В гостях у Киприотов. Visiting Cypriots.

The opening of the beach season this year fell on wonderful sunny Cyprus, so without thinking twice, we chose the bright party Ayia Napa and one of the best Grecian Bay 5 * hotels.
Even at the airport we were struck by the number of Russian tourists. Subsequently, Russian was spoken everywhere, restaurants always served menus in their native language, and even most of the names on the street were translated into Russian. All this stubbornly created the impression that we were at home and did not fly anywhere : )
So the hotel. The area is not very big. The hotel consists of a main building overlooking the sea, an adjacent west wing and several detached bungalows, near which there is a real tropical corner with palm trees, lianas and goldfish. The hotel is located in a good location, the sea near the hotel is clean, if there is no storm. The last two days of our vacation at sea was a small storm with fluffy lambs, in which both old and young jumped with pleasure.

Naturally, with such excitement, I will not talk about the purity and transparency of the water. The entry into the water is gentle, you need to go long enough for the water to rise above the waist. For lovers of depth, this may be a minus, but I really liked that the water on this shallow warms up well. The water temperature was generally 20-21 degrees, but thanks to this shallow water, the feeling of a warm sea was present. The beach is clean, yellow sand, at the entrance to the water there are small smooth stones, again - a wonderful foot massage : ) The beach line further forms a small bay, which makes you feel very comfortable here. Sun loungers and umbrellas are free on the beach, the hotel immediately offers to book sun loungers near the pool or on the beach for the entire stay, and your reservation will be kept until 10-30 every morning. You are given a special card, which indicates your row and place.
If you overslept and came late, you can take any free sun lounger, these are the rules for booking. Towels at the hotel are exchanged for special cards, which you must return upon check-out. For the loss of such a towel or card - a fine of 8 euros. The exchange of towels for clean ones is made at your request any number of times during the day.
There are several pools in the hotel. Two indoor, one of them has a wonderful back water massage. The main one is beautifully carved and is separated by a romantic bridge, where all tourists are sure to take pictures. And very small for very small ones.
The hotel room was spacious enough to comfortably accommodate two people. White bathrobes, slippers and the presence of a kettle with cutlery unobtrusively emphasized the status of the hotel. Chocolate gifts from the hotel were waiting for us on a neatly made bed.
The view from the balcony let us down a little - we were settled in the west wing, and not in the main building of the hotel, so we did not get a peaceful view of the sea. In return, we had a view of the neighboring villas, the lush flowering vegetation of Cyprus and the hotel's utility yard. As an added bonus, every morning we were woken up by the sounds of the hotel waking up, loud Greek speech and various sounds of hotel equipment, which were busy with their daily loading and unloading activities : )
The food at the hotel was nothing special. A fairly varied breakfast with a standard for Europeans set of dishes from sliced ​ ​ ​ ​ to buns allowed us to take sandwiches and fruits with us to the room and not go to lunch in the sweltering heat. By the way, the temperature at that time reached up to 30 degrees, which, combined with the scorching sun of Cyprus, created the impression of a real sweltering heat.
We dined at nearby restaurants, but more on that later.
In general, I give the hotel a solid "5".

We did not take excursions from the hotel due to the small amount of time to rest, so I can’t talk about the beauties of Cyprus. But I will recommend to everyone a MANDATORY visit to the WaterWorld Water Park in Ayia Napa. The water park is stylized according to various Greek myths and legends, and each attraction has a corresponding name such as "Jump into the Atlantic", "Flight of Icarus", "Poseidon's Pool", "Aphrodite's Bath" and, of course, the already classic - the swift slide "Kamikaze".
The next day, in addition to burnt noses, shoulders and knees, a pleasant pain in the back and buttocks, you will again and again remember your "jumps" and "falls".
A little exotic. This time in Cyprus, we decided on a now fashionable fish spa, where small Garra rufa fish give you a pedicure and a light massage. This very unusual and pleasant pleasure costs 10 Euro 15 minutes.
A few words about local cuisine. Since the hotel has a very good location relative to the city center, a leisurely walk of 10-15 minutes will lead you to the numerous abundance of small cafes, restaurants, pubs and nightclubs in the city. We dined a few times at Melissa, Mark's Tavern and Esperia where we got fish meze. These are places that I can recommend as pleasant to visit at an average price category. In general, prices in Cyprus are European and quite high. For example, we took a pancake with jam, which cost 5 euros. Alcoholic drinks - 5-6 Euros, the famous fish meze from 19 to 27 Euros, while the minimum order for this dish is two servings, so multiply the price by two at once. Moussaka, pork, lamb and similar dishes - 9-12 euros. Local wine - from 3-7 euros. It is worth noting that all portions are very large, salad and french fries are always served with them, so if you eat little, feel free to take one such portion for two.
And a few more words. Ayia Napa is a very party and fun place with a noisy motley crowd, where at the same time you can wander around the old town, spend a romantic evening in a tavern on the shore of the harbor, where the real "Black Pearl" is laid up and local cats sit at the tables waiting for treats from tourists.. .