The Greek God(zilla)’s mother is originally from Crete and his father is from Cyprus. However he was born and raised on another big island – only Britain is a little bit colder – in a house just a few doors away from the one where his parents first met.
Legend has it that the Greek God(zilla)’s dad had imagined his wife-to-be in a dream, and when he first set eyes on her at a mutual friend’s house party, he literally went weak at the knees.
Although they made the decision to raise their 3 children in London, they remained close to their families in Crete and Cyprus.
We have visited Crete many times. Our son has felt Cretan sand between his toes, and paddled in the Med. The Greek God(zilla)’s family, in the mountain village of Selia, have welcomed us into their homes and plied us with tiropita and raki. This made us feel rather weak at the knees.
We have enjoyed some wonderful holidays there and have fond memories of long days spent on the beach, sipping ice-cold Mythos in Tropical Taverna, and taking long drives to explore the island.
However, we have never visited Cyprus together.
As far as holiday destinations go, Cyprus is top of our list of places we must visit soon.
I want our son to see the country where his Papou was born, though Engomi, the village of his birth is in the Turkish-occupied territory of the north. We can visit there too as there are now border crossings allowing movement between the two sides.
I’d love to eat Kleftiko, one of my favourite dishes, up in the Troodos moutains. Although I am sure it will not be a patch on Yiayia’s, obviously.
Or, perhaps take in a bit of wine tasting. Wine has been produced in Cyprus for over 4,000 years and some of the largest wineries in Cyprus are open to the public, so it would be rude not to. Let’s not forget Keo beer too, which the Greek God(zilla)’s insists is the best!
The Greek God(zilla) will want to hire a car in Cyprus and drive along the coast, taking in the beautiful scenery from the golden sands of Protaras in the east to the fishing village of Latchi in the west.
Although, it has been a while since he drove in Cyprus, so I am assuming we will require some form of satellite navigation to get us around, and you all know how that usually ends. I will not even be able to defend our Greek speaking NavMan in the unfortunate event that he mistakenly issues the wrong command; thus sending the Greek God(zilla) into a furious frenzy as he then proceeds to defy every single subsequent command that follows. We may well be circling the island for 4-hours, but at least he will have made his point that he was right and the NavMan was wrong. Sort of.
Hopefully, any detour will take us along the coast between Pafos and Limassol, where three huge, beautiful limestone rocks known collectively as the Rock of Aphrodite, are located. In Greek mythology, it was here that Aphrodite emerged from the sea and sailed to the shore on a shell towed by dolphins.
It is said that in certain weather conditions, the waves rise, break and form a column of water that dissolves into a pillar of foam. With imagination, or enough wine, this looks like Aphrodite herself, apparently.
And, after a day spent in a car with the Greek God(zilla), I am certain we will be in dire need of a visit from the Goddess of Love.
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Disclosure: this post was commissioned by www.carhiremarket.com
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As you know Cyprus is the homeland for me, a truly beautiful island. You MUST visit! x
Have been to Cyprus four times and nearly bought myself an apartment. Those were the days. *kicks self again* Hope you get yourselves over there soon XX
My sister has lived in Cyprus (Limassol) for 9 years and we went to visit a couple of years ago, going past the Rock of Aphrodite, it really is beautiful there. Driving is a bit manic though….