Polis, Cyprus - Aphrodite's Bath

It was nice driving with Nicola and Dave as there was someone to navigate (especially around roundabouts, though I still managed to miss one roundabout turn when taking them to the airport - I blame the truck full of bananas) and other people there if something went wrong. So I had to talk myself into getting back into the car today and remind myself that I did fine before they came. I wanted to go across to the other side of the island and see the town of Polis and its environs.

This entailed taking the highway to Paphos, driving through Paphos (city driving is always challenging when driving on a the left side of the road), over the mountains that form the backbone of the island (I don't know if they are actually mountains but my ears popped twice on the way up) and then back down the other side to the Northern coast.  Steep, bendy roads mean you can't easily pass slow moving vehicles like this truck carrying sheep.

It was a lovely drive, once I got out of Paphos. The valleys were full of the dark foliage of lemon and orange trees with the yellow and orange polka dots of their fruit. The hillsides were covered with the golden yellow of gorse, pale yellow of wild flowers and scattered, like lace handkerchiefs, the brilliant white of the almond trees in bloom.
Polis was nothing to write home about, a good size town set a little back from the coast, so I continued driving down towards the sea (with the GPS on my phone insisting I make a U turn).

I parked, walked to a beach and saw, in the distance, a marina ( it turned out to be in Lakki, or Latchi), so continued driving.

By now I was hungry and needed to go to the washroom so parked and went in to the first restaurant

which overlooked the fishing boats and tourist boats.

I decided that there were enough fishing boats here to make it a good place to have fish

so I ordered grilled Sea Bream, no chips, so they gave me extra salad.

Fortified, I walked the harbour - the leisure boat docks,

the boat works with the sound of drilling and sanding,

and the fishing boat end with its smells of fish and seaweed

and the sounds of seagulls and

and loud Greek music accompanying the man mending his nets.

I loved the colours and lines of this little boat

with it's stern pointed towards the bay and the coastal hills.

Dessert: cherry cheesecake gelato and a view of the beach.

I continued, Westward, along the coast following signs for Aphrodite's Baths

By now it was early afternoon and parking was at a premium. I missed this little sign just beyond the parking lot

and ended up walking for a way along a path by the coast

with beautiful views

and wild flowers.

Past some goats with huge horns and, what I took for, an unofficial camping area,

I, luckily, found this faded sign and followed a stone path.

We definitely "baby" our Cyclamen at home,

here they are growing out of rocks.

No doubts cast here, no "legend has it..." or "according to mythology...", nope - Aphrodite bathed here, kept her soap and her shampoo right on that rock over there.

It's a nice little pool, clear with tinkling water dripping from the sides.

I walked back through a small botanical garden

to the car park.

I looked up to where I had to drive back, there were thunderclouds over the mountains and I was anticipating a rainy drive.

I pulled over a couple of times to take pictures of the almond trees glistening in the sun

from the recent rain.