Cyprus Tombs of the Kings

Our last day in Cyrprus and the sun shone as we strolled around the Tombs of the Kings. We spent quite some time there and were surprised that it was quite different to the Valley of the Kings in Egypt and also the catacombs in Malta. In the end I decided they were abit like the catacombs but with the roof taken off. We wandered up and down stairs built 2,000 years ago and peered into rectangle holes where bodies once were buried – I often wonder where they have gone – it seems a little bit disrespectful to be doing walking arounds when someone buried their loved ones around 3 BC in a special place forever. Some of them if not most were plundered by a well known American consul Luigi Palma de Cesnola and but no idea where all his  plunderings went. But in other respects it is good now that the place is being preserved for a long time to come – bodies or no bodies. There is a stark contrast between the ruins and the hotels and homes of the 21st century overlooking behind the ruins. We’ve come a long way and yet in some ways no way at all. There were no mosaics like at the Kourian and no frescoes like in the little churches but quite a unique piece of history. We wandered down steep and not very level steps to underground vaults, marvelled at a few of rather large columns that have been excavated. Apparently, the Egyptian influence is quite predominant in these tombs and there was certainly a similarity. In Cyprus one custom is that on the anniversary of the death of a relative a feast would be had at their burial site - this still happens in some Greek orthodox communities today.  There must be a little micro climate around this area because where we have seen leaves before we saw some flowers. Little pink cyclamen, white cosmos type flower and mandrakes. I heard someone say "Look at the mandrakes" and so now know that they have a pink flower with big leaves not much different from a rhubarb but they lie flat on the ground. Privately, and not to be repeated to anyone else I thought a mandrake was a bird, and Harry thought it was a four legged creature and when asked Mike thought it was a tool, but we will keep that to ourselves.  We sat at the port, watching tourists flock to board a glass bottom boat, and had some dolmares and a Cypriot casserole accompanied by a greek salad for lunch (served with chips). Being on holiday is a great time to watch people, the tourists wander, the locals enjoying the sunshine after a big family day before and the restaurant staff balancing many plates and dishes as they return to the kitchen.

Then it was time to drive to the airport to catch the flight back to London and the cold. To put off the temperature drop as long as we could we sat in the airport beer garden sipping very expensive pineapple juice and watching two planes arrive (a small and not very busy airport compared to Gatwick the previous week).
London was 7 degrees and raining but we were prepared with woolly hats, gloves and coats. The snow had all melted or been washed away and I must admit it was quite depressing being back in the cold after such a lovely holiday. I think also the fact that Christmas is over and we still have most of winter to go (even though we are past the shortest day) is taking some getting used to. I read in the inflight magazine coming back that England has only had 9 white Christmases in the whole of the 20th centrury. The definition of a white Christmas is when one snow flake falls on the roof of the London met office. So, this Christmas when there was snow all around – wouldn’t have been classified as white because it fell earlier in the week.
Snow is falling all around me
Children playing having fun
It's the season love and understanding
Merry Christmas everyone...