Mediterranean – David Kotz

Cyprus – Mycenaean colonization

Over 3,000 years ago.

From the patios in front of our hotel we look out across the bay – ahead is the Mediterranean Sea; to the right is Karst Point, which I explored on my first morning here; to the left is a steep-shored peninsula housing the grounds of the Mycenaean colonization of Cyprus, or so says the map. Today we strolled over there, paid a small entrance fee to the sleepy gate clerk – I suspect we may have been his only visitors this week – and explored the small museum.

Ruins of the Mycenaean Colonisation of Cyprus.

It is truly remarkable to be walking among the foundations of homes built over 3,000 years ago, still evident – and marking the location of the first Mycenaean Greek colonists on the island of Cyprus, around 1,200 BC.

Cyprus – Coral Bay

An island at the crossroads of history.

We’re off again, this time to the island nation of Cyprus in the Mediterranean. I needed to attend a computer-science conference (DCOSS-IoT) for a few days, so we decided to extend the trip by two days and explore this island that has been at the crossroads of history for millennia. We are staying at an oceanside hotel in Coral Bay, outside Paphos; on our first morning, I took a walk along the shore to a point (“Karst point”) that provided a lovely view back across the bay to the hotel. My first gallery of photos shares views of the hotel, the bay, and some of the lovely flowers blooming this time of year.

Waves on Karst Point, with view across Coral Bay to our hotel.

Malta

A two-night visit to the historic capital of Malta, a tiny island nation in the middle of the Mediterranean.

We began a week-long World Affairs cruise of the Mediterranean with a short flight to the small island country of Malta, which sits in a historically strategic location in the Mediterranean sea. This tiny island country has been inhabited for over 5,000 years, and has been settled by the Phoenicians, Carthaginians, Romans, Spanish, French, and British, not to mention the pre-historic communities who left behind the world’s oldest free-standing stone structures. Malta’s culture and language are thus a unique mixture of many influences.

Read on and check out the photo gallery.

Map of the Ponant Cruise — Route of W&L’s “World Affairs” cruise on Ponant’s “Le Bougainville”

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