Cyprus Times!

After an excellent start to a wonderful Summer by passing my Mortgage Advisor exams, it was time to jet off to a place with beautiful beaches, incredible weather and indulgent food. The place I’m referring to is Paphos in Cyprus. 

I have been to Cyprus once before, back when I was 20 years old, although it wasn’t quite the same experience. That was 7 nights of intense partying in Ayia Napa, with plenty of hangovers, losing my voice and eating for the sake of it! 

This was a much more relaxing experience with plenty of chilled out days by the pool followed by evenings sampling the local cuisine and one or two cocktails (as opposed to several in an hour!). 

I went with my girlfriend and we stayed at The Atlantica Golden Beach Hotel after reading a number of positive reviews on TripAdvisor, plus we found out it was an adults-only hotel which is probably what secured the booking! I have nothing against kids, it’s just when you want to relax by the pool not everyone wants to hear them screaming or fear that a large beach ball may suddenly land on you. 

Everything was to our expectations, the beaches were great, the weather was stunning and never let us down, and the people were so friendly. I even managed to keep up with my fitness and gains as the hotel had a well-equipped gym. Everything was superb, except for one important aspect, the food.

We were given the choice whilst booking whether we wanted to go Half-Board (breakfast and dinners included) or All-inclusive (breakfast, lunch, dinners and drinks included), as we like to venture out we chose Half-Board. The food at the hotel itself offered some variety but a lot of it was pretty average. There wasn’t one dish that stood out, everything was just at the ‘acceptable level’.

So after our first night eating at the Hotel’s restaurant we ventured out, hoping to find something better and we did. The main place to go was Pahops’ Harbour, where a large number of restaurants, bars and shops were situated and the majority of holidaymakers ventured to of an evening.

I won’t give you an in-depth review of every restaurant we attended, but the very first place stood out, a restaurant called Incanto. I had a T-Bone steak which was cooked perfectly to my request, something which I’m not used to when going to restaurants. The service was also fantastic, they couldn’t do enough for us. 

I thought this was going to be a sign of things to come however I couldn’t say the same for the other places we ate at. Not only was the food often overcooked, dry or lacked flavour in someway, but the service itself was poor.

We had desserts arrive at our table when we had just ordered our mains! We had 20 minutes waiting around to even order our food! We even had one of the mains arrive 5 minutes after the other mains! Sadly it was one thing after another. 

I honestly don’t want to criticise restaurants, whether it’s their food or service (or both!). When I dine out I want to be impressed and I want to report the positives, whether that’s in Cyprus, at home in England or anywhere else. I think we all want to be ‘wowed’ by the food and we want to say positive things about the service and friendliness of the staff, and restaurants should be going out of their way to make us feel that way. 

Overall the holiday was great and just what we both needed. I’ve got a nice tan, great memories, as well as some new friends. Now that I’m back, it’s time to get back to what I love doing, making great food, sharing the recipes and being part of this fitness community. 

There may even be a YouTube channel launching soon, stay tuned! 

Adam