Sunday, 18 April 2010 23:12

Paphos Archaeological Park

Written by Mike
Saranta Kolones, Paphos Archaeological Park, 17 April 2010 Saranta Kolones, Paphos Archaeological Park, 17 April 2010

Strange.  You live in a town, and yet you never visit its tourist attractions. 

The remedy?  We took a stroll around the Archaeological Park in Kato Paphos.

I’ve been there before – almost four years ago – but that was long before Paphos became our home. 

For a ‘World Heritage Site’, the Paphos Archaeological Park just doesn’t do it for me.  There’s nothing wrong with my imagination, but I just can’t visualise some Roman Emperor strolling around his villa before popping off along to Bar Street for a few Keos.

As we strolled around amongst the tourists with their guidebooks, try as I would I couldn’t keep a bunch of lines from ‘Life of Brian’ out of my head.

“What have the Romans ever done for us?”  Good question.  It looks like they lived a life of luxury, but keeping all those mosaics clean must have been a nightmare.

Moving the clock forwards to today, reading the Cyprus Mail makes the Cyprus issue sound all too much like the Popular People’s Front of Palestine.  Or the Palestine Popular People’s Front.  Or maybe just the People’s Front of Palestine.

Anyhow, enough pondering.  Is Paphos Archaeological Park worth visiting with a camera? 

Strangely, yes.  The mosaics and the villas pretty much passed me by, but the Forty Column Church is full of potential.  Especially when you're humming 'Always look on the bright side of life'...

Like so many tourist attractions it’s easy to fall into the postcard trap.  This is ‘the shot’, so I’ll take it. 

The Paphos Archaeological Park is a place to take your time, look at all the angles, and come up with something different.  Your view of what moves you. 

After all, you can buy the postcard shot outside, just like everybody else. 

Go to my pictures of Paphos Archaeological Park.

Mike

Mike

Mike McCormac has been a photographer since about ten years old.  He's a Fellow of the Royal Photographic Society, and lives in a village in the hills near Paphos in Cyprus.

Read his full Bio

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