The House of Eustolius was initially built during the early Roman period and remodeled around 450 AD. The remains of important mosaic floors are well preserved in this house. Don't know exactly what's important about them, but that's what the brochure said!
We also visied the Sanctuary of Apollo Hylates, at the Acropolis of Kourion. Now, nearly every city had (actually, has) an acropolis. It basically means the highest point in the area. On the acropolis, one builds his temple to the chosen god or gods. Apollo won the toss at Kourion. The history of this place goes back as far as 2000 BC, but most of what survives is of Roman construction.
And then we were in for an interesting stop at a mountain village called Omodos. Like all villages, this one has main street covered with gift shops and cafes. There is a monastery that sponsors some very peculiar activities, especially around Easter. On the Tuesday after Easter, the priest grabs a large cross and walks through the town, stopping at each and every open door to deliver a blessing (for a donation, of course).
After the blessing is received, the owner of the open door grabs a rifle, runs outside, and fires into the air. Turns out that what they do is use some type of noisemaker cartridges that they fire off in between beers, while watching the tourists jump out of their skin. We even heard some automatic weapons. Not really comforting to the visitor. One mistake and someone loses an eye...
Apparently the locals used to also build a huge bonfire and burn Judas in effigy. The authorities have mostly got that stopped, but they're having trouble trying to stop the celebratory gunfire.
Onward to Greece!
