FALLING SOMEWHERE AS RAIN

I've been to Cyprus several times now and from the first time stepping off the plane and inhaling the fragrant, warm air, I have been hooked. I have seen many sides to the island and many changes. My first visit found me staying at the Royal Air Force base at Akrotiri, which was desolate and arid, but subsequent visits have been around the Paphos area and in particular Pegeia which is just a little way along the coast and into the foothills.  It's an amazingly photogenic place, with turquoise seas and endless blue skies, lush vegetation and an abundance of wildlife. The Cypriots have a very relaxed and easy going culture and nothing happens very fast. Change is arriving to the island, the most notable difference being the adoption of the Euro in 2008, which saw prices escalate rapidly. Tourism has boomed over the last ten years too and the area around Paphos has seen some radical redevelopment to accomodate this. Even the market in the Old town has been given a facelift, which ...

 I am just returned from a holiday in Cyprus, staying just outside the city of Paphos, in a beautiful and  typically Mediterranean area of the coast. It is loosely divided into old and new Paphos, with the old town being the original capital  and the centre of the cult of Aphrodite since the Homeric era.  Paphos has more than its fair share of ancient relics and archaeological treasures, many of which are easily accessible. Due to its prominence in the Hellenic era and later during Roman occupation, there are a lot of fine and well preserved sites nearby, including the Tomb of the Kings and several roman villas. Whilst classical era archaeology doesn't really interest me, as I much prefer the neolithic and earlier periods, there are some quite remarkable treasures to be found in Paphos. Near to the new shopping mall in Nea Paphos is a large area of what appears to be sandstone bluffs, weathered and pockmarked and punctuated by small caves. On previous visits to the h...