Pafos Waterpark

Our apartment is in the centre of Pafos (‘Paphos’ in English), a growing harbour town in the southwest of Cyprus. Pafos is also the name of the whole of the administrative District stretching up to Latsi (‘Latchi’) on the north west coast.

Pafos Fort

The town’s picturesque fishing harbour is crowded with colourful fishing boats and pleasurecraft and its iconic feature is the 13th century fort. There is a gorgeous view from the top and it is an atmospheric backdrop to many of Pafos’ cultural events, including an open-air opera festival each September.

Pafos town is the gateway to some beautiful stretches of coastline in Pafos District as well as some of the wildest countryside. The town nestles in the lee of the Troodos mountains, adding another dimension to the scenic beauty of the area.

Pafos is divided into two major ‘quarters’ – Pano Pafos, ‘upper’ Pafos, the main shopping and residential part, and Kato Pafos, ‘lower’ Pafos, built around the mediaeval port and home to much of the entertainment infrastructure of the town.

Variety

Families can enjoy scuba and diving lessons, Pafos Waterpark, Kids Kingdom (soft play areas for toddlers, pool tables and dodgem cars), go-karting, ten pin bowling, minigolf, Pafos Aquarium, Saint George’s Reptile Park and Pafos Bird and Animal Park. Of Pafos’ beaches, the most famous is at Coral Bay, an 80 cent (in summer 2006) bus ride from the harbour or from Tombs of the Kings Avenue.

Pafos is a centre for all kinds of watersport, golf, skiing, cycling and walking. In the cooler months you can go snow skiing on Mount Olympus. Cyprus’ three scenic championship standard golf courses are a 10-20 minute drive from Pafos town: Secret Valley is 12 miles east with grand trees and beautiful rock formations all round, Aphrodite Hills is nearby 1000 feet above sea level on two parallel plateaux flanking the cavernous Randidi Gorge, and Tsada is about 10 miles north of Pafos town set in the grounds of a 12th century monastery 1800 feet above sea level.

Secret Valley

To the east and north ancient villages cling to the slopes of the Troodos foothills or shelter in secluded river valleys preserving a way of life that goes back centuries. To the northwest, the Akamas peninsula is a large unspoilt natural wilderness; it has remarkably varied features of vegetation, wildlife, geology, landscapes and coasts and five Nature Trails to follow on foot, affording incomparable views. Two start from the famous Baths of Aphrodite, where, according to legend, the Goddess of Love and Beauty and the most ancient Goddess in the Olympic pantheon used to bathe in the pool of the natural grotto. A 5-mile walk from the Baths to Fontana Amorosa takes you to the end of the Akamas Peninsula.

Akamas

World Heritage Site

Pafos was once the capital of Cyprus and today, because of its cultural and natural treasures, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It is perhaps best known as the legendary birthplace of Aphrodite. Even the town’s name is linked to the Goddess, for Pafos was the mythological daughter of Venus and Pygmalion.

Today’s Pafos town is a balance of old and new, with all the attractions of an island coastal town alongside an abundance of ancient archaeological treasures that are evidence of a history that stretches back thousands of years: remarkable mosaics in Dionysos’ house beautifully preserved after 16

Dionysos' House

centuries, the mysterious ‘Tombs of the Kings’, the ancient Theatre and catacombs dating back to the early Christian period, all near the centre of Pafos town and within a few minutes’ walk of our apartment, which is just off Tombs of the Kings Avenue.

Culture vultures will find much more and you may want to take the short drive to many other places of interest: Kolossi castle and Curium amphitheatre, impressive preserved edifices from long ago, Petra tou Romiou, where Aphrodite was born, a strikingly beautiful spot just south of Pafos town, where Aphrodite rose out of the waves and where, legend has it, if you take a swim around the rocks, you will re-emerge from the water ten years younger than when you went in! At Palaepafos, Old Pafos, once an ancient city kingdom of Cyprus, you can find the ruins of Aphrodite’s Sanctuary, a celebrated place of pilgrimage for the ancient Greek world. Just north of Pafos town, there is Neophytos’ Monastery where the Saint took a year to cut a cave out of the rock face where he could dedicate himself to God. The chapel is still decorated with his wall paintings.

The port of Pafos was founded by King Nicocles at the time of Alexander the Great, under whose successors it became the capital. It continued as the island’s first city for more than seven centuries, retaining its importance under Roman rule. Its most famous Governor, Sergius Paulus, was converted to Christianity by St Paul in 45 AD. The pillar to which St Paul was tied to be given 39 lashes still stands just a few hundred yards from our apartment among the ruins of an old basilica .

As a result of Arab raids in the 9th century, the capital was moved inland to the more central and hence safer Nicosia.

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