Cyprus: Day 2

I know, I know gentle reader, my honeymoon posts are a bit late but wi-fi in Cyprus was hard.

 

Today we took our first roadtrip of the honeymoon. That is the reason why we hired our car in the first place. We decided to visit Pafos on the west coast of the island and the drive there was smooth and quick. Traffic is very light on Cyprus and every other car was a tourists hire car. You can tell the hire cars from privately owned one by the red license plates.

 

We decided to skip Limassol, you can hear about that another day, and head straight to Pafos. Our first stop was the birthplace of Aphrodite which  is just south of the city.

My Goddess of Love at Aphrodite's birthplace.

The rock itself is a large block of limestone which juts out of the sea just a few meters from the shore. People can swim out to this little island and Lena went for a paddle.

After visiting a towel, two hats  and a Cyprus flag for my collection we headed to Pafos town. First we had lunch at a nice little Taverna called Karlinas and we were actually served by a Scottish lady who had lived on Cyprus for 15 years. Lunch was delicious, Lena had lamb and I had a pork kebab.

 

We then headed to the Tombs of the Kings which is an archaeological wonder about 2500 years old where tombs had been dug directly into the limestone rock. They are splendid examples of ancient history but the lack of shade available made the visit hot and uncomfortable.

The hand-carved Tombs of the Kings at Pafos.

We drove out of Pafos and headed north to a place called Polis where we visited the Baths of Aphrodite. A natural spring with a shallow pool where the Goddess apparently bathed with her lovers. It is a beautiful place, with lush greenery surrounding the pool and views of the Med are amazing from the nearby cliffs.
  

At the little shop we finnaly succumbed and bought a selfie-stick. Those of you who read my  Rome posts back in February will know how I feel about them.

 Selfie stick pose

We decided to drive back to Larnaca and our hotel but Lena asked if we could cut across country through the Troodos Mountains and see some of the wild Cyprus scenery. The road was wild and narrow and twisted between high cliffs and steep valleys. It was incredibly beautiful but a little bit scary too.

Jason proved to be exceptionally helpful at times.

Jason? Who is Jason? I hear you ask. Jason was our GPS Sat Nav system. His help and advice had been invaluable on the trip but today, he let us down. Instead of keeping us on roads he took us completely into the wilds on rocky mountain paths.

After an hour or so of bumps, and tightest of tight bends we ended up back on a tarmacked road and we headed back to the hotel without further incident and arrived there about 11 hours after we left.

#pafos #karlinas #birthplaceofaphrodite #tombsofthekings #bathsofaphrodite
#troodos

Wednesday Thought: Home

Hey gentle reader, after a week on honeymoon on Cyprus, its lovely to be home sitting on my sofa in rainy old Riga.

Pliny the Elder, before he got himself killed by Vesuvius in 79AD said "Home is where the heart is." He was damn right. Its wonderful to see the world but theres no place like home.

Todays pearls of timeless wisdom are therefore all about home.

 

The home should be the treasure chest of living.

 

Le Corbusier

 

 

 Home is the nicest word there is.

 

Laura Ingalls Wilder 

 

 

 

If you go anywhere, even paradise, you will miss your home.

 

Mulala Yousafzai 

 

 

 

 Home is the place we love best and grumble the most.

 

Billy Sunday

 

 

Home is where you feel at home and are treated well.

 

Dalai Lama 

 

 

 

#dalailama #billysunday #mulalayousafzai #lecorbusier #lauraingallswilder #quotesabouthome

Honeymoon in Cyprus 1

Well hello there gentle reader.

Our Honeymoon got off to a fantastic start and we had not even left Riga. We had access to the business class lounge and guess what free food and free drink. Awesome.

On the plane it got even better with champagne and a lovely chicken salad with blue cheese dressing and desert. We even got blankets and pillows, great service from the airBaltic flight crew. The champagne went to our heads though and we slept most of the way to Cyprus.

The airport in Larnaca was clean and easy to navigate and we found the SIXT car rental place easily enough. A lovely British lady looked after us and we drove away with a brand new Volkswagon Up. I had never even heard of this particular model but it was cute, small, white and very  zippy. Thank you SIXT.

 

We had 8 hours to kill before we could check in at the hotel. So we  decided to drive to the hotel so we could find it later and then took a drive to Voraklini beach to find breakfast. We walked along the beach as the sun was appearing over the horizon and saw that this beach was not that clean and tidy.

 

We drove into Larnaca and found a Costa coffee place and had breakfast there before walking to Larnaca beach which was already filling up with sunbathers. Larnaca beach was much cleaner and the water gently lapped onto the golden sand.

Because our hotel room had its own kitchen we decided to get some shopping and we found Lidl and bought a few necessities. 

 

When we arrived at the hotel the manager told us that we could have checked in at 8.30 if we had arrived then. We were annoyed because they had told us by email the earliest we could check in was 12.

Instead of taking a nap though, considering we had been awake for about 30 hours, we decided to try  out the cool but small pool. The water was relaxing and eased our tired bodies.

We chilled by the pool until it was time to shower and head down to the Lithos Bar for Dinner. I had the Jack Daniels Burger and Lena had the chicken strips. We retired  early to bed after a tiring first honeymoon day and nothing on Earth is going to make me write about what happened after we went to bed.

Come back soon for Honeymoon In Cyprus day 2

#honeymoonincyprus #cyprus #voraklini #larnaca #airBaltic #SIXT #costacoffee #volkswagonup #lithosbar

Bon Voyage

Hello there Gentle Reader. Stay tuned to the blog for our Honeymoon reports from Cyprus.

Even though Lena and I will be romantically entangled (in more ways than one) I will continue to blog throughout our trip.

Keep reading

Today in History July 20th

Hello again Gentle Reader, its once again time to strap on our SCUBA gear and dive into the depths of time.

 

 323BC: Alexander the Great of Macedonia is born.

1941: Joseph Stalin creates the NKVD and puts Lavrentiy Beria in charge. 

 

1944: Operation Valkyrie: Adolf Hitler survives an assassination attempt led by Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg.

 

1969: Apollo 11 lands successfully in the Sea of Tranquillity on the moon. Astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz  Aldrin become the first humans to walk on another world.

1973: Bruce Lee, martial artist and actor, dies.

 

#july20 #alexanderthegreat #stalin #NKVD #beria #operationvalkyrie #clausvonstauffenberg #apollo11 #neilarmstrong #buzzaldrin #brucelee

Top 10 fun facts to make you go EEEEWWWWWW!

Hey Gentle Reader, its been a few days since I blogged so I have something special for you. Ten fun facts that will make your eyes water and wish you hadn't read them so be warned.....these facts may shock and amaze you.

 

1. Scientists have discovered a bacteria that lives in Hairspray.

 
 

2. All the water on planet Earth was once Dinosaur urine.

3. The foreskin from baby boys can be used to make face cream.

4.Male Rhesus monkeys have been known to stop eating if the alternative is seeing a photo of a female rhesus monkeys butt.
 

5 There is an Italian cheese called Casu marzu that has live maggots



6. The world may run out of chocolate by 2020 because it is being eaten faster than it is being produced.

 

7. Female kangaroos have three vaginas.



8. Flushing your toilet releases droplets contaminated with fecal matter that end up on your toothbrush.



9. The oldest condoms from the 1640's were made from fish intestines.

 

10. Male dragonflies have shovel shaped penises that they use to remove the semen of their rivals from females.

Wedding Day Joy

 Hello there Gentle Reader, as you all know by now, Lena and I got married last Friday and I wanted to share our wedding photos with you. It was a truly special day and we are looking forward to our life together in Latvia.

 

The Rings

 

 Just Married

 Hugs

 

With Natasha, who took most of the Photos

 

 In love

 

Love is in the air.

 A Scotsman in Riga

 Bliss

 

My Angel Princess

On the swings at ISR

Wednesday Thought: Doctor Who

Hello there Gentle Reader, as I have mentioned once or twice on the blog:

I AM A GEEK!

 

Geeks are not sad little people who read their comic books under the covers. They are the dreamers who live their lives by a specific code. The code may be borrowed from their own fantasy worlds they choose to live in but they strongly believe in it and apply these beliefs to their everyday lives.

Remember, before you criticize, it was a Geek  who put a man on the moon, invented medicines and life support machines, the automobile and countless other things that a lot of us take for granted until we need them.

For today’s words of wisdom, I am looking at my own particular favourite, Doctor Who, their may be someone out there who has not heard of the show so here is a brief synopsis.

The Doctor is an alien who travels through time and space in a fantastically bizarre space craft called the TARDIS He battles evil wherever he encounters it in the universe and he has been doing this on UK television since 1963. 12 actors have played the character who has the ability to regenerate himself when his body is injured.  The TV show is, in the end, about how someone who is not human but cherishes the humanity in others. The following quotes are all quotes spoken by the Doctor and can teach us all a lot about what it means to be human and how we should approach our lives.

http://wikizilla-role-play.wikia.com/wiki/File:12-doctors_600x400.png

 There’s no point in being grown up if you can’t be childish sometimes.”

The Fourth Doctor

 “I am and always will be the optimist. The hoper of far-flung hopes and the dreamer of improbable dreams” 

The Eleventh Doctor.  

 “This is who I am, right here, right now, all right? All that counts is here and now, and this is me!”

The Ninth Doctor


"The waves of time wash us all clean."

The Sixth Doctor

 "Let me tell you about scared. Your heart is beating so hard -- I can feel it through your hands! There's so much blood and oxygen pumping through your brain, it's like rocket fuel. Right now, you could run faster and you could fight harder. You can jump higher than ever in your life. And you are so alert, it's like you can slow down time. What's wrong with scared? Scared is a super power! It's your super power!" 

The Twelfth Doctor

“Always take a banana to a party, bananas are good!”

The Tenth Doctor

“A straight line may be the shortest distance between two points but it is by no means the most interesting.”

The Third Doctor


"Anybody remotely interesting is MAD in some way"

The Seventh Doctor

“One day, I shall come back. Yes, I shall come back. Until then, there must be no regrets, no tears, no anxieties. Just go forward in all your beliefs, and prove to me that I am not mistaken in mine."

The First Doctor

“If I knew everything that was going to happen, where would the fun be?”

The Fourth Doctor. 

"There's always something to look at, if you open your eyes."

The Fifth Doctor


"In the fight for survival, there are no rules."

The Eighth Doctor 

"There are some corners of the universe which have bred the most terrible things. Things which act against everything we believe in. 

They must be fought!" 

The Second Doctor

'I'm just a traveller. Sometimes I see things need fuxing. I do what I can.'

The Thirteenth Doctor

1. “I’m just a traveler. Sometimes I see things need fixing, I do what I can.”

#doctorwho #geek #doctorwhoquotes