Letters from Cyprus: Greater love hath no parent

Picture the scene....... three days away with friends at a lovely house near Paphos on the western side of the island, long days in the sun, late nights playing cards, fresh fish by the beach and all 7 kids generally happy. Anna and her best friend Katie were particularly content playing their never-ending game of 'mums and babies' interspersed with breaks of "I'm hungry" and teary complaints of not sharing. We like to call them Thelma and Louise for their fierce independence however sometimes they are more deserving of titles like Ethel and Edna (no offence to late relatives intended!). Anyway, my friend Ellie and I remarked today on how special it was for 3yr olds to have such a special friend in each other.

Anna and her best friend Katie sharing a drink

Now whilst the opening for this blog sounded quite idyllic, please don't be fooled. In true early bird form, Anna came into our bed this morning at 5am, thereby waking Sam like she normally does. The fairly complicated sleeping arrangements in our room (5 beds) meant that Sam woke up to the realization that he had been moved during the night and thus wanted to immediately move back to his original bed which was now being occupied by Jessie. Oh dear; a house full of sleeping people and a very unhappy 5yr old who can't seem to cry quietly and refuses to be soothed by choices, bribes, hugs or threats of draconian punishment. As we didn't want to wake the house, we felt the only solution was to put Sam & Anna in the car and take a drive. A little early (!) and very dark at 5.15am but exciting nonetheless at the prospect of an early swim together down in the old harbour of Paphos.

No Sam, the waterpark doesn't open for
another four hours.........

Of course, whilst we were waiting for the dawn to actually arrive, Sam was somewhat unjustifiably rewarded by a stop-over at the town's 'Aphrodite' Waterslide Park. The fact that it was pitch black didn't seem to dull his enthusiasm, as he talked us through every feature in the park (he'd already done some heavy research prior), including the 'graffiti slide', which he was confident Angus would be particularly interested in.

Our turn finally came with the dawning of a new day: the water still in it's post-summer warmth and blissfully clear. We were joined by about 60 or 70 locals who were also swimming at the same spot for the sunrise. Ross was particularly impressed by the fact that none of them seemed too interested in swimming for exercise, but rather just lolling about in the clear Mediterranean and generally chatting with friends. They don't call Cyprus the island of 'siga siga' (slowly slowly) for nothing!

A dawn swim in the harbour

After a busy opening to the school year, the long weekend was delightfully restful for us all and a great chance to spend time with good friends and enjoy the milder tail end of summer. Ross got a couple of extra naps in and Sarah managed a spectacular but hilly ride to Pissouri beach about 20km away.

Ross also enjoyed the fact that the house we stayed in was under the final approach flight path for Paphos airport, so plenty of good plane watching to be had.