Cyprus, Coral Bay,
October 2022
Two weeks in Coral Bay, staying at the quiet end of the beach in Coralia Bay Apartments.
This is the Coralia Bay Apartments hotel - one of the older, more tired hotels in Coral Bay, but probably the best position.
It has some very strange features, like this hand dryer - it's more of a hair dryer, standing at almost TWO METRES off the floor!!
This local undelines how this part of Cyprus makes you feel. Relaxed, contented, happy with the world.
We never drink cocktails at home,
but on holiday - it's a MUST!
CHEERS.
This lively bar, called Legends, isn't really to our taste, it can be a bit rowdy, but it's the closest to the hotel, so handy for a nightcap
Who the.......
If you go at the right time of the year, and are lucky enough to see them, you can marvel at the fruit bats flying around. We were mesmerised, and stood watching for about 3/4 of an hour.
OK - I'll have the soup please :-)
Our favourite way to start the day - a simple breakfast on the patio.
The pomegranate is fresh from the many trees on the island.
Even at this 'quiet end' of the beach,
the sunbeds are tightly packed.
The headland is WELL worth a walk around. No beaches- but very pretty, with small bars along the way to stop and refresh at.
Click on the picture to enlarge.
Limni Pools.
You can swim here, but be careful - the edges are REALLY slippery!
All over Greece, these tiny chapels abound.
Always in good condition and with well kept flowers.
Phil's bar and grill. A good 30 minutes walk through the urbanization to get to it, but very good food.
Almost every night we were treated to a super sunset.
At this time of the year, the sea in Cyprus is divine! We saw no jellyfish, and the temperature was just walk-in perfect!
The snorkeling here is good too around the rocks.
This bar, the Porto Antico, is the BEST! It's just five minutes walk from our hotel, with a lovely view. The food is EXCEPTIONAL! We ate here several times during our stay.
The food is very good at the Portico, like this salad .
Try sharing one at lunchtime, with a side of chips.
Lots of staff, always ready to attend your every need.
I never tire of these sunsets.
Two friends of ours, Glenn and Grant, now live full time in Peyia. We visited them, and Grant put up this wonderful platter for lunch.
The boys!
Great view from our room.
We'd previously eaten at the Oniro by the Sea restaurant. Very highly rated, but best of all were the sunsets. A small ship, the Edro 111, ran aground here in October 2011. It foundered on the rocks just outside the restaurant, and has really added to the draw! The sunsets are epic, and lots of people come to see it and take pictures.
We personally think the Oniro restaurant has lost some of it's charm. The food is still good, but pricey, but they have expanded, put a low wall around it, and it's somehow lost it's 'specialness'.
Tuck in, guys!
Meat platter.
Chicken.
Sweets.
Porto Atlantico
Chicken and lamb combo.
PERFECTLY cooked!
Such a lovely setting.
Old gramophone in the restaurant.
The restaurant, when it was a Carob store. All the local farms used to bring their carob here for loading and shipping off the island.
Another 'must do', which we omitted on our first visit, was the Avakas gorge. We combined three things into this one day. The gorge, the 'last chance' restaurant (as it's known by the locals - real name, Viklari), and Turtle beach (which we DID do on our first visit, but wanted to see again. The sunsets from the cafe here are legendary).
The viewpoint at Toxeftra beach. The last castle and Vikos gorge are over to the right. Turtle beach is on the horizon along the dusty, bumpy, rough road.
We parked up, and set off towards the entrance to the gorge. It's really easy to find, you can't go wrong.
The trail, at first, is exposed and on a hot day like today, is quite uncomfortable to walk in. There is some welcome shade, as you progress, from all the pathside trees, all of which have been labelled so you know what they are. Also, more information is given on plaques about the rocks etc.
The white path reflects the hot sun.
The Viklari, or Last castle, sits above
the entrance road to the gorge.
It's rocky underfoot in a lot of the gorge, but if you wear good footwear, it's fine.
Careful Sue!
The sides soon rise to become impressively
steep and claustrophobic.
Walking in Vikos.
During wet periods, the gorge can be very tricky. Luckily, there had been little rain when we did it, so it was just the odd trickle and pool.
I would imagine this free shower can be quite a deluge in different conditions!
You can see an information plaque on the rock face ahead.
Some places like this, you have to choose your path carefully.
This was as far as we went, as it became more of a climb, plus this was the top of the gorge. A welcome foot bath is here, and we were all taking advantage.
Time to retrace our steps - we were getting hungry!
Several goats were dotted about the gorge.
Climbing back up the access road.
You CAN drive your car along here to a small car park at the gorge head, but it's really rocky, and could damage a normal car. The buggys love this road though, and it's a magnet for them.
The Last Castle, or Viklari, restaurant.
This entrance is quite impressive, with the rock arches and structures they've placed around the grounds.
These huge revolving spits are cooking the pork and chicken for the diners.
The mesmeric spits.
Inside, or rather on the patio, there is a roof of vines, all producing huge bunches of grapes while we were there.
All the tables are like Fred Flinstone things - GREAT BIG thick slabs of stone, from four seaters, to huge affairs, that will seat up to twenty!
Beautiful touches like this bowl make for a really interesting place.
An abundance of grapes here.
A spin around the eating area.
Do they use these to make wine, I wonder?
Cheers!
All the time we were waiting (about 45 minutes- it was VERY busy) waiters were going past with mouth-watering trays full of food.
At last our own platter arrived. You have two choices at Viklari - chicken or pork from the spit. Or, you can also have what we did - a mixed platter. No, no vegetarian, no, no vegan, just doing what they do best - and have been doing for generations.
The food here is really, really good. They sure do know what they're doing! See those massive chips? Crispy on the outside, fluffy and light in the middle, and not at all greasy. I honestly think they were the best chips I've ever had!
No wonder it's so hard to get a table, and they are ALWAYS this busy.
My mouth is watering as I add these pictures!
After our feast, we left Viklari and drove further on for about 20 minutes to Turtle beach. It's a steady drive, due to the roughness of the road, but if you take care, it's fine.
We parked in the cafe car park just before Turtle beach. If you want to go to Lara beach, it's further on.
These are the turtle nests on the beach, protected by little 'fences' put around them by conservationists.
We couldn't resist the surf, and stripped down to our undies and went in for a swim.
The steps from the cafe to the beach.
The sunset begins........
A bit of crepuscular action from the sun and clouds.
Time lapse of the sunset.
We met up with two more friends who have a property on the island over in Polis, called Pete and Amanda. They took us to see Aphrodite's bath - by all accounts, a pretty underwhelming place! Still, it was a nice walk with good views and, of course, a bar :-)
What a position!
We also went to Pete's favourite burger bar - all home made and yummy, with this lovely position right next to the sea.
Agios Georgios.
While we had the car, we wanted to go to another favourite place, Agios Georgios. It's a really quiet, relaxed place with a good bar cafe, lots of room, good snorkeling, and an really interesting volcanic headland to walk around and look out to Yeronissos island.
Yeronissos island.
Strange, volcanic geology.
While we were there, the Swedish series called Superstars was being filmed. These were the competitors.
Looking around the headland.
Coral Bay headland walk and Closed Thalassos hotel.
We wanted to visit the archeological site of Maa on the promontory at the end of the bay. It's not really impressive - there's not much there, but the views are good.
This is a museum, which was closed, but the guy on the gate said there wasn't much in there anyway - how to sell a place :-)
Thalassos hotel.
Last time we were here in 2019, this was a busy, bustling boutique hotel. Alas, now just another victim of covid.
The 'engine room' for the pools etc.
Porto Atlantico last night meal.
We wanted to have one last blowout at the Porto Atlantico restaurant, but all day the weather was shocking - heavy rain all the time. However, it just stopped about 7pm, so we thought we'd walk over. Surely it wouldn't be busy after such a foul day??
WRONG! They had to squeeze us in on an extra table, as they were full! We were so glad they did, as we had a memorable meal to end our holiday.
Lamb chops and a big steak - all done the perfection!
As a lovely end to the day and holiday, we were treated to a firework display, courtesy of a wedding at the neighbouring hotel.
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