During my recent 6 week stay in Russia with Lisa my partner we flew to Cyprus via Athens for a 5 day short vacation to celebrate Lisa's birthday, I have never been to Cyprus and didn't know anything about it really. I rented a car and travelled around the island. We were pleasantly surprised as it has a lot of interesting historic sites and lovely scenery and beaches. Because of past British involvement in the island they drive on the left and have the British type power sockets everywhere, so a bit like home from home. The tourists though are mainly Russians and lots of shops and restaurants have signs and menus in Russian. Its evidently a favorite destination and many have bought houses there. We stayed in an lovely spacious apartment in Paphos which was an excellent base for our exploration of the island. The first place we visited was Kato Pafos Archaeological Site The inclusion of the Kato Pafos archaeological site in the UNESCO World Heritage Sites list in 1980 was the starting point for the creation of a General Plan whose aim would be primarily to protect and maintain the archaeological remains, as well as to promote them and provide comprehensive information to visitors. Kato Pafos archaeological Park includes sites and monuments from prehistoric times to the Middle Ages, while most remains date to the Roman period. The marvellous mosaic floors of four Roman villas from the impressive epicentre of the finds. The complex includes other important monuments, such as the Asklipieion, the Odeion, the Agora, the "Saranta Kolones" (Forty Columns) Fortress, the "Limeniotissa" Ruins of early Christian Basilica and the "Tombs of the Kings". http://www.visitpafos.org.cy/Archaeological_Park.aspx
On our second day we visited the Church of St Lazarus in Larnaca The Church of Saint Lazarus (Greek: Ιερός Ναός Αγίου Λαζάρου, Ierós Naós Agíou Lazárou), is a late-9th century church in Larnaca, Cyprus. It belongs to the Church of Cyprus, an autocephalous Greek Orthodox Church. The Church of Saint Lazarus is named for New Testament figure Lazarus of Bethany, the subject of a miracle recounted in the Gospel of John, in which Jesus raises him from the dead. According to Orthodox tradition, sometime after the Resurrection of Christ, Lazarus was forced to flee Judea because of rumoured plots on his life and came to Cyprus. There he was appointed by Paul and Barnabas as the first Bishop of Kition (present-day Larnaca). He is said to have lived for thirty more years and on his death was buried there for the second and last time. The Church of Agios Lazaros was built over the reputed (second) tomb of Lazarus https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_of_Saint_Lazarus,_Larnaca
During our stay we visited the beautiful painted monastery of Kykkos Kykkos Monastery (Greek: Ιερά Μονή Κύκκου or Κύκκος [locally [ˈt͡ʃikʰos]] for short, Turkish: Cikko Manastırı), which lies 20 km west of Pedoulas, is one of the wealthiest and best-known monasteries in Cyprus. The Holy Monastery of the Virgin of Kykkos was founded around the end of the 11th century by the Byzantine emperor Alexios I Komnenos (1081–1118). The monastery lies at an altitude of 1318 meters on the north west face of Troödos Mountains. There are no remains of the original monastery as it was burned down many times. The first President of Cyprus, Archbishop Makarios III started his ecclesiastical career there as a monk in 1926. He remained fond of the place and returned there many times. His request to be buried there materialised after his death in 1977. His tomb lies 3 km west of Kykkos monastery and remains a popular visitor destination. http://bit.ly/1urTIHd
Another interesting site was the Hala Sultan Mosque, situated on the Larnaca salt lake, where several thousand pink Flamingos overwinter on the lake, but we were sadly there at the wrong time. Hala Sultan Tekke or the Mosque of Umm Haram (Turkish: Hala Sultan Tekkesi) is a Muslim shrine on the west bank of Larnaca Salt Lake, near Larnaca, Cyprus. Umm Haram (Turkish: Hala Sultan) was the Islamic prophet Muhammad's wet nurse and the wife of Ubada bin al-Samit. Hala Sultan Tekke complex is composed of a mosque, mausoleum, minaret, cemetery, and living quarters for men and women. The term tekke (convent) applies to a building designed specifically for gatherings of a Sufi brotherhood, or tariqa, and may have referred to an earlier feature of the location. The present-day complex, open to all and not belonging to a single religious movement, lies in a serene setting on the shores of the Larnaca Salt Lake, which appears to be an important site also in prehistory. Hala Sultan Tekke is a listed Ancient Monument.
It looked like you were walking on history books. Those photos are amazing to look at, much more when you there. I guess you can feel the past. That's one of the beauties of traveling, you get to see places that you can only see in pictures. Like those antiquated pillars like the Greek parthenon and that catacombs, they evoke a strange feeling that it's like traveling in time.