Today was a day filled with so much sightseeing. We drove to the town of Paphos, and on the way we stopped at Aphrodite’s Rock, or Petro Tou Romiou (pictured below). This sight was beautiful. This is said to be the birthplace of Aphrodite which makes a lot of sense because she was the goddess of beauty, and this was quite the sight to behold. In myths she is born from the seafoam. We hit the road again to visit the Tomb of the Kings, which date back to the 4th century BC. These tombs were vast and deep. I understand why kings would want to be buried there because the view of the sea was beautiful, and it was surrounded by lush flower bushes. All of the little nooks and crannies in these tombs made it slightly difficult to climb around and see everything, but it was a fun time getting to explore such rich history and old archaeological remains. We got to take many cool pictures as a group there (see the one with the Pitt flag). Finally, when we were in the Paphos harbor, Georgia showed us the mosaics in the House of Dionysos and told us many wonderful Greek mythology stories. My favorite mosaic in particular was the one that featured Pyramus and Thisbe, the tragedy of two forbidden lovers that inspired Shakespeare to write Romeo and Juliet. However, there was a mistake in this mosaic. A leopard was depicted above Pyramus laying on the ground when it should have been a lioness. The lioness is the thing that startled Thisbe and caused her to leave her blood stained cloak behind leading Pyramus to believe the worst and committing suicide. You can truly see the pain in his eyes in the mosaic, and it is quite sad. Nevertheless, I enjoyed this mosaic the most because I did not know that story, and I really like how it tied to Romeo and Juliet. All of the other mosaics were so detailed too and had such great storis to tell. Seeing sights like this always makes me yearn for more knowledge, and I am happy I can learn visually.
