Today I viewed mosaics in the morning and walked up a valley in the afternoon.
The road to the harbour of Kato Pafos was lined with tourist hotels and resorts, along with souvenir shops, small supermarkets, agents for various tours, cafes and restaurants all serving the tourist trade. As the coast was not that beautiful I did not feel it spoilt by the development and the visitors seemed to be enjoying themselves (frequently with a pint of beer). Yet Pafos was not merely a holiday resort, it also has a great deal of history, others, long ago, had enjoyed living here.
Despite exploring a significant length of fencing surrounding the Archeological park I failed to find the entrance, so I visited St Paul's pillar, on which the apostle was said to have been whipped 39 times. It stands by the remains of a number of ancient churches that you can view from raised walkways. In addition there was a map, better than that given to me (free) by the hotel, which showed the entrance of the Archeological park was by the picturesque castle at the mouth of the harbour.
Within the park there were a lot of mosaics from Roman times displaying competitions among the gods, geometric designs and animals. Helpfully, the mosaics also included the names of the gods depicted in Greek script. Some were of great quality, the colours and shading giving a 3 dimensional impression that reminded me of the artist Cezanne. There were also the ruined walls typical of ancient remains and an intact amphitheatre.
I left at midday to return to the point at which the E4 heads inland. From here it followed a stream almost all the way to the village of Episkopi. No stream was visible at first, its location possibly hidden among bamboo. This first part of the route was not attractive, rubbish, some smelly, had been fly tipped, and apart from the bamboo the vegetation was dry, yellow and dusty. Even olive trees in adjacent fields looked drab.
Leaving the coastal plain the route entered a valley, cliffs of dipping rock surrounded by straw coloured grasses. Industrial buildings marked the top of the valley sides. Beside the track, a raised concrete channel carried water down the valley, covered with corrugated iron, presumably to stop the water evaporating in the heat. After passing under a tall motorway bridge, high above me, the scenery improved somewhat, no rubbish and fewer buildings. There were signs saying "danger" and "no swimming" although I could see nothing to swim in. A bulldozer was making rectangular depressions at one point, maybe there were others filled with water elsewhere, but hidden by bamboo?
I had been following tracks used by vehicles but a one point my GPS led me into the stream. I made one attempt at avoiding it but prickly pear and bamboo prevented progress, and I was aware that poisonous snakes do live in Cyprus. So I took off my hiking shoes and socks, and put on my sandals and waded up the stream for a few hundred metres. Frogs jumped out of my way, a bird hopped along ahead of me, I was happy walking on the stones in the stream but disliked it when mud oozed between my toes in an unpleasant manner. Keeping my sandals on as the track periodically crossed the the stream, I made the mistake of not changing back into my shoes as I left the stream and climbed up the hill to Episkopi. A large, painful thorn stuck itself into a toe exposed by my sandals.
Episkopi looks an attractive place, it sits in the shadow of a big rock. Also attractive is my room for the night at the House of Sophia's Bed & Breakfast, where I was welcomed by Liz.
A gps file of my route can be found on wikiloc.com, and on myViewRanger under short code johnpon0044.
The road to the harbour of Kato Pafos was lined with tourist hotels and resorts, along with souvenir shops, small supermarkets, agents for various tours, cafes and restaurants all serving the tourist trade. As the coast was not that beautiful I did not feel it spoilt by the development and the visitors seemed to be enjoying themselves (frequently with a pint of beer). Yet Pafos was not merely a holiday resort, it also has a great deal of history, others, long ago, had enjoyed living here.
Despite exploring a significant length of fencing surrounding the Archeological park I failed to find the entrance, so I visited St Paul's pillar, on which the apostle was said to have been whipped 39 times. It stands by the remains of a number of ancient churches that you can view from raised walkways. In addition there was a map, better than that given to me (free) by the hotel, which showed the entrance of the Archeological park was by the picturesque castle at the mouth of the harbour.
Within the park there were a lot of mosaics from Roman times displaying competitions among the gods, geometric designs and animals. Helpfully, the mosaics also included the names of the gods depicted in Greek script. Some were of great quality, the colours and shading giving a 3 dimensional impression that reminded me of the artist Cezanne. There were also the ruined walls typical of ancient remains and an intact amphitheatre.
I left at midday to return to the point at which the E4 heads inland. From here it followed a stream almost all the way to the village of Episkopi. No stream was visible at first, its location possibly hidden among bamboo. This first part of the route was not attractive, rubbish, some smelly, had been fly tipped, and apart from the bamboo the vegetation was dry, yellow and dusty. Even olive trees in adjacent fields looked drab.
Leaving the coastal plain the route entered a valley, cliffs of dipping rock surrounded by straw coloured grasses. Industrial buildings marked the top of the valley sides. Beside the track, a raised concrete channel carried water down the valley, covered with corrugated iron, presumably to stop the water evaporating in the heat. After passing under a tall motorway bridge, high above me, the scenery improved somewhat, no rubbish and fewer buildings. There were signs saying "danger" and "no swimming" although I could see nothing to swim in. A bulldozer was making rectangular depressions at one point, maybe there were others filled with water elsewhere, but hidden by bamboo?
I had been following tracks used by vehicles but a one point my GPS led me into the stream. I made one attempt at avoiding it but prickly pear and bamboo prevented progress, and I was aware that poisonous snakes do live in Cyprus. So I took off my hiking shoes and socks, and put on my sandals and waded up the stream for a few hundred metres. Frogs jumped out of my way, a bird hopped along ahead of me, I was happy walking on the stones in the stream but disliked it when mud oozed between my toes in an unpleasant manner. Keeping my sandals on as the track periodically crossed the the stream, I made the mistake of not changing back into my shoes as I left the stream and climbed up the hill to Episkopi. A large, painful thorn stuck itself into a toe exposed by my sandals.
Episkopi looks an attractive place, it sits in the shadow of a big rock. Also attractive is my room for the night at the House of Sophia's Bed & Breakfast, where I was welcomed by Liz.
A gps file of my route can be found on wikiloc.com, and on myViewRanger under short code johnpon0044.
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| Mosaic at Pafos Archeological park |
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| Route up the valley to Episkopi, water is travelling down channel on left |
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