[Monday 21 November 2016]
Cyprus
The Annabelle, Λεωφόρος Ποσειδώνoς, Paphos, Cyprus
Janet reported that after she went to the loo at 4am she heard a mosquito. She had a bite on the forehead.… We went down for breakfast a little after 9.30am. I took two photos out of the window of our room.
Tuesday 22 November 2016 — 10:18:16
View from our room
Tuesday 22 November 2016 — 10:18:58
View from our room: Paphos Castle
We went to the lounge/“library”, where Janet sat at a table to write up her journal. I connected my HDD to the computer on the other table. “2016.doc” opened in
OpenOffice, but soon crashed; so I went back to the room to bring my
Samsung computer. Access to Wi-Fi in the lounge did require user-name and password to be supplied (10:46), in contrast to my experience in the room last night.…
We went out, ca. midday, walking in the direction of the harbour. We stopped at a seafront bar/restaurant called “ΜΠΑΝΙΑ” (“Bania”, if my understanding of modern Greek spelling serves me correctly, which I thought reminiscent of Italian “bagni” and Spanish “baños”: why, though, would they call a bar
“bathrooms”?).[a] I had a bottle of
Erdinger dunkel Weißbier there and Janet two Sprite Zero. In common with our experience of bars, in Italy and Greece especially, where a savoury snack is provided with a drink, I was given a little container of peanuts.
- [a] It’s by an area called Παραλία Δημοτικά Μπάνια (“Public Baths Beach”).
Tuesday 22 November 2016 — 12:34:24
Drinks in the ΜΠΑΝΙΑ bar
We went in search of a supermarket, following the directions of people we asked, and found it: a quite large one called
Papantoniou. We didn’t want to be carrying heavy items around with us, so didn’t buy anything; we just needed to know its location, so we could find it later. We went on from there, coming across a small church — St. George’s — which we visited. I think it was the first Greek Orthodox church we’d ever visited, but its appearance,
e.g. the iconostasis (albeit small and simple), was familiar from Russian Orthodox churches.
Tuesday 22 November 2016 — 13:25:56
St. George’s Church, south side and entrance
Tuesday 22 November 2016 — 13:25:56 (detail)
St. George’s Church, entrance
Tuesday 22 November 2016 — 13:26:08
“ΕΚΚΛΗΣΙΑ ΑΓΙΟΥ ΓΕΩΡΓΙΟΥ” (“St. George’s Church”)
Tuesday 22 November 2016 — 13:28:30
St. George’s Church
Tuesday 22 November 2016 — 13:29:18
St. George’s Church
Tuesday 22 November 2016 — 13:29:36
St. George’s Church
Tuesday 22 November 2016 — 13:30:26
St. George’s Church
Tuesday 22 November 2016 — 13:32:02
St. George’s Church: the upper left icon on the iconostasis — “Ο ΑΓΙΟΣ ΓΕΩΡΓΙΟΣ”, “Saint George”
Tuesday 22 November 2016 — 13:34:12
St. George’s Church: one of the icons on the side wall — “Ο ΑΓΙΟΣ ΝΙΚΟΛΑΟΣ”, “Saint Nicholas”
Tuesday 22 November 2016 — 13:34:44
St. George’s Church: icon of St. George
Tuesday 22 November 2016 — 13:34:44 (edited detail)
St. George’s Church: “Ο Άγιος Γεώργιος”, “Saint George”
Tuesday 22 November 2016 — 13:36:48
St. George’s Church, west end
Tuesday 22 November 2016 — 13:37:22
St. George’s Church, door on the north side
Tuesday 22 November 2016 — 13:37:38
St. George’s Church, low relief of St. George over the north door
Tuesday 22 November 2016 — 13:37:38 (edited detail)
St. George’s Church, low relief of St. George over the north door
Going on from there, we came across the ruins of a mediaeval Ottoman bath house. I had a look around it.
Tuesday 22 November 2016 — 13:42:38
Mediaeval Ottoman bath house
Tuesday 22 November 2016 — 13:42:38 (detail)
Mediaeval Ottoman bath house
Tuesday 22 November 2016 — 13:43:44
Mediaeval Ottoman bath house
Tuesday 22 November 2016 — 13:44:14
Mediaeval Ottoman bath house
Tuesday 22 November 2016 — 13:44:14 (detail 1)
Mediaeval Ottoman bath house
Tuesday 22 November 2016 — 13:44:14 (detail 2)
“BATHS: Medieval — Ottoman Period”
I went up to the door and looked through the grille that had been put there to bar entry. I’m not sure what I saw: the remains of a hypocaust, perhaps?
Tuesday 22 November 2016 — 13:45:26
Mediaeval Ottoman bath house: view through the door
Tuesday 22 November 2016 — 13:46:26
Mediaeval Ottoman bath house
In the UK, secondary power distribution usually occurs underground; but here I noticed that the wires were carried on poles, five wires: three thick upper ones, a thin one below them, and a thick one below that. I guessed that it must be a three-phase supply, therefore: three live, one earth, and one neutral. The only thing that made me doubt this (though it had been many years since I studied electrical engineering), was a notion that three-phase didn’t have a
neutral.[i]
- [i] A month later, I looked it up: there are two ways that three-phase supply can be configured: “Y” and “Δ”. “Y” has a neutral, but “Δ” doesn’t.
Tuesday 22 November 2016 — 13:46:26 (detail)
Pole-mounted electrical supply lines
Then on the way back towards the seafront, we looked to the left and saw quite a large church: “Greek Orthodox Church of Panayia Theoskepasti”. It was closed, though, so we couldn’t go in. I wondered what the words meant. Was “Παναγία”[ii] something like our “All Saints”? I recognised the elements “παν” (“all”) and “αγί” (“holy”).
- [ii] I would come across “Παναγία” (“Panagia” or “Panayia” when transliterated) several times subsequently. The elements of it are “παν” (“all”), “αγί” (“holy”) and
“α” (feminine singular suffix); and it is one of the titles of Mary, the mother of Jesus, used especially in Orthodox Christianity.
As for “Theoskepasti”, this is what Wikipedia says:
-
- By the end of the 11th century Saracens start attacking Cyprus. Theoskepasti church, due to its position, could easily be discerned by invading Arabs, during their raids. However, according to a legend the church was veiled with dark clouds of fog and rendered invisible as soon as the Saracens approached it. Due to this legend the church got the name “Theoskepasti” from the Greek words “Theos” and “skepazo” which mean “God” and “to veil” respectively. So, the name is “Veiled by God”.
Tuesday 22 November 2016 — 13:54:12
Greek Orthodox Church of Panayia Theoskepasti
Tuesday 22 November 2016 — 13:55:16
Greek Orthodox Church of Panayia Theoskepasti
Tuesday 22 November 2016 — 13:55:28
“Greek Orthodox Church of Panayia Theoskepasti”
We returned to the seafront and had drinks at the nearest bar, the
Ideal Café–Snack Bar. We sat under one of the big, square umbrellas that shaded the tables outside. They had a “special offer” of a pint of beer (one of a number of British traits in Cyprus) for €1.90.
Janet had a couple of diet soft drinks. Across Poseidonos Avenue (Λεωφόρος Ποσειδώνoς) from there, there was a bronze sculpture of a little boy carrying a big fish behind him.
Tuesday 22 November 2016 — 15:16:52
The little fisherman, bronze sculpture by local artist Γιώτα Ιωαννίδου (Yiota
Ioannidou)
We continued along Poseidonos Avenue into the harbour area. Just before the end, after which you arrive at the castle, there was an exhibition building, called
Εν πλω, in which we looked. An A-frame board advertised “Art exhibition”. There were tables set up within the room around the walls by people selling jewellery, artefacts, souvenirs,
etc. I bought an item with a reproduction of an icon on it. Then I saw one I liked better for a few more euros, so I exchanged that for this one. It was only of slight intrinsic value; it was only a print stuck on a rough slice of a tree branch, burned or stained to look old; but I thought it ideal as a souvenir. It had “ιc” and “xc” either side of the halo, with which I was familiar; and it had the letters ο, ω and
N in the cross in the halo, with which I
wasn’t.[iii]
- [iii] I asked our guide about these letters on 25
November 2016; but, to me, a more plausible explanation was what I found afterwards, that it’s an abbreviation of the
LXX of Exodus 3:13: “Έγώ είμι Ό ΏΝ”, “I am THE ONE WHO IS” or “I am THE EXISTING ONE”.
Souvenir icon
Either side of the halo: “Ι[ησού]ς” and “Χ[ριστό]ς” — “Jesus Christ”
Within the halo: “Ό ΏΝ” — “The One Who Is” or “The Existing One”
In the open book, very abbreviated: “ΕΓΩ ΕΙΜΙ ΤΟ ΦΩΣ ΤΟΥ ΚΟΣΜΟΥ Ο ΑΚΟΛΟΥΘΩΝ ΕΜΟΙ ΟΥ ΜΗ ΠΕΡΙΠΑΤΗΣῌ ΕΝ ΤΗ ΣΚΟΤΙΑ” — “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness” (cf.
5
June 2015 “11:34:24”).
Tuesday 22 November 2016 — 15:42:36
Εν πλω (“on board”)
Tuesday 22 November 2016 — 15:42:36 (detail)
Εν πλω (“on board”)
Tuesday 22 November 2016 — 15:43:26
Paphos Castle
Tuesday 22 November 2016 — 15:43:26 (detail 1)
Paphos Castle
Tuesday 22 November 2016 — 15:43:26 (detail 2)
Paphos Castle
Tuesday 22 November 2016 — 15:44:38
Paphos Castle
Tuesday 22 November 2016 — 15:44:38 (detail 1)
Paphos Castle
Tuesday 22 November 2016 — 15:44:38 (detail 2)
Paphos Castle
Tuesday 22 November 2016 — 15:46:36
Paphos Castle
Tuesday 22 November 2016 — 15:46:36 (detail)
Paphos Castle
Tuesday 22 November 2016 — 15:46:46
Paphos Castle
We were able to get the over-65 rate — €1.50 each — at the ticket office within the castle.
Tuesday 22 November 2016 — 15:49:34
Paphos Castle
Tuesday 22 November 2016 — 15:54:42
Paphos Castle
Tuesday 22 November 2016 — 15:55:34
Seen from Paphos Castle
Tuesday 22 November 2016 — 15:56:26
Panorama of Paphos Harbour (1)
Tuesday 22 November 2016 — 15:56:42
Panorama of Paphos Harbour (2)
Tuesday 22 November 2016 — 15:56:54
Panorama of Paphos Harbour (3)
Tuesday 22 November 2016 — 15:56:54 (detail)
(Shoreline, centre left:) Our hotel, the Annabelle
(Nearer:) Remains of an ancient breakwater
Tuesday 22 November 2016 — 15:57:10
Panorama of Paphos Harbour (4)
Tuesday 22 November 2016 — 15:58:04
Seen from Paphos Castle
Tuesday 22 November 2016 — 16:01:24
Paphos Castle
Tuesday 22 November 2016 — 16:02:54
Seen from Paphos Castle
Tuesday 22 November 2016 — 16:03:52
Paphos Castle
Tuesday 22 November 2016 — 16:04:14
Paphos Castle
Tuesday 22 November 2016 — 16:04:34
Paphos Castle: the way down
Tuesday 22 November 2016 — 16:05:06
Paphos Castle: on the way down
Tuesday 22 November 2016 — 16:05:32
Paphos Castle
Tuesday 22 November 2016 — 16:06:00
Paphos Castle
Tuesday 22 November 2016 — 16:06:20
Paphos Castle
In the car park more or less behind Εν πλω there were public toilets, so we availed ourselves of them before returning along
the seafront road. On Apostolou Pavlou Avenue we turned left, passing the bus station on our left, then
turned right into Lidas Street, to visit the large Papantoniou Supermarket. We bought a big bottle of water
(Keo Ayios Nikolaos; evidently Keo don’t just produce beer!), two 2-litre bottles of
Diet 7 Up, and a pack of garbage bags, all for €6.22 (at 4:48 [pm], according to the till receipt). We turned right at the end of Lidas Street, into Alkminis Street (which, in fact, we’d gone along before, when we’d come from the Panayia Theoskepasti church), and so arrived back at the
Ideal Café–Snack Bar. It had been hot earlier, so we’d sat outside; it was cooler now, so we went indoors. The sun had gone down, and it was getting dark. I had a “special offer” pint of beer for €1.90;
Janet paid more for her diet soft drink, €2.50! (at 17:12:17 on the till receipt). Then we went back to the hotel, stopping at an ATM on the way. Back in our room, I transferred 46 photos from my camera to the
WD Elements HDD (17:45–17:47). Looked at them with Windows Photo Viewer and rotated 13 photos that needed it (17:50–17:53).
Janet noted: “[John] has lots of mosquito bites.” Just before 6.30pm we went to the bar just off the lobby for aperativi: I had a
Campari and soda, quite dear and rather weak; and Janet had a non-alcoholic “mocktail”, a “Singapore Sling”. Then we went down the wide, curved staircase to the restaurant below. We went back to the room
ca.8pm. I switched on the computer. Janet showered, by which time it was just after 8.30pm. She went to bed not long afterwards. The intermittent nature of the internet connection made,
e.g. determining what internet activity I’d done and when I’d done it, for the purpose of writing up my diary, impossible to do, so I gave up
(ca.9.25pm) and shut down the computer. I went to bed also, not long after that.
[Wednesday 23 November 2016]
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