it seems like she is holding a big cross, but since Christianity didn’t exist around this time period, it was actually just the mass of a ship. We saw another mosaic from the Roman period that depicted a man staring at his own reflection in the water. Legend has it that one day he ended up falling in the water and drowning. This piece of art had an underlying meaning, not to be too obsessed with your looks.
Another mosaic that I found interesting was one that depicted how the grapes for wine making came to the island. Greek Mythology said that the vines came from Mesopotamia. They were discovered by the God of wine when he went on a campaign to the east. The mosaic shows his triumphant return. I liked how the tour guide said most of the pictures were people creating legends to explain natural occurrences or things that they didn’t have a real explanation for yet.
After leaving the mosaics we got to enjoy free time around the harbor. We started walking down the street to see all the different options that they had. At each restaurant, when we would stop to check the menu, someone would come out and try to convince us to choose their restaurant. We ended up holding out until one of the restaurants offered us a 10% discount. I found this experience interesting because we got to witness a lot of different marketing techniques until we chose the one that we liked the best. I got a delicious smoked salmon sandwich!
