Cyprus and back to Greece - our no routine life continues...

More about this picture later on.

Btw - there were some accessibility issues with our last blog "Türkiye - Pirates Ahoy". This has now been addressed.

Sailed from Türkiye to Cyprus, then back to Greece, to an island called Kastellorizo

Cyprus

The Republic of Cyprus is located south of Türkiye, east of Greece and west of Syria.

It took us 14 hours to cross from Türkiye to Cyprus. We left at 3.30 am in the morning and arrived before sunset.

It was still dark when we left but even the darkest night will end and turn into a sunrise...

It was worthwhile to get up so early and got rewarded with a nice sunrise.

Below the note on the boating map regarding the Cyprus boundaries (there is a Turkish and Greek side). There are ongoing disputes between the two sides.

We raised the Cyprus and yellow flags and looked at our clearance / check in options. Stayed in 2 overnight anchorages before our check in, but did not leave the boat. The first one was in the blue lagoon and then the South Lara beach (you are not allowed to anchor there between April and October due to turtles laying their eggs on the beach)

We decided for clearance in Paphos even though the online reviews were very bad. The small Port appealed to us. The police, harbour master and custom officials were all next to each other. The officials were very helpful and friendly. The police even drove to our boat! We also had a health inspector checking if we looked "healthy".

Paphos is not a marina, but a small harbour. We were fortunate to be given a spot. It is full with permanent commercial/tourist boat operators. We had very different neighbours than we usually have in a Marina, which was a welcome change. Yes, also another pirate ship. Our boat looked at a topless wooden lady hanging from the pirate ship and the permanent wooden pirate statues were starring across to us

Opposite us was also a nice wooden dragon boat and a fake canon pointing at us.

The Yellow submarine already finished for the season. But "Ocean Vision" had one last outing for the season whilst we were there.

Turn up the sound 😃. we watched it coming back in from the back of our boat.

On the following night we saw people holding hands to the "I love you" song and the entertainer saying: "You do not need to be by yourself, nobody needs to be". Again turn up the sound.

There seems to be a boat for everyone's liking here and we are lucky to get to share all the vibes and joys when they come back in. Very entertaining.

In front of us are the restaurants. They finish early so all in all it was very pleasant to stay here.

Paphos is still full of live and full of open restaurants. Below is our breakfast place which opened early in the morning.

Happy hour deals late afternoon.

A man selling natural sponges, others sell paintings or do caricatures of you. A nice atmosphere along the waterfront.

We hired a car. You drive on the left-hand side of the road, like we do in Australia. Sven needed to think again after having driven 22 months doing the opposite. The rental car number plates are red .... maybe they tell the locals to watch out for people driving on the wrong side of the road.

We did not feel like seeing more ruins and amphitheatres and drove to the mountains instead. We visited villages, monasteries and of course did what we do best - EAT! To us, the Cyprus scenery itself was not very interesting.

In Omodos we looked at a 500 year old wine press, and walked past small boutique shops. And there were more cats to look at too!

We visited the Monastery of the Holy Cross

then stopped in a coffee shop and watched the people.

In Platres we walked to a small waterfall

and also stopped at the Trooditissa Monastery where an orthodox priest served tea in front of the bookshop.

The monastery was beautiful.

And suddenly, summer has past and autumn is preparing to put on a show. We can start to see the colours changing.

Kakopetria - has a medieval quarter / village square. where irresistible smells greeted us (BBQ smoke visible on picture below), Unfortunately Caroline bit on something during dinner and broke off a corner of a tooth.

Dentist visit the next morning (very affordable here) and tooth was easily repaired. The Dentist also offers Botox injections. An interesting combination.... which was happily declined.

Another day, another walk.

Paphos Castle was originally built to protect the port. It was restored by the Ottomans in 1592. We could see it from our boat.

The Tombs of the Kings is a 2 km walk from the Paphos harbour. It is a UNESCO World heritage site. The underground tombs, many of which date back to the 4th century BC, are carved out of solid rock, and are thought to have been the burial sites of aristocrats and high officials up to the third century AD. The name of the tombs comes from the magnificence of the tombs; no kings were in fact buried here. Below is tomb 3 of 7

From the Tombs of the Kings you could also see the ship wreck which is permanently stuck on the reef.

Its November and still between 23-25 degrees during the day. We met a lovely German Family on their boat. Beatrix, Goran and their 3 young kids. They are on their way to start a new live in Jamaica. Have a great adventure and see you when we get there!

Before heading back towards Greece, another stop at the Lara South bay / Cyprus because we liked it on the way here.

Our floating home in front of white cliffs. Got a short visit from German sailors we met in the Paphos port. They were from a German sailing club association.

Lunch and walk back to the boat along the beach.

5 am start to head back towards Greece. We took our standard 3 hourly watch turns during the night.

NO wind, NO waves (unfortunately engines on all the way - 26 hours of it!)

Water was flat like a lake, you could see the clouds reflecting in it (see 3rd photo) .

Good light during the night, the moon was out.

We never get sick of the daily sunrise and sunset.

It started to get windy before our arrival and the clouds started forming.

Suddenly we saw some interesting developments in the clouds. The force of this waterspout (small tornado), was unbelievable, You certainly would not want to be in the middle of it.

Coming into the port of this small Greek island was special.

Kastellorizo or Castellorizo, officially Megisti, is a small Greek Island and only 3 nm from Turkey.

Our spot at the port wall in front up a deserted but wonderful village. The season is over and there are only a few open restaurants. We love being here out of season.

Sven must have been confused when he greeted a local: with "Calamari" instead of "kalí méra". 😂

Our new neighbours... It is very special to sit on the boat and watch them swim around.

I waited until one of these large turtles came up to take a deep breath. Love the pictures below (taken with iphone):

View from our boat.

We did a Med mooring, dropping anchor and had 2 stern lines attached to port wall. However, at 3 am a local storm developed and we had to move the boat away from the wall. Our anchor was moving.

Watched a little rainbow from our lunch spot.

Some other impressions

One of the many small backstreets.

Alone in this bay (except for a military boat)

The yellow building houses the port and customs office. The police office is also close by. This made the check in very convenient. We had to do the check in/check out twice !!! We both have European and Australian passports and need to be careful which one to show when (tax and visa reasons). We showed the wrong ones and had to do a quick dash back to Turkey (very close) and re-enter Greece with our Australian passports.

The rain got stronger and we decided to go for a drink. The light was incredible. No colour adjustments - this is just how it was.

Everything is wet from the rain. This was towards the end of the day.

Sven picking me up with the dinghy.

Its raining, moon out, light up castle on the left, chapel on the right. Lovely view from the boat. The only thing missing is an open fire 😅.

Flying fish, amongst other fish around our boat. They jump out of the water and sometimes onto the boat On 2nd picture you can see the flying fish being chased by something.

Exploring the surroundings.

Find Sven,,,😅

A lot of old but crumbling buildings, beautiful piles of roof tiles laying around. Many still in perfect condition.

Some more pictures from our our 20 km walk.

Crystals and rocks.

Outlook from an old ruin.

Paleokastro Fortress. The fortress dates back to the 3rd century BC. Ancient acropolis around which the settlement developed.

You can see a "newer" mosaic floor below dated 1858.

Ancient cooking areas

One of several cisterns

Making new acquaintances,

Who are you????

Ah yes... HELLO and Goodbye...

Our indicated way back on our hiking app. More scratched legs.

Nearly back at our boat visible in the bay.

OId winding path with so many stairs. Very pretty.

Sven checking out the cats begging for food. And the cats checking out the fisherman.

Since we stayed here longer than we have in many other places, we made a new loyal friend. The lady owner, a 90 year old Greek lady was more than happy for him to join us.

Went to a bar for drinks (chose Mastika with ice and fresh lemon juice). There was an interesting photo of Kastellarizio port dating back to 1905. The houses were built very close together and a fire burnt them down. Today you can still see many of the ruins but it is certainly no longer that heavily populated as it used to be.

Watching a film with at the end of the day. Castle in the background

Another night photo. This is the moon above the castle, not a light !

Exploring the other side of this island.

Our boat in front of the Church.

Got woken up by a very loud ferry. Normally not a good sign if you can see the green, red and white light heading towards you...

The crew was holding flashlights and shining into our boat. We were in an official anchor spot and nicely tucked away in the corner. However, the ferry Captain did ask the port master for us to move the following day. So went back to the port wall.

Just to show you how big this boat was (looking at it from one of our walks a few days later). You can see how small our boat is compared to the Ferry!

The blue cave

The light of the sun, refracted through the sea, is reflected in the interior of the grotto, thereby producing a dazzling blue colour. The cave can be visited only by boat and, since the entrance is barely one metre high above sea level, only under calm sea conditions. The best time of the day to visit is early in the morning, when the sun is still low

This is the entry to the cave. You need to lay flat on the floor of your dinghy to be able to get in by boat (or swim)

At the back of the cave looking towards the small entry. All natural light.

Driving back from the blue cave.

Bye bye beautiful place. Kastellorizo, we loved spending time here.

Another early start tomorrow morning, heading to Rhodos.

Next stop: Rhodos, our winter location.