The area is famous for its historical sites, and the first that I visited was the Tomb of the Kings. Whilst not tombs of actual Kings, there are several impressive tombs spread out over a wide site, some of which are very impressive. You have relatively free reign to wonder about the site and get close to all the structures within it. It is also home to many pigeons!
The other way down the coast from where I was staying was Coral Bay. This is a relatively small resort with a harbour and beach, but also a Mycenaean settlement, where you can see the outline of some buildings but also a small domed museum where the most notable thing was the echoes that your feet make within it, as opposed to perhaps the contents itself!
A more modern historical site is by my hotel, where Agiou Georgiou landed at the start of Cyprus' war of independence against the British.
Within Paphos itself, the main visitor sites are by the harbour. The archaeological park is a World Heritage Site, containing within it a number of ancient settlements, many of which have impressive mosaics within them. It is all a bit more structured than the Tomb of the Kings, with defined walkways to keep you off them! Also within the site are an interesting small theatre set-up (with a key point for projecting your voice to the crowd) and a more modern (11th century?) castle which was mainly destroyed by earthquake just 30 years after being built!
The local area also has a number of other historic sites. The Fort at the entrance of the harbour didn't have much to see in it, but did let you on the roof to see the views. There was also a Christian church, surrounded by ruins of previous churches on an impressive site. Further up the road were some Catacombs , where there were a number of steps down to darker and darker locations. I followed them down and down, until I ended up walking into a pool of water and getting very wet feet!
Needing to go back to the hotel to dry off, I went back to Paphos the next day, to continue looking around the historic area (including an even older theatre) and then taking a bus up the hill to the main town centre. Here, there was a market (which was more an indoor market than anything more impressive) and the usual shops and civic buildings. There were also three museums - the Byzantine museum (which had a small collection of religious paintings), the Entomological museum (which was more of a random collection in someone's house) and the Archaeological Museum, which was the most professional of the museums and also the most interesting, particularly for me as there were a number of contemporary artworks on display alongside the much older findings.
Getting about has been fairly easy thanks to the local bus network, although there have been a number of times when I have just missed a bus. Tickets are a fixed price (€1.50) no matter how far you go - as long as it is on one bus. If you need to change buses then you will have to pay another €1.50. Thankfully there is also an option to pay €5 for a day ticket. All tickets come out of a book (and are stamped with a date if it is a day ticket) as opposed to using a ticket machine.
As I often like to note local TV here, the main item of note is that the TV choice in the hotel had BBC One and ITV on it! How they get them this far away I don't know (I presume it is some remnant of British rule) but means there is something on (allowing for the time difference!)
All in all it has been a good few days here with some interesting sites (different to those I normally visit) and some good weather.
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