Albufeira, Portugal

Portugal was not really on my radar until last year when I saw someone's pictures from the Algarve region, Portugal's southern coast. It was rocky with tons of caves to explore. It looked beautiful and I wanted to go! 

For President's Day weekend, we found a direct flight from Karlsruhe to Faro, Portugal and decided it would be a great time to go! The weather would be warmer than Germany, but not yet too hot to be enjoyable. 

We booked an Airbnb in Albufeira, just about 40 minutes drive from Faro. It was very convenient to the center of town with lots of restaurants and shops, but far enough outside the center to still be peaceful. And it was a close walk to the beach.

One of the best things about our Airbnb is that it was nearby to a bakery with amazing pastel de nata. I should have brought a whole box of them home!

Walking along the beach and snapping photos from above was part of the fun of the trip!

The weekend coincided with the Carnival celebrations. We are not big partiers, so we did not seek out the Carnival events. But we did happen upon one of the parades after getting some gelato. Carnival is the pre-Lent celebration where they get dressed up in costume and have a lot of fun! I have seen a lot of my German friend posts about Fasching which is their equivalent to Carnival. It sounds like a wild and crazy experience!

Being the crazy cat lady that I am, my husband knew I would be interested to visit Albufeira's cat park. It was basically just a pier where a bunch of cats live. But it did give us some great views!

Like much of the rest of Europe, Portugal has a thriving wine making industry. We booked a wine and tapas tour where we were picked up from our Airbnb in a tuk tuk and driven through town to one of the local wineries. We saw carob trees and learned a bit about caring for vines in the fields. We saw inside the winery where all the tanks are and then tasted four wines while nibbling on meats and cheeses. It was a delightfully sunny day which made it even better!

Cyprus: Segways and Ruins

Paphos has so many historical spots to check out! We opted for a Segway tour to be introduced to them. This was our first experience with Segways, so we were a little hesitant. But it ended up being super fun and easy!

After the tour, we circled back to the harbor area to visit the Kato Papohs Archaeological Park. This park has a wealth of ruins to help you imagine life in ancient times. The views of the ocean are really spectacular, too! We managed to see the whole park just before the rain and hail came pouring down.

You have to have ice cream on any beach vacation, am I right? 

We also visited the Tombs of the Kings. I was not as impressed with this park, but it was still an interesting place to visit to learn more about the history of the area. It gave great photo opportunities.

And after visiting all the ruins, we headed down to the Paphos city center which had some great street art! Most of it we saw while driving through, but I managed to snag this photo after we visited the Paphos market.

Cyprus: Wine Tasting

On the third day in Cyprus, we booked a tour through Cyprus Taste Tours to learn more about the local wine scene. Our tour guide picked everyone up from their hotels and whisked us away to the mountain villages outside of Paphos where we visited a number of wineries and stopped for a meze lunch. 

Our group included two couples visiting from England and us. 

The first winery is a family-owned operation. I enjoyed their wines the most. They had a variety of sweet and dry wines--white, red and rose. We had very limited space in our luggage, but we picked up one bottle from this winery to take home. Thankfully we did not get anymore because we were one pound short of the bag weight limit upon returning home. 

Our second stop is a newer winery (20 years old). 

Our third stop was to a monastery with amazing views! We stopped into their chapel to enjoy the artistry.

For our meze lunch, we visited this restaurant. The food was delicious! They even surprised me with a birthday cake which was such a kind (and delicious) gesture!

These are the wines from our final stop. The winemaker said he prefers oaky wines and that flavor profile definitely came out in the tastings. I do not share the same preference, so this was my least favorite of all the wineries, but it was still neat to visit and learn a bit more about the unique grapes to Cyprus.

Cyprus: Birthday Celebration

Our second day in Paphos was my birthday, so I chose activities that I would especially enjoy. We started off our day with a visit to the Local Ethnographic Mueum of Geroskipou. I enjoy learning about crafts and handiwork unique to new places. At this museum, we learned about the importance of pottery and silk. The museum was quite small, but free to visit. It is located in an old home, so it was neat to see the various rooms and imagine what they would have been used for in the past. 

Down the street from the museum was the main square. Our taxi driver recommended visiting it to see the church. Due to Greek influence, they have Orthodox churches which have very elaborate images of saints inside. We visited the inside of this church, but opted not to take any photos to respect the woman inside who was praying. 

Outside in the square was the first time I have seen poinsettias planted in the ground. Previously, I have only seen them in pots around Christmas time. 

Found some street art!

After returning to the hotel, we stopped by the café to grab coffee and snacks. I indulged with some chocolate mousse and Charles tried a Cypriot coffee. From my research, it is similar to Turkish coffee.

Cyprus is well-known for having cats all over the place! They were introduced to the island for pest control. They are well-taken care of and very friendly. Every day we were able to find at least one to say hello to. Of course seeing black cats made me extra happy!

After our spa treatment (heavenly), we returned to the room to find a sweet surprise from the hotel staff. The other surprise was that the dinner theme was Italian! 

Cyprus: First Impressions of Paphos

For my birthday trip this year, I chose to visit Cyprus. I knew very little about the country, but it had been recommended to me by an acquaintance. Plus, I knew it was going to be warmer than Germany in February. 

We found a direct flight through Ryanair from Memmingen to Paphos. After learning that they drive on the left hand side of the road (due to British influence), we opted not to rent a car. It limited what we could see and do during our stay, but it also kept us from overdoing it during our relatively short time in the area. 

There are a plethora of resorts in Paphos. But when I found an adults-only resort with ocean views, I was sold. Amavi was a delightful spot to call home for the week. Service was amazing and we were upgraded to a room with its own private pool. Unfortunately the water was too cold to take advantage of the pool, but it afforded us with a beautiful view of the ocean.

We arrived in the late afternoon and immediately got outside to enjoy some sunshine! It was super breezy on the first day, but the views walking from the resort to the harbor area were just what I needed after gloomy Germany. 

I had scoped out a lunch spot in advance. It has been a WHILE since we have eaten Chinese food, so I thought let's give Chloe's a try. Because it was a late lunch, the restaurant was completely empty when we walked in. I loved the little extra attention to detail with the branded orange slice in my Spritz. The food was delicious and the service was very good.