You’d think an early night would do us the world of good but Maice’s voice was still rather gruff, which started to go all funny when we were walking back from Coffee Two yesterday and it’s not been the same since. One minute she talks normally, the next minute she’s very hoarse and squeaky and this morning she’s woken up with a cough. Sounds like her body’s protesting against the hot days, cool nights and air-conditioning......bless. Let’s hope she gets better soon.
Right on cue we were up at 6.40am and getting ready for our big adventure ‘Two go to Polis and Latchi on the bus’. We’d noted everything; we needed to take the 8.05am bus, number 615 from Coral Bay to Paphos then at 9.00am we were to take the 645 from Paphos to Polis which would take an hour and get us there at 10.00am. So far so good, we’d made it to Paphos. We couldn’t find the 645 on the screen so went and asked at the information desk. ‘What you need to do’ we were told ‘is take the 618 to another bus station and there you will get on the 645’. Now that wasn’t mentioned on the website! So we got the 618 to Karavella Bus Station which got us there at 8.58am and within minutes we were on the 645 bus to Polis.....another hour and we’d be there. At 09.40am we arrived into this small town where the bus stopped outside what can only be described as a ‘Bus Shop’ rather than a station and everyone got off. We weren’t sure what to do and told the driver we were going to Polis and he told us ‘you need the 622 bus, bus number six-two-two’, so we stood and waited with the others for bus number 622. Then, this other driver comes along shouting ‘bus to Paphos, where you wanna go’. We told him we were waiting for the bus to Polis, to which he replied ‘this is Polis’! Well we weren’t to know!. Apparently, if we’d got the 622 we would have ended up somewhere in Aphrodite Hills! Ah, it’s all an adventure. So now that we were in Polis we didn’t have a clue where we were going so we set off in the direction of the town centre where we located a map of the town outside the post office. Fortunately I’d written down the name and address of this cafe we wanted to go to called Art Cafe 3000 but couldn’t find the street name anywhere on the map so we thought we’d ask the lady in the Post Office. She didn’t know where the cafe was either so she said ‘I’ll call someone’ but Stavros, who she called, didn’t know either!. The next customer who came in did know and once we’d been given the directions she said ‘say hello to Gina for me’. And that was that, we made our way through the quaint little cobbled streets and found the cafe, said ‘hello’ to Gina, sat down in the sun, then moved to the shade, then moved again as it was too cold and our final move saw us sat at a little table next to the loos! We both enjoyed a Frappe, which was served in pint glasses and enjoyed an apple and an orange cake, thinking this could contribute to our ‘five a day’!
It was lovely sitting in this very traditional Greek courtyard but we had to wrench ourselves away and continue on our adventure. Gina, wishing us a happy adventurous day, thankfully gave us directions to the beach as we were going to head off in the opposite direction and off we went. We were planning on walking to Latchi which was just a mile or two along the coast and instead of walking along the boardwalk we paddled instead because ‘hey hey hey it’s a beautiful day ........and we can’t stop ourselves from smilin’ (there’s a song there somewhere!). The water was glorious and on the way we tried to be creative with our cameras. Sandra had set us all a mission for the day; to see who could take the most unusual selfie, so that’s what we were aiming to do. We wondered how The Three Amigas, Ali, Dianne and Sandra were getting on in the car. They were driving up to the mountains today to the Kikkos Monastery, so hope they found it without deviation or carrying out any illegal manouvers.....we’ll find out later no doubt.
Maice and I arrived in Latchi just in time for lunch and soon found ourselves sitting outside this very nice taverna right next to the harbour, ordering a giraffe of wine and a Greek salad. It was all very civilised and so nice to sit and ‘drink in’ not only our large giraffe of wine, but the surroundings too. We weren’t alone at our table for on the chair next to me was this enormous ginger Tom, fast asleep, absolutely dead to the world. He didn’t budge or move an inch when we sat down or when we were eating. Oh how I would love to take him home....he’s such a handsome cat. We watched the waterfront activity with interest particularly when the Marine Police moored up and about fifteen strapping, good looking men in uniform walked past us, even stoping to say ‘hello ladies’. Well mannered too it seems.
We knew the Three Amigas wanted to visit Polis and Latchi after their visit to the mountains so we said we’d catch a lift back with them if we could but it was still early when we’d finished lunch so thought we’d look around the few shops that were open and then make our way back to the bus stop and head off home. A text from the others however said they were on their way, albeit running a bit late and to hang fire until they arrived and have another giraffe of wine! Well that was certainly out of the question, the first one had already gone to our legs and our heads! We were on our way to the shops when I realised I’d left my Australian water bottle back at the taverna, so had to return for that, then in the first shop we went to I broke an ornament and we beat a hasty retreat, having owned up to shop assistant who seemed rather non-pulsed (predictive text, meant to say non-plussed), then in the next shop Maice bought some presents for Christmas and left her camera in the shop! Definitely time to go home. We Whats App’d the 3 Amigas to see where they were.......apparently they were now an hour away when earlier they were forty minutes away. By the sounds of things they must be having an adventure too. We told them we’d get the bus, but no, they were coming to get us. So, we walked back to Polis along the boardwalk, taking lots of photos along the way, to find out that the 3 Amigas were now thirty minutes away, then thirty minutes later they were still thirty minutes away....and so it went on. Two hours after they were ‘on their way’ they called us from Latchi to find out where we were, but we were in Polis. ‘Head for the Bus Station’ I said, ‘we’re outside’. Needless to say we saw them drive right past us and turn the corner into the old town....me chasing after them waving my arms around and each time I caught them up they would drive on further. Maice What’s App’d Dianne to ‘stop the car....we’re behind you’. Finally, we were ‘reunited and it feels so good’.......(another song there somewhere).
The girls regaled us with their ‘Driving with The 3 Amigas’ adventures. So, having left Coral Bay at 9.30am they fuelled up and made their way up to the mountains where they stopped at the Green Valley Waterfalls aka I’m a Celebrity Get me Out of Here waterfall look-a-like.
So far so good one would think, they’d made it to their first stop however Sandra’s worst nightmare was there in force.....Chickens. Suffering from Alektorophobia she was petrified when she encountered a number (100’s) of them clucking around the place. Coffee was needed, although something stronger would have been better for Sandra but being the only driver she had to remain tee-total the whole day. A nice surprise for them was being given pomegranates, grapes and oranges from a random guy at the coffee shop.Onward and upwards to the Trooditsa Monastery, which unfortunately was not open to visitors so off they drove to the famous Balkan War Memorial and Kikkos Monastery which they loved. Having said they’d pick us up at Polis, they made their way down the mountain but were thwarted by mud slides and land slides which meant they had to make a number of detours hence the issue with timings.......and finally they arrived in Polis at 6pm!
Arriving back at the villa, Mark and Pearl had had the least stressful day walking to Porto Antico where we went on our 60s night and chilled around the pool. Mark did take probably the best selfie photo but unfortunately it won’t make it into this blog.
Overall, we’ve all had a great day. Probably the person who suffered most was Irene and she’s not even in Cyprus! Apparently, flying back to Aberdeen via Manchester Irene was interrogated, body searched twice, had her passport and boarding pass confiscated all because they suspected traces of chemicals on her hand-luggage. She was forced to sign a declaration so goodness knows what will happen with that. It all began apparently when this new member of customs staff stopped her because her case contained a travel plug. Nothing wrong with that but then they searched the whole bag and that’s when the drama started. Poor Irene was traumatised by the whole event. Two things are for certain.....a) she’s never flying from Manchester ever again and b) she’s going to invest in a new piece of hand-luggage!
After all the drama we went to supper at Philipida, for the fifth time!! It was a quiet affair because a) Josef had a day off b) we were tired and c) we were going home tomorrow. We all agreed we’d all had a fabulous holiday and gave Pearl a birthday to remember......and on they note...
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