During our Christmas visits 1989-92 we stayed in a modest complex of apartments in a perfect position on Kato Paphos (that is the "lower" part of town near the small harbour) On our walks with the buggy we would marvel at the only big hotel - the Annabelle - which was at the start of a run of small beaches. This part of the coast of 1.7 km now houses 20 huge hotels with a very pleasant dog-free promenade between them and the sea. Half of them are fully closed at the moment, and some clearly have very few guests. Just three companies between them own almost all. Some are 5* and some 4*, and there are some very elegant designs, novel features to the pools. and flash styles of sunbed on concrete or grass; but that is where guests will do their sunbathing, since the "beaches" - which are all public are "nothing to write home about"! Rocks, weed and tricky access are a deterrent - even where one's "native" hotel has installed bits of furniture (which is private) The serried ranks of the sunbeds at the big hotels is one of the reasons we feel lucky to be in the rather smaller place where we spent 23 nights. It is reviewed on booking.com The other is the distance from the social centre.
The quest for half-decent beaches continues, We found Rikko Beach and went on consecutive Sundays. It is the only place where we have wanted to enter the sea! A longer bus ride took us to Coral Bay, which was more promising in natural terms but had no facilities or furniture, and a lot of messy work going on in preparation. We had passed a very brash set of bars etc, so we moved on a bus stop or two, had a beer and a long chat with a waitress of British descent and took the bus back! More recently we tried Faros (lighthouse) Beach. An interesting area with the archeology, old lighthouse and coastal path - but the beach? It was a warm day and people were trying to get into the sea and coming straight out. We will struggle on from our new accommodation, We realised that during those three previous holidays on the island the weather was so bad, and the offspring so young that none of this mattered! We also recalled that this time we had seen some of what Larnaca has to offer and it looked "normal" seaside standard! We might have to go East next time: Agia Napa beckons!
What cannot be denied is that the weather has been glorious! On one day there was a spot of rain, and on about three or four there has been cloud cover worth noting. The wind is predominantly from the West, and can get a bit frisky, but Greyrocks spends most of the year in either Fuerteventura or SW Crete:- both renowned for wrecking people's holidays with fierce and continual wind! It was a relief to leave behind that evil North wind, and we conclude that Cyprus has a somewhat longer sunny season than Crete.
With the revised schedule we are just about halfway through our extended stay and still smiling!
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