ok at the Baths of Aphrodite and to go to the ‘Best Beach’.The journey over to this part of the island took us about an hour through the hills, winding through valleys and along cliff edges, the car was pretty good but I was gagging for a manual. (Giggidy.) At least you weren’t driving with Richard. As much as I trust that he can drive, I don’t quite trust Atos Prime to be driven in the same way as his car at home!
The views were beautiful, terraced farmland over massive areas and views over coastal towns and the sea. Truly wonderful. (It is very pretty. Up in the hills, you feel as though you can see the entire island sloping away from you down to the sea, which is quite breathtaking. This was tempered somewhat by the fact that I felt at times as if I meant end up sloping down the hill to join it, such was Rich’s excitement at driving on the winding hill roads.)
My right arm got sunburned after 30 minutes of driving and I think it is a lot more tanned than my left, I might have to let other peoples drive from now on to even it out.
We arrived at the baths for about noon. We were not overly impressed with the baths when we were here last time, but somehow the midges were gone and the water was a little clearer. There were still eels in the pool which made Anna’s day to see the little critters. (I had been told that the pool was all stinky, and eel-infested. It actually smelled fresh, and I saw two eels. Had we seen none at all, I would have doubted everything I’ve ever been told in my life, so that was quite lucky, really. It was a bit disappointing, mainly because I’d expected the place to be a kind of writhing mass of black, as the slippery creatures fought for food and shade and whatever it is that turns eels on, but no. It was all very sedate. The walk up to the pool was invigorating though.)
Godly whined about only bringing flip flops but that is his own fault really. The gift shop had not changed at all, it still sold all of the crap that you get everywhere, snorkels, caps, postcards and fake lace.
(Apparently Andy has decided not to tell you what we did for lunch, so I’ll fill you in. We went into Polis (“Latchi”, actually…) ‘town’ (I use the term loosely) into a nice little restaurant that did all kinds of fish. Now, I can’t remember what everyone had, but I do know that they completely forgot my order of whitebait, so I had to wait a few extra minutes. Everyone else proved that they had been brought up heathens by just tucking in before everyone at the table had their food, except Rich who asked politely first if he could start. As I’m a kind soul, I naturally said yes. Anyway, they eventually brought my dinner out, which, as it had just been cooked, was hotter than the sun. It was also far and away the most entertaining food anyone had bought. We gave each little fish a name and a backstory before he was devoured – I feel more connected to my food if I know where he’s come from first. Some of the stories were quite sad. Andy also dissected some of the fish that I couldn’t finish. That was gross. (I had Red Snapper fillet, Rich had Swordfish, Anna had Dolmades and salad, Laura had a Greek Salad with Lamb and I can’t remember what Goldy had. Oh yeah, Cannelloni.)
After lunch we walked down the harbour, and got excited about a possible boat trip. I spotted a squid in the shallows of the harbour, although we decided it may have been a cuttlefish. Either way, we didn’t catch it for its juices (which is a shame, for both ink and sepia would, I’m sure, have come in handy at some point.) Anna and I decided he was called Christopher, and gave him a very sad story about his wife having left him to wait there three days ago while she went shopping. And there he waited, vainly hoping she and the kids would soon return, while secretly knowing that, in fact, she’d probably run away with Jeremy. There, however, he would remain, until she returned, or he was killed, a death he would embrace in his melancholy. It was clearly a big day for anthropomorphising.
There was also a big boat which was all cool and broken. Have no idea how they got it to sit on its little concrete feet. It was quite a way from the water and it didn’t have legs. It was a boat after all. And there was a kitty with mange.Laura and I then bought a snorkel set from a shop which stocked hardcore pornography at child eye level. (That was unusual.)
Oh and Rich has booked a boat hire for Monday! Yay! BOAT!
The ‘best beach’ is just that. It is a nice fine stony beach that goes as far as the eye can see in both directions. It has a Taverna (that was totally empty and did not look like it was open at all) and beach loungers with brolleys’ to rent.
We got the old snorkels out again and went hunting fishes. Richard brought out his underwater disposable camera and we got some cracking pictures, we hope. (Andy is obviously far too blasé about snorkelling to get excited about how cool this was. I’m not.
The sea was, at first, really cold. However, by the time I was in up to my chest, and my lungs were doing that whole ‘Oh my God! Raggedy breaths ‘cos it’s so cold!’ thing, my legs were just going, ‘Hey, what’s wrong with you? This is lovely!’ And it really was. In fact, it was actually quite warm, which is not a word I would usually associate with large bodies of water. The first thing I noticed was how clean the water is. Being used to British waters, it was actually difficult to process the fact that I was actually in the sea, so the first mouthful of salt came as a real surprise. Goldy was amazed at the cleanliness too – he said it was like a swimming pool, and he was right – just a massive one, with plants and things.
Ah, those things. I’ve always been a bit weirded out by sea swimming, because the idea of anything brushing against me while I’m in the water makes me shiver. Also, having seen David Attenborough programmes, I’m fairly certain that I’m going to end up standing on a stonefish, or one of those tiny, evil octopuses or something. Going in in sandals stopped any of those worries, not that I actually had any, as, as soon as I was in there, all I was interested in was swimming about, and looking at the serene underwater world.
I still firmly remain in the weirded out by sea swimming camp. Especially when I can see through the snorkel that there’s not a hope in hell that I’m gonna be able to touch the bottom. But there was a nice reef that had rocks on so I spent most of my time trying to stay on them, Wasn’t too impressed when I looked up and saw that they’d all swam off and abandoned me though. But anyway, once I got closer to shore and realised that I wasn’t going to drown, it was really lovely to watch all the fishies.
The fish seemed totally unfazed by our presence, and were completely happy to just swim around our feet, enjoying the spring sunshine (if they can actually feel it under there. Or, indeed, if they care.) There were so many different types, mostly in the 4-6inches region, just shoaling around as if they didn’t have a care in the world. It was so relaxing, just lying face down in the water, watching the little fish exploring the grasses and rocks below the waves. Occasionally, I’d spot a slightly larger fish just hanging around closer to the bottom, doing no harm to anyone, and, a little further out, we saw some rays, which was extremely cool. I love seeing whole fish, as they’re always really vibrant colours, which I remember being really surprised about the first time I ever saw them – I assumed they came in that uniform white colour that their flesh is, I suppose. Here, though, were green fish, purple fish, striped fish, all kinds of fish.
We went out for probably about 45 minutes, before coming back in. On the way in, I was trying to see how close to shore the fish came, and about five metres out, at a depth where I could still stand up, they were all still swimming around me. Going out that far was a complete waste of time. Bloody things could have had the common decency to let me know. Anyway, next time, I’m going to catch one. That’ll teach them to hide when I’m swimming in, so I think I have to go miles when just a few metres would do it. Ah well. They were still quite funky. I think I like fish.
Fishies! There was several kinds of wrasses, a big green one with a purple and blue face, a stripey black and white one and a brown mottled-like-a-giraffe one. There were lots of a little slivery silvery fish with a black dot on its tail and some other little ones here and there. I also saw something that was probably a sea slug or some-such, but by the time Rich had given me the camera he’d hidden in a bush. I also saw a rock that looked a bit like a turtle and have brought home some pretty little stones from the beach.
At the end of our time on the beach, I have burned feet (a now annual tradition) and am feeling a little warm all over. Anna has a bit of ear ache so after a bit of grub back at the ranch, we decided to have an evening in with Sean for Scrabble, chocolate and tea whilst the others are out and about getting lashed at the local karaoke bar. We also made Coke Floats, YUM!
Scrabble scores for the evening:
Sean 200
Anna 176
Andy 124
I did not lose! And I used the word Kudu and Bok! I rok!
Hehehe.
A night in with tea and Scrabble makes us old. It also makes us very sensible, better off than we would have been if we’d gone, and with the knowledge that kudu and bok are legitimate Scrabble words (bok is apparently NOT a legitimate word. When I wrote it just there <- it came up red underlined. Strange, as when we did the same to check if we would allow Anna to use it, it was ok. Maybe because it was capitalised). I won mainly thanks to my tactic of saving up letters to
make one big word finally paying off, when, after four straight two letter word goes, I pulled out ‘promise’ to use up all my letters for a 50 point bonus. I also finished up with ‘cajole,’ for a total of 200 points. My best ever, although, to be fair, I am pretty rubbish at it. I had a really good night, and I’m fairly sure I had a better time than if I’d gone out. Boring I may be, but I honestly can’t face going out every night. Well, unless there’s somewhere to sit, and it’s quiet enough that I can talk at a normal level. (So old!) Oh, to counteract that oldness, we had Coke floats – they went volcanic. It was ace. The karaoke party followed Godly to a bar where there was karaoke on unsurprisingly. To be honest, that bar was the karaoke equivalent of Eastbourne; where karaoke singers go to live out their days before being granted the sweet relief of death. By walking in the door, I think we may have lowered the average age of the room by at least 10 years. Minimum. But the football was on, and Godly was wowing the crowd and it didn’t turn out quite as bad as the first impression would have suggested.
After they got back, we chatted for a bit before going to bed. It’s a leisurely start in the morning to visit Pafos’ markets.
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