Cyprus - Agios Georgios/Sea Caves walk

Today I walked for the first time with The Strollers, the Saturday walking group that Jimmy belongs to. They are a faster paced group than the Wednesday one, The Pacemakers, and a smaller and not as energetic group as the Cyprus Ramblers (every other Sunday). We met at the Sea Caves parking lot, North of Paphos, about 20 of us.

The first half of the walk was along paved and gravel roads. Between banana plantations (the blue bags help the banana bunches ripen evenly),

avocado plantations and

a riding stable.

The comment was made that horses in the U.K. wouldn't have coats on in 18 degree weather.

Another fishing boat on "the hard", looks like it might have been given its winter coat of paint.

We stopped for a "comfort break", half way through the walk, at an archaeological site. It was closed but the washrooms were open! This little chapel was next door.

Two tiny little windows, it must be lit with candles, but it was closed so I couldn't find out.

New bell and stand but still rung by hand.

Across the road, Agios Georgios Chapel (Saint George's)

Its an imposing building but quite small inside

with simple architecture,

a beautiful, silver, icon and

candles laid out for purchase.

The church is positioned overlooking the sea

and this little harbour. I will come back, with the car, to explore this more.

The second half of the walk was a return along the coast.

There was still enough wind to give us some good crashing waves but when we turned out of the wind it was jackets off and down to t-shirts.

This piece of coast is close enough to Paphos that it is being extensively developed. Unfortunately some of the developments have cut off the coastal path, even though that is illegal. I asked how that could happen and was told "bribery". So sometimes we had to walk inland a bit to get around a building site.

There were still unspoiled parts.

One developer had actually improved the coastal path.

This area has sea caves that can only be explored by boat or swimming.

Back at the carpark it's shoes off, packs away and on to the next phase - lunch.

The person, or couple in this case, that lead the walk also choose the restaurant that we eat lunch at. I splurged this time and had the grilled prawns.

Many had the burgers which were huge. The waitress came around with boxes for people to take leftovers home in, and there were no takers. She was obviously not used to diners who have just walked for 2 1/2 hours.

Don't forget to turn your clocks back tonight. About 46 years!
Brexit joke, courtesy of Jimmy.