plenty


DESTINATIONS RETURN TO CYPRUS | GREECE & CYPRUS


s


taring out across the tree-studded slopes, the smell of fresh pine


swirling through the air and sun beating down on my skin, I momentarily forget the dreaded C-word. Life feels pleasingly normal here, and it’s hard to picture anything beyond this world of blooming flowers and singing birds, sepia slopes and towering trees, that lies beneath a clear blue sky. I’m in the Troodos Mountains in Cyprus, on my first overseas trip in seven months, and I’d forgotten what it’s actually like to travel – liberating, in a word. It’s not the first time I’ve felt this sense of total freedom; in fact, the whole trip has felt like something of an escape. Given Covid rates remain lower on the island than other European destinations, in many ways it feels like a bubble. The reminders are still there, of


course. Face masks are mandatory for everyone in shops, and for staff in bars, restaurants and hotels. Most menus are digital, tables are spread out to allow for social distancing, and hand sanitiser units are everywhere. But bars are lively, some nightclubs are open and hotels –


while not at their normal October occupancy levels – are fuller than I’d expected.


With so many UK favourites


off the travel corridors list, Cyprus makes a wise option for switch-selling – so where should you be directing clients who haven’t been here before?


PAPHOS For anyone after a city-meets- beach base, Paphos makes an excellent bet, with restaurants, bars and shops lining the harbour and a Byzantine-era castle glowing above the water. The beaches of Polis, Latchi,


Coral Bay and Pissouri are all within driving distance, while a host of attractions sit right on the doorstep. I explored the Kato Paphos Archaeological Site, home to impressively intact Roman mosaics, a crumbling odeon and the 4th-century BC Tomb of the Kings, then changed pace to plunge down slides like an overgrown child at Paphos Aphrodite Waterpark. But it was the Old Town that had me the most charmed, with boutiques and artisanal shops lining narrow backstreets, and elegant tavernas in ornate


² travelweekly.co.uk 22 OCTOBER 2020 27


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