For most people Paphos is a place to come and relax beside beautiful beaches whilst taking in some ancient UNESCO sites. Having got our quota of Aphrodite history, it was time to move down a culture gear and see what else this wonderful coastal city had to offer.
Old Town
Paphos’s Old Town certainly isn’t as picturesque pretty as some of the other towns we’ve visited but it still is worth exploring. At the middle of Pano Paphos or Ktima as the traditional centre of town is called, is the Town Hall, a beautiful building constructed in 1955 and modelled on Athens’ Parthenon.
Paphos Town Hall
Opposite the Town Hall in the Municipal Gardens, is the recently restored Pafos Municipal Library. Retaining its neoclassical style, the pure white colour dazzles onlookers in the midday sun.
The Library
The Municipal Gardens themselves aren’t that much to write home about but wandering around any of the nearby areas will take you past attractive buildings and interesting pieces of street art, such as the Peace2Peace Open Air Crochet Installations.
Dream Catchers For Peace
A crocheted tree just outside the Municipal Gallery
Veronica was keen to get to the Municipal Markets which houses all range of tourist kitsch, but before arriving we stumbled across what possibly was an old Byzantine or Ottoman-era Church down beside Caffé Nero and opposite 9th Martiou Square. I’m sure this building has a fascinating history, but no amount of Googling would yield it to me.
Mystery building located in what was the Turkish quarter of Paphos
There was also some interesting murals providing historical information of the town of Paphos from its early beginnings up until more recent times. Again, I couldn’t find any mention of what these were, but they were worth reading as the alternative was whinging at Veronica whilst she checked out kitchen magnets, souvenir bottle top openers and “I Love Paphos” t-shirts.
From olden times
To slightly less olden times
Emmy even had time to make a new friend, although she also decided she was a bit drab and needed glamming up a bit.
Girl With a Bird statue
Our aimless wandering probably wasn’t the best way to explore the area but we weren’t on any time schedule and were happy to simply take in what we came across. Probably worth checking out would’ve been the Turkish neighbourhood slightly to the north of where we were, in the area of Moutallos, just to see what state this was in given the ongoing dispute in Cyprus.
New Digs
We were quite glad to get back home after our little walk in the hot Cyprus sun. Thankfully, our home away from home had its own swimming pool in which to cool off, along with some blow up friends which the girls borrowed to lounge on.
The complex pool
Lounging time
As you’d expect, all that lounging around works up quite the appetite. A couple of kilometres down the road just before Potima Beach, was the lovely Sea You Beach Bar. The bar had lovely panoramic views, cool sea breezes and funky beach-themed decorations but what really sold it was its own dedicated Creperie, one of which was enough to feed two people.
Outside the entrance to the Sea You Beach Bar
Waiting patiently for the crepes to arrive
It was quite nice kicking back without any real agenda for a day but as semi-intrepid travellers, this was just a chance to recharge before heading out again to look at the main sights (outside of the beaches) that most people come to Paphos for.