Cyprus-Forum.com

[T-2]

We are visitying Cyprus as a port stop on the Costa Concordia in January 2008 and I've found a great deal of helpful info on your threads. I was hoping to ask- if one arrives by cruise ship (and there was a general idea of a taxi fare from the port to apparently the town of Limessol, where should one ask the cab driver to drop one off, a popular secton of town? And is some of the beach front a shore walk area accessable from the cruise terminal- any boardwalks or pedestrianized areas that would make for a nice day? I am hoping someone has some suggestions for a nice way for cruise passengers to spend this 5 hour glimpse of Cyprus on our own rather than only any ship offered shore excursions. Thank You!

[juliesewell]

Depending on what day you will arrive into port - you could visit the Old Town area of Limassol (St Andrews Street) is a pedestrianised shopping area with some nice pavement cafes around the Limassol Castle. Also, you could take a trip on the Time Elevator in the restored carob mill in the same vicinity (quite expensive at around Cy£7pp but gives a good history of Cyprus through the ages with a moving seated ride combined).

Unfortunately, it's not really possible to walk to a beach from the port but from St Andrews street, you can come back to the seafront and stroll along past Molos area where the gardens are.

However, if you are coming in on Sunday - the shops will be closed....

There are a couple of very nice churches in the same location - a very big one at the end of St Andrew St and a small one on the main road (Franklin Roosevelt Av) near the Turkish part of St Andrews Street.

[Sotos]

There is a long pedestrian path along the beach that starts from the reclamation area near the old port and goes after the Amathus hotel. Thats more than 10km path.

[carolh]

The Time Elevator closed over 18 months ago!
Another suggestion would be to get a taxi to the Curium Amphitheatre to the west of Limassol and also to Kolossi Castle if you are interested in seeing some of the historic sites.

[juliesewell]

The Time Elevator closed over 18 months ago!
Another suggestion would be to get a taxi to the Curium Amphitheatre to the west of Limassol and also to Kolossi Castle if you are interested in seeing some of the historic sites.

Carole,
Oops! - Can't say I'm too surprised though... it was a ridiculous price but entertaining and interesting. Only something you would do once - a repeat visit would have been pointless.
What a shame.....

Ancient Curium and Kolossi Castle are definitely my favourites and have been since 1985

[T-2]

These are wonderful suggestions, just the info we were hoping for. I am going to post them on our cruise thread for not only our voyage but I believe the Concordia is making a stop there fairly regularly so this will help others as well. I haven't seen yet what the ship is offering but English speaking passengers are a serious minority so if there are not enough of us all interested in the same thing, they can't put together an English speaking tour.
I'm sorry to hear the Time Elevator was discontinued. The island of Malta has something similar (except it didn't move) and was absolutely wonderful for a glimpse of the island and it's history- worth every penny for a first time visitor, but also not something you'd see twice. I'll keep checking back in case any other thoughts come to mind but this sounds like we'll have no problem knowing where to go now once we hit shore- we cannot thank you enough, with only 5 hours- we don't want to waste it. Thank you so much.
(ps- we're there on a Wed. Jan 23rd but arrive at 8am so the walk area along the shore or gardens/parks will be nice until a more reasonable hour of day to venture to the stores/pedestrianized areas or to visit the historical sites once everything opens- we sail at 2:00 so do have time constraints). We weren't sure how far apart everything was or time needed to travel about so we've really appreciated your huge help.

[Sotos]

Hey T-2 have you tried Google Earth? When traveling abroad i find it very useful because you can see the distances between things and plan your trip. Keep in mind that in January it might be raining the day you will come I would think that Spring or Summer would be a better season for a cruise in the Mediterranean.

[T-2]

I love google earth for directions, but having help in really knowing how long it might take to get from Point A to Point B is invaluable. Or all the wonderful help from those in the know as to what's really do-able, thanks everyone!

[Tim Drayton]

You might be interested in knowing that there is a regular bus service between the port and the town. The number 30 bus (which is the only frequent bus service in Limassol) runs from the New Port right along the sea front through the town centre and out to the end of the tourist area. It runs every 10-15 minutes until about 6 pm and then about every half an hour and the fare is eighty cents. I would recommend that you visit the old town centre with its market and castle, and you can stroll along the short pier at the old port or walk along the pedestrian-only path beside the sea along what is called the 'Molos'. The tourist area is designed to appeal to British package tour holidaymakers and it is ghastly (in my opinion).

[T-2]

you are an angel, I hope that you don't mind if I share that on our cruise thread for everyone. That sounds like a wonderful alternative, no stress in finding enough cabs for all the passengers. We may be amongst the first to try it and I'm hoping bus stops post the bus numbers on their signs. I'm pretty sure they will only take local currency so we may have to be able to walk to an ATM first or hope to find a place of exchange before boarding. But what a great option. The ship may offer exchange service but getting small currency/coins could be a problem, euro's are easier to aquire. But this would sure be a perfect solution. I will keep always checking back, we don't sail until January- and I thank everyone- we all really appreciate this.