DAY 135- DAY 129 CRYSTAL SERENITY

WELCOME TO PAPHOS CYPRUS

We wanted to begin by saying when you sail for along time it is not unusual for members of Team Serenity to go home and return while you are still sailing.  For example, on this cruise Hotel Director Hubert, Doctor Soto and Cruise Director Gary who we sailed with earlier in the cruise returned from their well deserved holidays.  We will kid around that we have a longer contract than some of them.  LOL.

These are the dinner menus from Waterside for last evening.  

Although on cruises of seven days or less Crystal does not have a Black Tie Optional evening the dinner menu is one that you would find on this type of evening.

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We  enjoyed  four courses for dinner.  We ate in our room.

Keith had the Caviar and Anne Marie  had Matzah Ball Soup for  an appetizer.  The soups was not on the menu but you can order it any evening.

Our next course was Baby Spinach Salad served with Chopped Eggs.

The main course is a favorite of Anne Marie's which is Fresh Cold Water Lobster.  
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​Anne Marie had ice cream for dessert. Keith had cheese.

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The evening included a Crystal Society Reception and the featured  entertainment included two performances by comedian and musician Jon Courtenay at 8:30 and 10:30 PM.   

We slept well last evening as we sailed to Paphos, Cyprus.  The seas  remained relatively calm.

We began the day as everyone who follows our posts is accustomed with.  This included an early morning workout for Keith followed by coffee and breakfast in our room.

This is our first visit to Paphos, Cyprus and to Cyprus.  Paphos is a coastal city in the southwestern region of Cyprus.  Its population is 35,000 residents.  The city is steeped in mythological history and has an abundance of architectural wonders.  In fact, the entire city  is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Major attractions include:

Kato Pafos Archacologist Park which contains the major part of the Ancient Greek and Roman City.  It continues to be under excavation.

Tombs of the Kings which is underground tombs that date back to the 4th century BCE.

Lighthouse Beach Promenade which due to its expansion now stretches 3.5 miles.

Ayia Kyriaki Chrysopolitissa which is a church that was built around 1500.

Byzantine Museum which is home to many unique collections including the oldest icon of Cyprus the Agia Marina.

We took a tender over to the city.  As soon as we walked from the tender platform down to the tender we knew the weather would be nice.  There was very little  to no wind and  as  we tendered toward  town the water looked like  glass.  

We wore light  jackets which came off as we were walking. Timing is everything.  For example, return in July or August and it will be hot and humid.

The downtown area is a short walk from the tender pier.  There are lots of hotels, stores, restaurants and cafes in town and along the promenade with a beach.  Several people were swimming.  It is clearly a big tourist destination.  

We visited one church and and saw an ancient building.  In hindsight we should have planned a tour so we could get to more archeological sites and to the older town.  Options for touring included a Crystal shared or private tour, a private tour with another company, hop on hop off bus tour or the city tours.  We will plan to do a tour the next time we are here.  Lesson learned.

We still enjoyed our very long walk with  gorgeous weather and a town that was not busy today allowing for a leisurely walk.

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We realize this is an ancient area but had no idea the Flintstones were here.  LOL.

Although this  was a port day since there  are  no additional sea days  there  were two lectures in the afternoon.

We enjoyed the  rest of the day on the ship.  

We had lunch  at Marketplace.

Keith played Paddle Tennis.  Unlike yesterday he was played in shorts and shortsleeve shirt and there was no wind. When you hit the ball in the air you knew where it was going.

Anne Marie took along walk.

We also did some additional packing.

Since this is not a sea day they scheduled enrichment speakers for later in the afternoon.
 
Destination Lecturer  Graham White  wil speak about our next port of call which is Rhodes, Greece and World Affairs Lecturer Dr. Samuel Edelman will speak about the growth of the far right in Europe.

As we post, we are enjoying the rest of the day on-board the wonderful Crystal Serenity.

This is the daily Reflections Program from today.

Cheers,

Anne Marie &  Keith

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