This morning we started our day with a photo stop at Aphrodite’s rock, which is said to have been the place where the goddess was born, where she emerged from sea foam. It was an uncharacteristically cloudy day to start, and out tour guide actually told us that it was because they were clouds of dust from the Sahara Desert, but it’ll clear up within the next couple of days. You may know Aphrodite as the Goddess of Beauty, but in Cypriot history, she is the Goddess of Fertility, which I find fascinating. Honestly, I didn’t really understand the hype surrounding this destination, but once we were there in person, I completely understood. It was huge and beautiful. There are three rocks, a large, medium, and small. They say that if you swim around the middle rock around midnight, you will turn 10 years younger, but that seems a little dangerous, as there are strong winds and currents, so i guess I’ll never know for sure. After about a half hour there, we continued along to the west coast of Cyprus, to a very popular city call Paphos. First, we went to the Tomb of Kings. This was really interesting because it literally was like an underground mansion, where they buried the dead. This is because high ranking citizens in this area, as well as Ptolemaic society (who they took inspiration from) believed that the dead deserved the same treatment and luxury as the living. It was a sight to behold for sure. Unrelated to the Tomb, but still interesting, there is a visible shipwreck right off the coast by the Tomb and over the past 30 years, it has become just as big of an ‘attraction’ as the Tomb. After some lunch in Paphos Harbor, we visited and toured the Archaeological Park, which is home to some of the most famous and intricate mosaics in the world. I cannot even imagine the time, artistry, and effort it took to create such beauty back then. It probably took quite a bit of experimentation too. Throughout the tour, each mosaic held a purpose and told a story, for example, one of the mosaics here in the House of Dionysus inspired the story of Romeo and Juliet… not all of the mosaics are tragic, though. No matter the story, each one was beautiful. From there, we had some free time in the harbor, so we got some gelato and sat in the shade and played cards, because it was so, so hot, and I really didn’t want a repeat of my sunburn from yesterday! Another A+ day!