My trip to Cyprus

St George Hotel

As I got onto the plane to Cyprus, my stomach was churning over a little. This being my first flight since before my accident, I was a little nervous. Fortunately, the four and a half hour flight was uneventful and I was able to relax and settle down to look forward to my holiday on the beautiful island that I had visited previously many years ago. I had crossed my first hurdle and actually enjoyed the flight. As I looked out of the window at the white clouds below, it brought back memories of my previous flights with the military, and knew that I had been worrying about nothing.

The transport that had been arranged, took us to our hotel, "St George", and I was immediately impressed when I saw the 5 star hotel. It was almost two o'clock in the morning when we checked in, so we went to bed to recuperate and to ensure that we would be fully refreshed for the start of our adventures later in the day.

Both Stephen and I were up earlier than the rest of the family, and after getting dressed and going for breakfast on our own, we decided to let the family sleep for a while longer. Stephen and I discussed the agenda for the day and we both decided that as the family were still asleep, we would taker this opportunity to go into Paphos and see what it was like. So when breakfast was finished, we ordered a taxi from reception and soon we were travelling along the road passing some wondrous sights.

We passed the "Tombs of the kings", which I noted that we would see later on in our holiday and we also passed a hotel that had historical Greek figures carved into its walls as well as having two carved figures of ancient Greek warriors outside the front entrance.

I knew as soon as I saw these sights that my trip was going to be well worth all the nervousness I had succumbed to before I had left England.

We arrived in Paphos at around 8-30 am, and found that the shops and markets were just opening, so we decided to go for a cup of coffee. The first thing that came to our attention was how everything appeared wheelchair friendly. The footpaths had slopes, and the shops were either ground level or had slopes for wheelchairs. As we entered the cafe, and ordered our coffee, another thing that struck us was how hot it was for that time in the morning, it was 27 degrees in the shade.

As we sat there and looked around, we both saw how relaxed everything was, nobody was rushing around, there was no rush to open shops or set up the market stalls, the locals took there time and stopped frequently to talk to their friends.

We paid for our coffee and the proprietor, somehow realising this was our first trip into the city, (probably because of our excited chatter) advised us that the shops closed at one o'clock until three o'clock, as this was the time that the sun usually became the hottest and the locals rested. After thanking him, we headed for the market area, which was so huge; there were five entrances and exits.

As we entered the market, the shopkeepers were very friendly and at first we thought this was to get us to buy their goods, but we soon found out that they were genuinely friendly, and although they were wanting us to buy their wares, they were not too disappointed if we didn't. Stephen and I decided to look around first before buying anything.

There was everything on sale from genuine lace to children's toys.

After an hour or so, we left the market with a few goods and decided to look around the rest of the City. Everywhere we went people would go out of their way where necessary to help with the wheelchair I really was beginning to like this Island with its relaxed atmosphere and friendly inhabitants.

We looked around Paphos briefly before deciding to return to the hotel and informing the others of morning out.

Later, as I sat relaxing on the hotel's sun-drenched private beach, in front of me approximately 200 yards away was the man made reefs with small waves hitting them sending the salty spray into the air to land in to the calm waters of the immediate beach area, built to protect bathers from possible predators that may be attracted by all the noise made by frolicking swimmers.

I decided to take a look at my beautiful surroundings and besides all the topless women around me, to my right was the beach netball area, which was next to the paragliding club that had notices outside offering fun and excitement of being ascended into the air behind a powerful speedboat.

To my left were the beach lounges with tourists from all over the world spreading themselves out to get a suntan. At this stage I had to avert my eyes as a young lady stood up and began to takes pictures of everything around her, and it didn't bother her at all that she was topless. But I was in my chair and unable to move away as my wheels had sunk a little into the sand.

So I turned my head to the huge monument that stood almost a hundred feet high. This monument had been erected by the Cypriots in the 1950's and represented their independence from Greece.

Turning to the right again, carefully avoiding eye contact with the young lady who was now running around the beach, I looked into the distance and saw a wondrous sight, what enchantment, what beauty, it was Troodos Mountains, it was so beautiful that I had to take a picture.

It was worth the trip to Paphos to see this magical scenery. Yes, I found the Paradise Island that I could easily retire to, the whole atmosphere was so relaxing, and it was unbelievable.

Betty came down to the beach later on to see if there was anything that I needed, and I informed her that I had everything that I need and that the view was fantastic, but as soon as she noticed that all the women were topless, she decided that I would be better off further down the beach where the view was not so evocative.

The hotel "St George" had different theme nights for dinner, one night it was "Italian Dinner" Another it was "Cypriot Dinner" and over the period of my holiday they also had "Mediterranean Dinner", "Greek Dinner", "British Dinner", "German Dinner" and I tried all of the different cuisines. But I am glad that they didn't have a "French Dinner" as I definitely would not have tried any snails!

Of course if a guest wished, they could have a set meal of their choice, in fact there were several other dishes to choose from also.

Not only did the hotel serve delicious food, it was fully equipped for disabled people. It had four lifts (elevators), plus ramps inside as well as out, including the beach area, and the bedrooms had everything that a disabled person would require including hoists for getting in and out of the bath. Every part of the building was accessible by wheelchair. The Cypriot church owns the hotel and in the development of it, the architect had obviously thought about wheelchairs, even the outside toilets were wheelchair friendly.

It also catered for all types of water sports such as, Para gliding, Sub aqua diving, Jet Skiing, and Deep-sea fishing. Although I approached the Sub aqua instructor of 25 years experience, to possibly allow me a dive, he was very apologetic, but do to my health reasons and his insurance, the best he could do was allow me a surface swim. I fully understood and decided that at least I had my memories of my diving as a youngster.

I thoroughly recommend this wheelchair friendly hotel to any visitor who wants to go to Cyprus.

The atmosphere was so relaxed and crime is rare indeed, and the people were so friendly. We visited several villages and everywhere we went we were met with cordiality.

As I laid on my huge king-size bed, I listened to the waves as they gently lapped against the man made reefs and turning, I looked out of my window and saw the sun rising across the beautiful blue sea and I watched as the armada of large mast yachts sailed by.

Looking across the ocean, I thought to myself that this was where I wanted to be! It was the perfect place to retire, where you can do anything that you want to do and nobody objects as long as it is not offensive, and if I searched the world, I doubt if I could find a better place to live.

Even Betty loved it and she was so impressed with the way the locals went out to help without hesitation, and with how fresh the food was, as most of it came from local farms, and it tasted really delicious!

I would most definitely love to live in Cyprus where everything is fresh, peaceful, attractive and friendly and virtually crime free.

I really do consider it an ideal place for wheelchair users

Mike Coatesworth