As a person who is really fond of staying at home, I have not been om many trips through the years. I have been to Madeira some 15 years ago and before that I traveled with my company to Düsseldorf, Germany. Other than that I have only been to the neighbouring countries of Sweden; Norway, Denmark and Finland. So when me and my girlfriend started talking about making a trip when the dark fall hits Sweden we placed our hope in Cyprus. We did some time browsing through Skyscanner and other travel sites looking for flights to Cyprus. We found a really good place to stay at up in the mountains on AirBnb and we booked it. We were to set out on the morning of November 31.
Traveling early have always been at good thing for me. I can start how early as is needed but my girlfriend doesn’t like it at all. We arrived at Arlanda Airport just about 10AM and there was already lots of people. We had booked Blue Air to travel from Arlanda (Stockholm, Sweden) to Bucharest, Romania and from there to Larnaca in Cyprus. Blue Air is a budget airline and although we know that in advance we were not quite prepared for all the small things that added up to a bad journey. Check-in did not go fast, we could only get checked-in at the first leg of the travel and we had to make the transfer on our own in Bucharest. The airplane we were gonna go by to Bucharest was a 27 year old heap of junk and the pilot was terrible. Because of us traveling on the day of Halloween and the fact that we were traveling to Romania, the home of Dracula the cabin crew dressed up and handed out candy.
After a rather rough inflight to Bucharest we found that there are not that many at the airport that really understands and speaks english and we started to worry about not getting to the right gate in time. But we did and we were now on the last leg to getting to our holliday. We arrived in Larnaca at 6:45PM and the sun had already set. We got the rental car and we sat off to the mountains om small and narrow roads.
Early the next morning we woke up to… the sound of silence. Yes, there were some tractors and small cars in the distance but other than that, nothing. We got dressed and set out to find the local store and explored the surroundings. We were now in Mandriá, just a few minutes south of Plátres in the central mountains of Cyprus. This is where we stayed: https://www.google.com/maps/place/Tranquility+Lodge/@34.8787265,32.8381229,15.04z/data=!4m5!3m4!1s0x0:0x8c3948a3482d6ca3!8m2!3d34.8694014!4d32.8329742
The day after that we started to explore the island. We went by car and first stop was Chantara Waterfall. It is a really bad road the last 1,5 km so beware of rather big holes in the road and large rocks falling from the hillside. But when you get to the small parking place it is all worth it. The fall itself is not all that high but the nature surrounding the place is really nice to be in. Take the steps up from the pool and go see the waterfall from the upside as well.
The day after that we started to explore the island. We went by car and first stop was Chantara Waterfall. It is a really bad road the last 1,5 km so beware of rather big holes in the road and large rocks falling from the hillside. But when you get to the small parking place it is all worth it. The fall itself is not all that high but the nature surrounding the place is really nice to be in. Take the steps up from the pool and go see the waterfall from the upside as well.
When going to Cyprus I have learned that there are a few really special things to see and one of these things are the old roman bridges left in some places in the mountains. The most famous of these are Kelefos and Gefiri Tis Elias. These old bridges were built mostly in the 16th century in a Venetian style. The brides are easily accessed from public roads and well worth a visit.
No trip to Cyprus would be complete without at least one visit to some of all the ancient ruins left on the island by the many different cultures that have been present on the island during the years. There have been Romans, Greek, Assyrian, Egyptian and Persian influences who all have left their marks in buildings, traditions and religion. Around Paphos there are really good places to visit. The Medieval Castle of Paphos, Paphos Archaeological Park and Táfoi ton Vasiléon (Tombs of the Kings). Be sure to bring good walking shoes and lots of time.
