Day 21: Limassol, Cyprus - The Long Walk Along the Highway

The view from Kourion.

I decided to go to Kourion today, a nearby archaeological site. I'm a huge geek about this stuff, so I was pretty excited, having already seen the sites in Rome and Athens. The site was about 20 km away, and there was a bus that supposedly went right to it, so I figured I would spend no more than half the day there. Oops.

The bus came on time, but did not drop me off at the site. Instead, it dropped me off at a little village, but it was 3 km away from the site. The driver pointed me in the direction of Kourion, and indicated with two twiddling fingers that I had to walk the rest of the way. 3 km isn't horrible... but there wasn't a road! There was only the highway on which we were driving. I could just see the headlines now, "Idiot tourist run over while walking along the highway for some stupid reason." But damnit, I didn't come all this way to not see anything. Walking along the highway it is.

It was a surprisingly nice walk, with good views and decent shoulders to walk on, though I had to wander into the shrubbery a few times when the shoulder became too small. Kourion was about 3 km away as advertised, and the woman at the ticket booth looked perplexed to see someone walking up.

Fully restored amphiteatre at Kourion. They even hold performances there now.

Kourion is a nice little place. The amphiteatre is considered a highlight, but I liked the floor mosaics much more. There's something about seeing 2000 year old art work just hanging out underneath the sun. The Roman columns and agora were interesting, but not quite as well preserved, and obviously not as impressive as the ones in Rome.

Mosaic on the floor.

Having had my fill of ancient ruins, I trudged the 3 km back to the village to grab some lunch. However, no one informed me that all the restaurants are closed that day for some reason. I had to walk around for almost an hour before I found a little joint that was just beginning to open. Luckily, it was also on the bus path so I could eat while keep an eye out for the bus.

Back at the hostel, I spent the evening with the owner, a 55 year old former New York taxi driver, the aforementioend Scott and Daniel, and some other colorful characters. There was a Jersey guy who had spent his entire life in New England, including an Ivy League education and soon to be law school education, and I think he felt slightly uncomfortable by some of the colorful conversation. I found it amusing.

I need to decide how much time I want to spend in Cyprus. I want to see what there is to see, but the transportation is rather inefficient and the more time I spend, the more time I take away from other sites that were on my original itinerary.