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A journey to Paphos with bad luck
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Tuesday 20 February, a journey to Paphos with bad luck
Yes, the weather has turned nasty. Rain is falling and it storms. The temperature has dropped with at least 15 degrees Celsius, but still we want to explore Paphos, so off we go. The short way..., we thought. The road is in repair and in this weather nothing more than a muddy path full with big stones. And there it is: a very big stone we can't avoid and we hear a loud bang under the car. After 1 minute the oil led lights up! Nearest village: Kidasi, 8 kilometers. Now we could use a working mobile telephone, to phone the car hire company. But we haven't. Going downhill, we manage to get quite close to the village.
Elisabeth stays in the (still) warm car and Teije goes out, into the village, looking for help. There is a firm wind and occasionally a rainstorm. And it is cold. The village seems deserted, like Platres on the day we arrived. After half an hour he finds a barn, which is used as a cafetaria in summer, where a friendly man opens the door. He doesn't speak any English, but after taking him to the car, he knows exactly what to do. The next hour he has fierce conversations with the car hire company in Larnaka and Paphos and explains the situation. Sometimes we think they have a fight instead of a conversation. After we speak with somebody who knows a few English words, we understand we are being picked up, but it can take a couple of hours.
So, there we are, in a drafty barn, while the weather gets worse: it starts snowing. We have left our coats in the car, a bad idea, so we have to go outside and walk back to get them. But the owner makes coffee and his wife treats us with home baked cake. After almost 3 hours of waiting, we are finally picked up.
We are allowed to pay for the coffee only; the cake was a gift and the use of his mobile phone was only for help and help is for free; everybody would have done that, he makes clear to us.
Unfortunately, we forget to write down his name, but he is the owner of the only cafetaria in Kidasi, near the end of the village into the direction of Paphos. Whoever reads this and drops by, please say hello from us, that couple from Holland, numb with cold, with their broken car.
We are picked up by a young fellow who doesn't speak English, in a jeep. But even in this jeep it is difficult driving on the narrow, slippery roads. It took more than an hour to reach Paphos and not much time left to visit all the places in Paphos we still wanted to see. We have to pay 110 Cypriot pounds ($ 170), because damage to the bottom of the car is not insured and we get the jeep for the remaining days. Teije doesn't like driving in this huge jeep, but according to the girl in the office it is just like driving a normal car. Well, we would see...We are allowed to pay for the coffee only; the cake was a gift and the use of his mobile phone was only for help and help is for free; everybody would have done that, he makes clear to us.
Unfortunately, we forget to write down his name, but he is the owner of the only cafetaria in Kidasi, near the end of the village into the direction of Paphos. Whoever reads this and drops by, please say hello from us, that couple from Holland, numb with cold, with their broken car.
We had liked to visit the tombs of the kings, the mosaics and other interesting places at Paphos, but after a short walk we rest in a bar. We are still totally numb with cold and outside is a big storm raving. People tell us it hasn't stormed like this for years. We hope for a better day tomorrow. Maybe we can try again to reach Paphos and the Akamas. This time we take the main road, via Limassol, back to Platres.
Then the clouds dissapear fast, but the sea at Petra tou Romiou still is very tempestuous. Driving in a jeep is not really comfortable and we don't really enjoy the drive back into the mountains.We have good hopes for tomorrow but when we return at the hotel in Platres, it starts to snow. And this time it doesn't stop. The picture to the right is made on wednesday, but we have so few pictures today that we place it here.
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