Saturday 5 November And so we left the mountains and headed back to Paphos for our evening flight home. We had entertained some ideas of doing a bit of shopping for interesting or quirky gifts, local artisans and designers. Doesn’t seem like there’s much of that – Cyprus is perhaps a bit too much of » » »

Friday 4 November Some nifty bits of good timing today. We got out early and started with another hike, up to Mount Adelphi which is Cyprus’ second highest mountain at 1650m. This sounds more impressive than it was, as the layby where we started the walk was already at 1300m! Still, a lovely trail where » » »

Thursday 3 November We took a break from hiking today and even had a lazy start, not getting out of bed until almost 9:00am. Leisurely breakfast included more amazing Cypriot yogurt which is just a lush way to start any day. Then we went for a stroll around Lofou village itself. It’s probably the prettiest » » »

Wednesday 2 November This was transfer day, from the north-west coast to the southern hills via the central Troodos mountains. We said goodbye to Aphrodite Beach Hotel with its clinical room, thronged breakfast terrace and friendly staff. Driving up into the mountains again we rounded a corner and Maureen spotted a mouflon by the road, » » »

Tuesday 1 November Today we started the morning with a long walk through the agricultural hills from the village of Miliou, not far from Kathikas. We saw lemons and oranges, grape vines, olive trees and almond trees, walnut trees and fig trees. We saw huge bright red pomegranates, bergamots, prickly pears, crab apples and medlars. » » »

Monday 31 October We reset our body clocks with an early night and got out at a decent hour today (well, 8:45ish) so we could start our hike by 9am. We were doing one of the two nature trails above the Baths of Aphrodite and by 9:30 in the sun it already felt roastingly hot. » » »

Sunday 30 October The Aphrodite does a decent breakfast buffet to set us up for a day of hiking in the mountains. The Troodos Mountains in the middle of Cyprus rise up to almost 2,000m, not bad for an island only a third the size of Wales. So then poor Maureen twists her ankle and » » »

Saturday 29 October We land in Paphos after dark so there’s not much to see of Cyprus on our first day. We do encounter a handful of classic Greek/Cypriot men between the airport, rental place and hotel: stocky, barrel-chested and darkly bushy-bearded every one. We collect our tiny hire car and head north to Aphrodite » » »