Cyprus Akama Peninsula

We followed love around today. Yes, this is Aphrodite and Adonis land.  She was born in Cyprus and met  Adonis when he came to the place she bathed. We drove over the hill to Aphrodites Bath, following another rental car who was obviously going to the same place as we were.  We took the same wrong turnings that she took as signs are normally right on the turning and easy to miss. We walked along to where Aphrodites bathed "a pool in a grotto shaded by an overgrown fig tree, with water running down moss-covered stone" yes we went all that way to see that! The little pool is fed by a little brook falling into the hole below and has an impressive fig tree covering most of the pool (would be nice and cool in summer). The water is no longer "potable" and we weren't allowed to swim in it (I did so want to try it - because I would stay young if I could immerse myself - but alas we will have to find another place).

After taking a couple of photos we went off in search of the nature trail and found a 7.5 km hike in parts of the Akamas peninsula, up the hill and along the coast line. This was Adonis's pathway where we assume he went to hunt and look out for pirates before getting thirsty.  After reaching the top we went down along Aphrodites path – a bit of a goat track really - not sure if Aphrodite would have wandered up there without prompting from a personal trainer - but who knows.  It zigged and it zagged and was country only fit for the goats and a few hardy souls.  We saw a number of goats and fewer hardy souls and climbed up and down to the sound of music (bells around goat's neck that is)...
High on the hill is lonely goatherd
Lay ee odl lay odl ee lay hee ho
Loud was the voice of the lonely goatherd
Lay ee odl lay odl oo

It would be lovely in spring as the bulbs were beginning to spring up everywhere – some with tulip type leaves, others with more daffodil-like leaves but we had no idea what they would look like when they flowered. The mountain daisies were just beginning to flower and it looked as though their were wild orchids and begonias to complete the hillside garden. We wandered past lots of lizards, discussed and decided that there would be no snakes around (then Harry saw a metre long black one slither into the undergrowth - no more going to the loo behind a bush for me!) Many of the trees and shrubs were named - there was Bramble (blackberry), a Murray Red Eucalyptus (a long way from home), lots of cactuses, thistles and different shrubs we hadn’t seen before.  At the top of the hill we settled down for lunch - which turned out to be one of our worst picnics so far – hot cross buns we’d found at the only supermarket we had come across – dry, hard and not at all appetising and a rather sour Cypriot orange which appealed more to my tastes than Harrys sweet tooth. While recovering from out walk near the car park three brown donkeys meandered past obviously going for their daily walk around the town. Nobody seemed to mind and they were happy occasionally stopping to eat before wandering home for the night. There is a donkey sanctuary run by an English couple near by - apparently the locals let donkeys go when they get old and this couple provides a retirement home for them.  The ones we saw though weren't homeless as they were happy, well groomed and very much in the prime of their life.

We are getting older and we know it. That walk did our knees in and we were giggling (somewhat hysterically at times) as we stiffly struggle to go down slopes. Going up is so easy but coming down is another story. Anyway, on the way back to the hotel and while we were looking forward to a soak in the hot pool (disappointment when we discovered it was only tepid – about 20 degrees – so got out after a few minutes and took turns to soak in the bath – took a while as the bath fills up through the shower rose!). On the way back we stopped at Adonis Bath – we saw the sign – "Adonis Bath and Waterfall – Road Suitable for all Cars". Well!! If you are a rally driver (which Harry aspired to be in an earlier life) then you would have enjoyed the trip and thought the 7euro fee each to see yet another little pool and another little waterfall (the second was only inches high) was well worth it. In any weather except desert conditions the road would have been impassable and the owners of the Adonis Bath and Waterfall probably would charge extra for towing rental cars out of ditches and mud.  A sign half way along stated that it was 12 kms to Paphos, or 5 hours which shows the owners have a sense of humour if not a sense of responsibility.Without the sign we have a feeling that most tourists would have turned around considerably earlier and forgone the visit to these baths - despite the promises of love and fertility.   We got to the pool (we were greeted by 3 very friendly dogs), paid our fee, wandered through the museum and grimaced when we realised we had to climb a few more steps to the pool. There is a little plaque to say that if you kissed the stone where Adonis bathed then the barren woman would become ‘infurtile’...and a story about the owner of the museum, waterfall and bed...
"The wooden bed, otherwise called in the old days a Tavla. On this traditional wooden bed the last Miller made 20 children with his two wives. Eight with his first wife which died very young (not surprising really - that's not part of the quote). Then he got married to another one and made another 12 with her..."
Perhaps there is something in the water after all.  The legend goes that that Adonis the God of Beauty used to tie his horses around the pool after he had hunted and a legend says that all Cypriots who live in Paphos are descendents from Aphrodite and Adonis. However, all was not peaceful in this love nest as Artmis, who was the Goddess of Hunting was jealous of the lovers. She tried to kill Adonis (not Aphrodite so it probably wasn't a triangle of love).  She had a few techniques a bit like the witch in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.  She threw a golden almond in the baths to try and attract his attention - which his Mum probably told him never to eat - and I think if he had tried to catch it he would have been drowned by a torrent of water.  But Adonis has some friends and Poseidon the God of the Sea intervened and saved him from drowning. Another devious plan involved Mars the God of War who was asked to push the mountains onto Adonis as he bathed below – perhaps jealous Gods still cause rock slides or earthquakes. Poseiden was there again to stop disaster but not the third time.  Adonis went shooting (probably became a bit complaisant since he was such an expert) and someone mistook him for a wild boar and the rest is history.  Aphrodite missed him heaps and unlike in a Shakespearean play when she would have killed herself because of her grief she asked that Adonis be sent back to earth every six months. That happens in autumn.  In my mind a far better solution that perhaps Shakespeare could have used in a couple of his stories.

I think the thing that struck us today (besides the aching legs) was the housing construction – it is booming out here like in Malta and the Algarve.  Similar to these other places it looks as though it is on spec - come and have a look at the plans, or perhaps the outer shell and then buy.  Development is everywhere with homes half built from breeze-block and reinforced cement and huge billboards all in English advertise residential settlements looking over the sea, vineyards and groves of oranges, bananas, mandarins and olives. We felt a touch of sadness at the prospect of losing the Cypriot flavour of life with this continued development. That night we enjoyed the best meal of the trip at a local Coral Bay restaurant.  A full meze (bit like tapas) - so full that we took some home for dinner the next day.  We must have been tired, or perhaps I was just a quiet dinner companion as Harry decided to make acronyms out of the restaurant names and came up with Corolla and other car names.