Next morning we took the hired 4x4 north to Polis and along the coast. After lunch in a seafront taverna, I took the wheel and we followed tiny winding roads up into the mountains.
With rock falls across the road and only passing about one car an hour, it was good to feel the sturdiness of the 4x4.
As we climbed and climbed, I started to get concerned that there was little sign of the promised snow; then suddenly you hit the snow line and several feet of white stuff lines the roads around Troodos.
Fortunately the roads themselves are clear, which is just as well as the last of the light is fading and it is becoming apparent that the map we have is more of a 'best endeavours' sort of impression of the road network rather than anything you could say navigate by.
Some of the road signs are simiarly vague and at one point we're not sure whether a large pine tree in the middle of a junction is a traffic island or a roundabout, and whether we're driving down a road or the middle of a car park...
We make it to Platres and know that our destination, the Forest Park Hotel, is on the far-side (in so many ways as it transpires) of the village.
Well assuming we've approached Platres from the angle we think we have and that we're on the road we think we're on...in fact we're possibly just assuming that this is Platres...
We approach a junction and pull over by the signpost to discuss options. This appears to be the right road so maybe we should just continue on a little, the hotel should be somewhere on our right. I pull forward a few metres to the actual junction and simultaneously we all look to our right and see the huge entrance gateway on our right with huge illuminated sign, which reads Forest Park Hotel...ah the difference a few metres can make to your sightline.
As S observes, so glad there was no one passing and we didn't ask for directions.
We drive up the long driveway through pine forests and find our destination.
How should I describe the Forest Park Hotel? I think it deserves a blog post all of its own...
7 comments:
we're not forest parking but we are Cyprusing later this year - I am reading with interest :)
Must have been some holiday.....where have you gone?
OK, so you got lost on the way back - but the search party must have found you by now? Hope all is well in Mancunian land for you.
I'm worrying too...Just wave to let us know you're alive out there somewhere xxx
right that's it....come out come out, i have even started blogging again!!!!!!
was just trawling my feedreader and remembered hadn't seen your name for a while. seems like i'm not the only one... hope you're ok. miss you.
I'm hoping it's just the annual Greenbelt Effect - the blogosphere is much less interesting without you :)
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