Proving that weather follows me, there was a huge thunderstorm overnight and into the afternoon on our first full day on Cyprus. It rained intermittently all day, but it was punctuated by periods of bright sunshine against a dramatic grey sky and the wind sent great waves rolling in.
The breakfast buffet was promising, not lease the vat of mushrooms and onions that appeared every morning thereafter and seemed bottomless.
In the absence of sun, we spent some time after breakfast combining our thoughts on St Mary’s social events for semester two (Beth’s big project) and found our way to the pool. The only family in the restaurant with us by the time we left included a five year old boy who worked his way along the buffet table, threatening various cereals, until his tirade culminated with, “I’m gonna rearrange your face, punk!”
I went out for a drive in the afternoon to explore and look for a supermarket (almost all closed on Sundays, as it turned out). I drove out of Pafos and along the coast to Coral Bay where the waves were crashing in.
Looking for a supermarket, concentrating on the speed limit in Km, being aware of other cars and trying not to get lost all at once was a bit challenging, so I ended up getting list in Coral Bay. After a few more failed attempts at the supermarket search I have up, returned to Kato Pafos and happened upon a large and convenient supermarket, lights on and everything, but then watched several couples walk right up to the automatic doors and realise it was closed. I parked back at the hotel and decided to check out the tiny-looking “kiosk” on the corner by the hotel – lo and behold, it had a larger back section and I was able to pick up some supplies before returning to the hotel, forgetting to check on the way back if Beth had gone out and left the key at reception. Oops.
Beth returned just as I finished my very late lunch, and we decided to go for a drive – when my friend Alexis texted from a few miles down the road to say she was passing with her friend Becca and could pop in. We suggested we all went for a drive along the coast, and set off into Ktima Pafos, where Alexis and Becca showed us how to get to the market and a great viewing point. We ended up at Agios Georgios at the end of the peninsula after following a spectacular double rainbow against the slate grey clouds.
The clouds were beginning to dissipate over the Mediterranean and we were in time to watch the sunset while huge waves crashed against the harbour wall and the wind blew water uphill over the cliffs.
I stayed outside to take photos after everyone else sensibly got back I the car and out of the rain. Wimps!
We dropped the girls off at their 80s-themed, pink-velveted hotel. We then headed down towards the harbour to tour the newer part of town – new if you don’t count the Roman mosaics and biblical ruins, I suppose – and stopped for a stroll. The frozen yoghurt was in no way a contributing factor in this decision. But it was sugar-free and they mixed in real fruit to order! I had delicious black cherry and cemented my slow-eater reputation by having barely skimmed the top by the time Beth had finished – and she didn’t have much of a head start.
We grabbed ourselves food (or an approximation thereof) at McDonalds which was, to be fair, one of our only two takeaway options given the Sunday night closures, the other being KFC. They have something intriguing called the “Big Greek”, but I claimed some chicken nuggets as we went home to watch Hairspray.
Later that evening, we set about rearranging the furniture in our hotel room into a more pleasing and ergonomic configuration. We moved the beds to opposite corners of the room to create more floor space – finding, in the process, not just dust bunnies but whatever it is that eats dust bunnies. We hoped for mopping on Monday.
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