
In this article from Issue 68 of Holiday Villas Magazine, Ron Toft turns his back on the beaches and bars of Cyprus to follow the tourist trail celebrating the Greek goddess of love, Aphrodite.
In Search of Mighty Aphrodite
It was an uncomfortably hot day –
somewhere around 35°C – as the
sun’s rays blazed down on us from a
cloudless, cobalt sky. But after a 30-
minute climb up the dusty, pebble-
strewn track, we eventually reached
the top of the hill above stunning
Lemesos Bay on the south coast of
Cyprus, and there, all around us,
were what we had come to see: the
remains within ancient Amathous of
the sanctuary of Aphrodite – the
Greek goddess of love and beauty,
and the divine protector of the
delightful Mediterranean island on
which, the myth has it, she was born.
Amathousis is one of the highlights of
the cultural trail comprising 36 sites,
including 11 museums, associated
with and celebrating Aphrodite.
The first traces of a sanctuary on the
acropolis date from around 800 BC,
when Phoenicians settled in
Amathous. Another important date
on the Amathous timeline is 22 AD,
which was when Rome allowed the
Temple of Aphrodite – then one of
the island’s three most important
temples – to retain the right to offer
asylum.
Aphrodite worshippers were driven
from the temple when Christianity
was established at the end of the
fourth century AD, after which it was
repaired in the fifth century and used
as a church for 250 years until the
site was destroyed by Arab raiders.
By far the most striking
archaeological structure is a colossal
stone vase – dating from the seventh
century BC and weighing 12 tons –
at what was the entrance to
Aphrodite’s sanctuary. Originally
there were two of them – the other
is now on display in the Louvre in
Paris. It’s thought that both vessels,
quarried from the north cliff of the
acropolis, held water used in
purification and other rituals
associated with Aphrodite.
One of the sites worth visiting as
much for its natural beauty as for its
connection with the goddess of love
is Petra tou Romiou– the
legendary birthplace of Aphrodite
15 miles east of Paphos. A series of
rocks jutting out from the sea, Petra
is where Aphrodite is said to have
emerged from the briny foam…
You can read the full, illustrated article in our online version of the magazine.
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Hi
Just got back from Cyprus and I regularly saw advertised discounts from MyTouristCard.com. Does anyone know anything about this?
If so, please email me.
These tourist card schemes are a really good idea. I have just been to Cyprus and we used the My Tourist Card.com scheme there. We obtained discounts at hotels in Paphos, discounts at restaurants, excursions and shops during our holiday. We saved seveal £’s. The scheme was easy – we purchased the card online and received details the next day. Goto http://www.mytouristcard.com for more info.
Great holiday to Cyprus we really enjoyed it. Paphos is a great tourist spot with many attractions, the Water Park, Akamas, Diving and much more. Great place. It was made even better because we purchased a tourist discount card which meant we got discounts at various restaurants, discount on entrance at the Water Park and we even got discount on our car hire. My statement is Cyprus is great as a tourist but you need you credit card! MyTouristCard please keep going and increasing your portfolio!!