The sea, some ruins, and a beautiful Cypriot Vacation!

Three weeks ago, Sam and I finished seven beautiful days days enjoying the Mediterranean weather of this island nation. For those of you who may not know Cyprus is located in the Eastern part of the Mediterranean Sea very near Lebanon, Syria, Israel, and Turkey.

Going into the week, we really didn't know what to expect. Given its location we knew it would be warm and sunny (average temperatures were in the 70s all week!), but because Cyprus isn't a major tourist hub (for Americans) or a country that is talked about much in world news we didn't know much about the its history or culture. Nevertheless, we discovered that this island is not only filled with cultural and geographical beauty, but also owns vast historical ties to ancient civilizations. There are ruins all over the city waiting to be discovered around seemingly every corner and backstreet. Beautiful stone mosaics from 500-2000 years, some of which are perfectly preserved, dot these archaeological sites and show the vast wealth of the Ancient Greek, Roman, Byzantine, and Ottoman civilizations.

These first three pictures are at the archaeological site and UNESCO World Heritage site "Tomb of the Kings." While there are no mosaics here, this is an example of what we saw while here. These are now tombs today, but 2000+ years ago were multi-functional, serving also as homes for the wealthiest of ancient Cypriot society. Over time as family members died, they would be buried in these homes, the tombs of which can be seen in many of the structures. It was at this point, that the then buildings became multi-functional.

This picture is just one example of the mosaics that were mentioned above. We saw at least 20 gorgeous pieces of art during our time exploring the archaeological sites here. These were again, generally used in the upper class homes, but were also created for government buildings. Various examples, from various types of buildings can still be seen in Paphos today.

One other interesting historical fact that needs to be addressed when covering Cyprus deals with its more recent divisive history. Due to specifically to Ottoman and Greek influences on the island the country has been divided culturally and literally for the last 50 years. Starting in the mid 1960s, Greek Cypriots made a push for what Greeks call "Enosis" the incorporation of Greek held territory into the Motherland, if you will. However, Turkic Cypriots (backed by Turkey) felt a claim to the island as well and fought back against this idea leading to a civil war between the two sides. After a year of fighting, the UN stepped in separated the sides and declared a DMZ line across the country. (If you go back to the map, the DMZ line is essentially where "Cyprus" is written on the map.) All Greek Cypriots moved to the South and Western part of the country, all Turkic Cypriots moved to the Eastern and Northern Part. The capital, Nicosia, was to be shared between the two powers. Although the tensions have significantly subsided this division still goes on to this day. For those of you who are wondering, Paphos is on the western, Greek side of the country.

Last, but not least, what's a subtropical vacation in April without a beach? Paphos (and Cyprus in general) have plenty of beautiful beaches to go along with the perfect weather. We sat along the beach, soaked up the sun, ate gelato, and swam in the sea (water temps were in the mid 60s, so swimming was kept to a minimum). The beach was gorgeous and the weather was perfect; there isn't much more we could have asked for!

For now, I guess that wraps everything up. This vacation was above and beyond anything that we could have expected or hoped for. Cyrpus was an absolutely amazing country that we will certainly be visiting again in the future.