Paphos to Polis again ...

Wednesday again, the second of this Cyprus holiday ... England beat Wales 3-0 to qualify for the next round last night, while the taffs crashed out. It's a lovely warm day in Paphos so we set out to explore more of Cyprus and decided to visit the capital,  Nicosia ... however on arriving at the intercity bus for Nicosia the driver not only wore a mask but insisted we wore one too!!

So, dear readers of Wear and Dao, we changed our plans and headed for Polis again, where we found a seafood restaurant by the harbour in Polis and delicious and nutritious seafood ...

Tomorrow maybe we'll hire a car and explore the island properly without stroppy bus drivers telling us what to do!

Further afield ...

Paphos municipality is quite broad and whilst Coral Bay is a firm favourite, Polis to the north is well worth a visit. We've been twice by bus recently dear readers of Wear and Dao and both times found it delightful, though the first visit was rather wet ... nevertheless we found a dry restaurant for a delicious and nutritious lunch of fish soup.Yesterday we went up on the service bus again and saw the the Christmas market in full swing.

Today we took  the bus to the harbour bus station then on to a stop where we could see more of Paphos from an elegant road crossing to see the ancient archaeology from above. After this we took the bus to Coral Bay again to sit and read by the sea ... Philip Pulman's Dust and Lawrence Durrell's Cyprus history respectively.

Returning on the bus to the harbour station, we found a fish restaurant for a delicious and nutritious lunch of sea bass and new potatoes followed by dessert.

Limmasol

After spending the first few days in and around Paphos, yesterday, Friday, was a longer ride east along the coast to the city of Limmasol or Lemamas as it's known these days post British empire. Cyprus of course long played an important role in trading between Africa, Asia and Europe along with it's strategic role often involving empires vying for power. The British empire still has RAF bases, notably two in Limmasol along with hundreds of staff, mostly enjoying the wonderful posting in the beautiful island of Cyprus, though they don't wear uniforms around the city these days. A remnant of colonial days is the fact that vehicles drive on the left ... and the English language is widely spoken.

As yesterday, thunder showers soaked the ground all around plus the people wandering the city. Great for the landscape, not much fun for the tourists ... nevertheless we found shelter here and there including a restaurant serving delicious fish soup.Returning to the hotel we discovered Wales had lost to Iran and after a walk to the local cafe for carrot and coriander  soup and watched England and the USA draw 0-0 leaving the group open until Tuesday when Wales play England and the US play Iran ...watch this space!

Today, Saturday, we set off bright and early after a delicious and nutritious breakfast including porage, took the service bus from the hotel to the Harbour bus station and on to Coral Bay where no rain was to be seen and a restaurant was found after sunbathing and swimming. .. guess what we found in the restaurant dear readers?  Yes, you guessed it, a delicious and nutritious lunch of fish soup or asparagus soup for the partner. ..

Coral Bay

5 km from Paphos Harbour lies the beautiful Coral Bay with sandy beaches to be explored and a warm sea in which to swim. Outside the Athena Beach Hotel a bus to the harbour takes us the short distance to the bus station and the 10 minute drive to Coral Bay where the sun was shining and the temperature at 25° very pleasant.

This was the day before yesterday i.e. Tuesday ... today,Thursday, after a delicious and nutritious  breakfast  in the hotel our 5€ day bus pass took us first to the harbour then up to the old Paphos a well restored hill top settlement.  After a look around there and a sunny sit down for a Greek coffee and Ouzo. From there we returned to the Harbour bus station then back to Coral Bay for sunbathing and swimming in the sea.

After this the bus took us back to the Harbour bus station then on to the hotel for a quick shower etc and a walk along the coast from the hotel arriving finally at the Tea for Two cafe for delicious carrot and coriander soup followed by scampi all washed down with  Guinness. .. back in our room at the hotel we saw Spain hammer Costa Rica 7-0.

Today, Thursday, we took the bus from the hotel bus stop to the Harbour bus station again and hopped on the first bus that came in which was for Coral Bay. There we swam again in the sea, then took the bus on to Polis 60km away up a steep hill and had a lovely meal of fish soup followed by calamari and scuffed vine leaves. Now we're sitting here at the restaurant waiting for the bus down to Aphrodte's Baths ...

To Cyprus today ...

And so the fun begins dear readers of Wear and Dao ... three weeks winter holiday in Cyprus!

Since the flight is due to depart from Manchester at 9am we travelled down last night to stay at the Holiday Inn by the airport and arrived in good time to check in, though not without some difficulty finding the entrance even though we could see it right by terminal 2 ... so, spotting two police officers asked them for assistance, which they kindly offered and escorted us to the entrance.

So, at approximately 5am, we set off from the hotel to drive the short distance to the parking place where an airport bus was booked to take us to terminal 2 and Paphos. This left us with plenty of time to check in ready for boarding at 8.30 ... hey ho, theory is one thing practice something else and sure enough sat nav had us demented as the clock ticked relentlessly towards deadline time! Just when it seemed we'd miss the flight, we found the car park and stood in the rain waiting for the airport bus, which took a while ... then the first bus went past us full. Finally we got to terminal 2 with an hour to spare to take off and the Jet2 folks rushed us through the baggage checks leaving us with just the hand luggage to check which they never rush for obvious reasons. We finally boarded the Paphos plane at 8.45 and took off at 9 on schedule.

4 and a half hours later we landed in Cyprus, cleared passport and other checks double quick and found the bus to our hotel. The beachside Athena Hotel is delightful and the 3rd floor room overlooks the sea and a veranda means we can sit out and ponder how lucky we are ...

After unpacking we went to the restaurant for a buffet dinner then a walk along the beach before calling in to a bar at the hotel for a drink and a band playing light music. Tomorrow is free to explore Paphos and plan some trips around the island for the coming 3 weeks.

Two visitors curry favour!

Here we go again dear readers of Wear and Dao,  another weekly blog ...Monday was not notable (or maybe that's just memory loss), Tuesday more of the same, Wednesday ditto.

Memory kicks in on Thursday when we went to Nenthead in Cumbria with Wheels to Meals and the Hive for a delicious (and  nutritious) lunch and good company, notably Gillian the Angel of Stanhope and Graham Rendell a new volunteer driver and published  author.

Friday we lunched in Stanhope on a delicious and nutritious meal of pasta bolognese. ..

Yesterday we went over to Jarrow to visit the partner's mother, who's not feeling great ... at 90 that's not bad is it dear readers of Wear and Dao? I'd   take that dear readers  ... How about you folks?!Today, Sunday we had curry and rice for lunch when Bill the philosophical friend and Andrew from next door came for a delicious and nutritious lunch! P.S. editor please let me know when you 've  had enough of this food stuff ...

Another Sunday ...

Well here we are again dear readers of Wear and Dao. .. another Sunday in Weardale, this one the first in November 2022.
After Monday's car service just outside Durham when several hours were required and a decent walk into town (or to be precise, city), plus a delicious and nutritious lunch at a Turkish restaurant, we returned home for a rest before the usual quick drink at the local.

Tuesday was unremarkable, Wednesday too. Thursday we set off for for Durham again, this time to talk to Curries in Dragonville about a redundant mobile contract with id mobile where the contract had been signed several years before. Try as he did, the Curries representative couldn't resolve the issue, so we abandoned the effort and headed home via Barnard Castle where we exchanged sterling for euros ready for the forthcoming Cyprus winter holiday. Needless to say lunch in Barney was delicious etc.

Friday in Stanhope we called in to Barclays Bank to cancel the direct debit to id mobile ...!

Saturday was the partner's mother's birthday treat, a matinee performance of the amazing Les Miserables at the Sunderland Empire, a tale of the French Revolution and love lost and won performed live on stage, orchestra and all. A proper treat! After the show we left Mother in Jarrow and headed home for Stanhope and since we were peckish stopped at the Brown Horse at Tow Law for a bite to eat ... scampi and chips plus peas and salad; delicious and so on, before heading home to bed, skipping the customary drink at the Grey Bull for a change.

This brings us to today dear readers, when we had no fixed plans except a visit to our friends nearby to catch up, then lunch at home. After the trip to the local we received dreadful news of the death of the son of a dear friend from near Hexham. What could be worse than such a tragedy dear readers?

Such is life .......