As part of our "Its the middle of Polish winter so please lets see the sun" tour we hopped from Athens to Cyprus to visit Aya's work headquarters and then to Malta because, its another country I can visit!
Cyprus was pleasantly warm, a bit more so than usual I'm told, and most days I was wearing short sleeves and getting some sun. Aya's work was nice enough to put us up at a beach side hotel with a really nice view. Since it was the off season I can't imagine there were more than 50 other guests there, so it was pretty quiet.
We were really only there for one full day and the afternoon we arrived, so right away we went to Aya's work headquarters to see some people and check out the place. I'd never been there, but Aya had a couple of times for some work things. I was pretty impressed. There must have been a few hundred employees there and as we made our way around to shake hands and meet people everyone knew who Aya was. Kind of makes sense since she has been there pretty much from the start of the company and, I believe, is one of just a handful of her team members that have been there longer than 5 years. The company was bustling, but as we headed to the roof things calmed down a bit at the rooftop bar where it seemed like half the company was having a cup of coffee or a cigarette and enjoying the day! (joking, but only kind of). After visiting for a bit we headed back to the hotel with some very laid back plans for the next morning.
For lunch we were going to meet up with some of Aya's co-workers and since the place we were meeting was right by the Limasol Castle we decided to have a look. From the outside it is a quite boxy squat building (good for a castle defensively I guess) and from the inside it is quite a squat boxy building. It was neat to have a look at the armory and the various rooms and to imagine people who had called this place their work place so many years ago. From the roof tops there is a pretty sweet view and I bet that was a perk of working in the castle so many years before. Nice view. Good benefits. Occasional violent altercation. Hiring.
In the afternoon we took the bus out to the ruins and then later had a walk back to the hotel. The ruins were pretty neat. The city was one of the richest in Cyprus for some time, but scaled back around 300BC. From the wikipedia page it says that, "Amathus was built on the coastal cliffs with a natural harbour and flourished at an early date, soon requiring several cemeteries."and you know that as a city you've made it once you require several cemeteries. Really though the city was full of culture and had one of the earliest Christian churches, even sending one of its bishops to the second council of Nicea (Nicene creed anyone? Anyone?) Ok, that was the first council of Nicea, but close!
The next morning we were on the wing again and off to Malta. Cyprus, nice place, thank you and hope to see you again.
By the next day the sky had cleared and we had one full day to see what we could. Unfortunately what we didn't realize is that it was some kind of feast day and so a good number of things were closed! But... we did get almost 20k steps in!
We spent the morning just wandering around Valetta. Wow, what a beautiful place! Just walking around was treat enough, but we decided to make it to the fort by noon for the firing of the cannons. Unfortunately my trigger finder was not quite fast enough and I just missed the boom of the cannons.
We had decided that we would try our best to reach Mdina and then come back again. By the time we got there it was early afternoon, so we stopped to have something to eat and then to visit the castle. To our dismay we found out pretty much everything in the area was closed for the feast day, but we did make it to St. Agatha's and St. Paul's catacombs. That was pretty cool since, it is rumored, St. Paul had sheltered there in the catacomb for some time.
After that we merely caught the bus back to our hotel as there was not much to do with everything closed. Malta seems like a pretty cool place and I could definitely see coming back here again, but hey, how about improving that air quality?
Cyprus was pleasantly warm, a bit more so than usual I'm told, and most days I was wearing short sleeves and getting some sun. Aya's work was nice enough to put us up at a beach side hotel with a really nice view. Since it was the off season I can't imagine there were more than 50 other guests there, so it was pretty quiet.
We were really only there for one full day and the afternoon we arrived, so right away we went to Aya's work headquarters to see some people and check out the place. I'd never been there, but Aya had a couple of times for some work things. I was pretty impressed. There must have been a few hundred employees there and as we made our way around to shake hands and meet people everyone knew who Aya was. Kind of makes sense since she has been there pretty much from the start of the company and, I believe, is one of just a handful of her team members that have been there longer than 5 years. The company was bustling, but as we headed to the roof things calmed down a bit at the rooftop bar where it seemed like half the company was having a cup of coffee or a cigarette and enjoying the day! (joking, but only kind of). After visiting for a bit we headed back to the hotel with some very laid back plans for the next morning.
I woke up early to go running and noticed on the map that the Amathus Ruins were just a few kilometers from the hotel. So I took an out and back run to check it out. The ruins are pretty cool, but after Athens I think a bit underwhelming. Still, I thought they were cool enough that Aya and I would return later that day.
In the afternoon we took the bus out to the ruins and then later had a walk back to the hotel. The ruins were pretty neat. The city was one of the richest in Cyprus for some time, but scaled back around 300BC. From the wikipedia page it says that, "Amathus was built on the coastal cliffs with a natural harbour and flourished at an early date, soon requiring several cemeteries."and you know that as a city you've made it once you require several cemeteries. Really though the city was full of culture and had one of the earliest Christian churches, even sending one of its bishops to the second council of Nicea (Nicene creed anyone? Anyone?) Ok, that was the first council of Nicea, but close!
The next morning we were on the wing again and off to Malta. Cyprus, nice place, thank you and hope to see you again.
When we landed in Malta we had a surprise. The air pollution! Being former Beijingers we know air pollution when we see/smell it and coming off the plane we could tell right away that the air was bad. Checking our apps we could see it, but why? We never did quite figure that out, but perhaps because of the proximity to southern Italy?
By the next day the sky had cleared and we had one full day to see what we could. Unfortunately what we didn't realize is that it was some kind of feast day and so a good number of things were closed! But... we did get almost 20k steps in!
We spent the morning just wandering around Valetta. Wow, what a beautiful place! Just walking around was treat enough, but we decided to make it to the fort by noon for the firing of the cannons. Unfortunately my trigger finder was not quite fast enough and I just missed the boom of the cannons.
We had decided that we would try our best to reach Mdina and then come back again. By the time we got there it was early afternoon, so we stopped to have something to eat and then to visit the castle. To our dismay we found out pretty much everything in the area was closed for the feast day, but we did make it to St. Agatha's and St. Paul's catacombs. That was pretty cool since, it is rumored, St. Paul had sheltered there in the catacomb for some time.
After that we merely caught the bus back to our hotel as there was not much to do with everything closed. Malta seems like a pretty cool place and I could definitely see coming back here again, but hey, how about improving that air quality?
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