Saturday
It’s the weekend, so time for the digging to stop and a bit of sight-seeing to commence. We loaded everyone into the minibus, and headed off to Paphos. Paphos, nowadays, is a large city and a very popular tourist destination, but has been occupied since at least the time of the Ancient Greeks, and probably earlier. It’s got a very large archaeology park, with the so-called ‘Tombs of the Kings’, which are some very well-preserved Roman rock-cut tombs (not that any kings were buried there), a Roman theatre and some stunning mosaics from some of the rich Roman town-houses. Naturally, with this in mind, we headed straight for the long row of bars and restaurants that line the harbour of the modern town. I’ve actually been on holiday to Paphos in the past and have seen most of the archaeology there, so no problem as far as I was concerned. We bar-hopped for a while then settled down at a nice bar right on the water-front and a bit of laid-back drinking and eating ensued. As the afternoon wore on, Jim-Bob and I were starting to get a bit twitchy as we’d gone an entire half-day without doing any archaeology, and there is a really nice medieval castle on the harbour bar at Paphos, which neither of us had explored. This also coincided with some of the crews’ attention turning to the cocktail menu, so we left them to it and went exploring.
The castle at Paphos probably sums up the medieval history of the island in one structure. The tower was one of two built by the Franks to guard the harbour in 1222, the curtain wall by the Venetians in 1373, and the whole thing was restored by the Ottoman Turks in 1570 after an earthquake. The other tower was damaged by an earthquake and then blown up by the Venetians. The Ottomans handed the castle over to the Brits in 1878, who used it as a salt-store until 1935. It’s a lovely little structure, with some fantastic views across sea and land.
We headed back to the cocktail drinkers and it was getting pretty messy, as they seemed intent on getting through the whole menu, and may well have done. We poured them back into the minibus, and headed off back to base. On return, a few of them disappeared off in the general direction of the American bar. I had a couple of beers and retired for an early night. I’m clearly getting old…..
Sunday
Up relatively bright and early, and into the minibus again. The cocktail crew were, perhaps unsurprisingly, noticeable by their absence. First stop was the castle of Kolossoi.
This was originally founded in the early 13th century when it was given to the Knights Hospitallers, and rebuilt in 1454, which is the building which stands today. It is basically a square English keep, but sat in southern Cyprus, although was largely residential through its history. It’s a very odd structure in that it looks very out of place, but all becomes clear when you see the long, low structure next to the castle. It looks like a chapel, but is in fact a very-well preserved medieval sugar factory. This area of Cyprus was mentioned by chroniclers as being a famous sugar-growing area, and also famous for sweet wine, so given the astronomical cost and rarity of sugar and the importance of the wine trade in medieval western Europe, one suspects that someone made a great deal of money out of it. I don’t know if there’s any other intact medieval sugar factories in Europe, but if there are, I haven’t seen one. Remarkable.
A quick break for an ice-cream and a fresh orange juice, and away, heading for Kourion, vast Roman city. Now as some of you may know, I’m not a great fan of Roman archaeology, mainly because most of the stuff we find is Britain is a bit rubbish, really, being badly preserved and not that great quality to begin with (although there are exceptions). In the Mediterranean area it’s a different kettle of fish. Kourion is vast and magnificent. It was destroyed by an earthquake and tsunami in the fourth century, which when you consider the fact that it’s sat on top of a 200-foot-high hill, is pretty mind-boggling. Apparently, the pre-earthquake deposits were covered in 50cm of sand and pebbles. Basically, the wave buried the place with the sea-bed and beach below. Most of the visible remains dates to the rebuild, later 4th – 7th century, and include a virtually intact theatre. There's and acoustic 'sweet spot' in the middle of the stage, marked by a hole, and when one stands on it and talks, the shape of the theatre not only amplifies the voice, but also gives it a very slight reverberation effect at about the same level as a modern vocal microphone. Astonishing.
Interestingly, for us anyway, it seems the city was abandoned in the later 7th century after another earthquake and attacks by Persian pirates, so it seems Kourion, the monastery we’re excavating and the sites we’ve found around Dreamer’s Bay were all abandoned at roughly the same time. This also coincides with Byzantines losing control of Alexandria, and it looks very much like the economy of this stretch of the south Cyprus coast simply collapsed in the late 7th century, and never really recovered until relatively recently. Definitely food for thought.
Talking of food, time for a late lunch, so down to the bottom of the cliffs to the beach and a beach-bar selling the most fantastic and inexpensive seafood. The barbecued octopus was just fabulous. A quick half-hour soaking my tired feet in the lovely warm sea, accompanied by Jim-Bob lying in 6 inches of water and flapping wildly every time a small wave went over him (he can’t swim). Back in the bus, back to base and time for the Sergeant’s Mess and some blogging and a few beers. A really fantastic day. And certainly better than looking at drizzle in Northampton!
As usual, the photos which tie in with this blog are on my Facebook page.
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.760687967312010.1073741878.169284376452375&&uploaded=9
Tomorrow, I’m doing my ‘bloke off the telly’ thing and doing an interview with British Forces TV, and, hopefully, starting to think about the pottery a bit.
It’s the weekend, so time for the digging to stop and a bit of sight-seeing to commence. We loaded everyone into the minibus, and headed off to Paphos. Paphos, nowadays, is a large city and a very popular tourist destination, but has been occupied since at least the time of the Ancient Greeks, and probably earlier. It’s got a very large archaeology park, with the so-called ‘Tombs of the Kings’, which are some very well-preserved Roman rock-cut tombs (not that any kings were buried there), a Roman theatre and some stunning mosaics from some of the rich Roman town-houses. Naturally, with this in mind, we headed straight for the long row of bars and restaurants that line the harbour of the modern town. I’ve actually been on holiday to Paphos in the past and have seen most of the archaeology there, so no problem as far as I was concerned. We bar-hopped for a while then settled down at a nice bar right on the water-front and a bit of laid-back drinking and eating ensued. As the afternoon wore on, Jim-Bob and I were starting to get a bit twitchy as we’d gone an entire half-day without doing any archaeology, and there is a really nice medieval castle on the harbour bar at Paphos, which neither of us had explored. This also coincided with some of the crews’ attention turning to the cocktail menu, so we left them to it and went exploring.
The castle at Paphos probably sums up the medieval history of the island in one structure. The tower was one of two built by the Franks to guard the harbour in 1222, the curtain wall by the Venetians in 1373, and the whole thing was restored by the Ottoman Turks in 1570 after an earthquake. The other tower was damaged by an earthquake and then blown up by the Venetians. The Ottomans handed the castle over to the Brits in 1878, who used it as a salt-store until 1935. It’s a lovely little structure, with some fantastic views across sea and land.
We headed back to the cocktail drinkers and it was getting pretty messy, as they seemed intent on getting through the whole menu, and may well have done. We poured them back into the minibus, and headed off back to base. On return, a few of them disappeared off in the general direction of the American bar. I had a couple of beers and retired for an early night. I’m clearly getting old…..
Sunday
Up relatively bright and early, and into the minibus again. The cocktail crew were, perhaps unsurprisingly, noticeable by their absence. First stop was the castle of Kolossoi.
This was originally founded in the early 13th century when it was given to the Knights Hospitallers, and rebuilt in 1454, which is the building which stands today. It is basically a square English keep, but sat in southern Cyprus, although was largely residential through its history. It’s a very odd structure in that it looks very out of place, but all becomes clear when you see the long, low structure next to the castle. It looks like a chapel, but is in fact a very-well preserved medieval sugar factory. This area of Cyprus was mentioned by chroniclers as being a famous sugar-growing area, and also famous for sweet wine, so given the astronomical cost and rarity of sugar and the importance of the wine trade in medieval western Europe, one suspects that someone made a great deal of money out of it. I don’t know if there’s any other intact medieval sugar factories in Europe, but if there are, I haven’t seen one. Remarkable.
A quick break for an ice-cream and a fresh orange juice, and away, heading for Kourion, vast Roman city. Now as some of you may know, I’m not a great fan of Roman archaeology, mainly because most of the stuff we find is Britain is a bit rubbish, really, being badly preserved and not that great quality to begin with (although there are exceptions). In the Mediterranean area it’s a different kettle of fish. Kourion is vast and magnificent. It was destroyed by an earthquake and tsunami in the fourth century, which when you consider the fact that it’s sat on top of a 200-foot-high hill, is pretty mind-boggling. Apparently, the pre-earthquake deposits were covered in 50cm of sand and pebbles. Basically, the wave buried the place with the sea-bed and beach below. Most of the visible remains dates to the rebuild, later 4th – 7th century, and include a virtually intact theatre. There's and acoustic 'sweet spot' in the middle of the stage, marked by a hole, and when one stands on it and talks, the shape of the theatre not only amplifies the voice, but also gives it a very slight reverberation effect at about the same level as a modern vocal microphone. Astonishing.
Interestingly, for us anyway, it seems the city was abandoned in the later 7th century after another earthquake and attacks by Persian pirates, so it seems Kourion, the monastery we’re excavating and the sites we’ve found around Dreamer’s Bay were all abandoned at roughly the same time. This also coincides with Byzantines losing control of Alexandria, and it looks very much like the economy of this stretch of the south Cyprus coast simply collapsed in the late 7th century, and never really recovered until relatively recently. Definitely food for thought.
Talking of food, time for a late lunch, so down to the bottom of the cliffs to the beach and a beach-bar selling the most fantastic and inexpensive seafood. The barbecued octopus was just fabulous. A quick half-hour soaking my tired feet in the lovely warm sea, accompanied by Jim-Bob lying in 6 inches of water and flapping wildly every time a small wave went over him (he can’t swim). Back in the bus, back to base and time for the Sergeant’s Mess and some blogging and a few beers. A really fantastic day. And certainly better than looking at drizzle in Northampton!
As usual, the photos which tie in with this blog are on my Facebook page.
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.760687967312010.1073741878.169284376452375&&uploaded=9
Tomorrow, I’m doing my ‘bloke off the telly’ thing and doing an interview with British Forces TV, and, hopefully, starting to think about the pottery a bit.