Oct. 28, 2008 continued

Here you will see the Kamares Aqueduct; some underground tombs that were carved out of rock then they built Ayia Faneromeni church above it; and more ruins that are apparently a couple of thousand years old. No sign or anything is posted, so we are taking the locals word for it.
Tonight we are hosting a few people for dinner, so I will sign off and go finish getting ready. Happy Halloween (they don't celebrate that here!).
Love,
Laurel

Oct. 28, 2008 - Larnaca

Just finishing up here. After we took Mom and Dad to the airport, we thought we should look around the Larnaca area and do a bit of sightseeing. We stopped first at Ayios Lazaros where they found Lazarus' bones in a tomb. It was in a small church that has since been built upon, but you can still access the tomb from within the new church. In keeping with the theme, we stopped at the Hala Sultan Tekke Mosque. This is said to be a shrine to Muhammed's aunt. It is very beautifully kept up. I'll post the rest of the itinerary on the next page to get more photos on. xx

Mom and Dad's visit continued:

Oct. 26th - after church we were invited over to Mike and Roz' for lunch and a few rounds of bridge. It was a lovely afternoon.

Oct. 27th - out to Coral Bay to see the Sea Caves, with a stop in Paphos at Ayia Kyriaki and St. Paul's pillar. Dale also showed us some caves in Geroskipou which again, are right in town - amazing.

Oct. 28th - had to be in Larnaca at 0700 for Mom and Dad's flight home. It was a lovely visit, but we didn't see all that there was to see, so hopefully they will come back again.

Love,
Laurel

Mom and Dad's visit continued;

Oct. 25th - back to Paphos to visit the Tombs of the Kings.

Mom and Dad's visit continued/

Oct. 24th - into Paphos to see the beautiful Roman mosaics and the harbour.

Mom and Dad's visit continued,

Oct. 22nd - we took Dale to the airport as he had to fill in for David for a couple of days, so we looked around the Larnaca area. We went to Lefkara which is famous for handmade lace, another monastery - Ayios Minas, and stopped in at Tenta - a neolithic settlement.

Oct. 23rd - we finally made it to Aphrodite's Sanctuary right here in Kouklia, then drove around a bit and found the remnants of an old sugar mill. There is so much buried here, you never know when you may chance upon it.

Mom and Dad's visit continued -

Oct. 21st - a visit to the Roman settlement in Kourion, lunch at the beach, a Roman stadium and Apollo's Temple. To be continued

Mom and Dad's visit continued

Oct. 20th - had friends for coffee then saw a few local sights. To be continued . . .

Oct. 15th - 28th, 2009 Mom and Dad's visit

Here it is, Thursday already. Mom and Dad left on Tuesday, and I am finally getting around to letting you know about their visit. We had a great time, but didn't manage to fit all we wanted to, in the two weeks they were here. But here are the highlights:
Oct. 17th - recover and meet some friends at the local Taverna, and a lovely walk through our neighbours orchards.
Oct. 18th - Cairo. You will have to ask to see their photos.
Oct. 19th - after church we did a little tour and visited three monasteries.
To be continued . . .

Oct. 2-9, 2008 El Gouna/Cairo

We're back in Cyprus. I joined Dale on his last week of duty in El Gouna, then on to Cairo for a couple more days. Our hotel in El Gouna was called the Arena Hotel. It was an all inclusive - sort of Club Med Egyptian style. The food was simple but good - with one outstanding night of peppersteak. We had a fabulous Lebanese dinner at the marina one night too with the crews from both airplanes. Saturday night was belly dancers and a whirling dirvish at our hotel, and Sunday evening we watched a movie in a circular outdoor theatre. The temperature was perfect and you could see the stars and feel the breeze on our cheeks. It was delightful.
In Cairo we stayed at the City Stars Intercontinental Hotel. This is a very luxurious hotel attached to a very large mall. Luckily Dale had a couple of meetings to attend with the crew, so I had a few hours to shop. Everything is very different there, so really I window shopped. But it was fun and interesting. I also got a very good start on my Book Club's selection of "Three Cups of Tea". Definitely a book I would recommend.
The highlight of our trip was dinner at MJ and Neil's. We had such a lovely evening - sharing thoughts of the day, and photos from their trip to Ethiopia and our trip to Wales. It is always a delight to catch up with MJ and Neil - it really makes the trip worthwhile.
We were also very lucky to get to see David and Jacqueline and catch up on their bike adventures in Tuscany. By the end of the evening, I couldn't decide where to go next! A picture really is worth a thousand words.
So here we are back in Cyprus and revelling in the lovely temperature and sunshine. It is about 27C with a light breeze. It is now about time for a nap after a fabulous lunch with friends in our village, so we will sign off and keep you posted about my Mom and Dad's visit next week.
Love,
Laurel