Sunshine and Sea in Cyprus

In an attempt to stock up on sunshine before the long dark winter months, we took ourselves off to the coast in Cyprus in late August. I managed to rent us a decent villa in the "Aphrodite Hills" resort and we used that as a base of expeditions to Paphos, Pissouri (where we met up with an old friend from Norfolk), Larnaca and the Troodos Mountains. All familiar territory, of course, from my days working for an American hardware company whose regional head office is in Nicosia.

The weather was warm but nowhere as hot as I'd expected - early thirties - and we managed to get slightly tanned without overdoing it. Lily was captivated by the villa's private swimming pool and we struggled to get her out of there for her naps, or for our trips to the sea.

Cyrpus is nice, very dry, very expensive and worth a visit but probably not worth buying a holiday home in. Although that's the perspective of a family with a baby - I guess if you're a couple with no kids or older kids you could do a lot worse. Certainly Jackie and Daryle go there every year, and their villa is a short walk from Pissouri's central plaza with great restaurants for outdoor sampling of the ubiquitous "meze" - dozens and dozens of different starter-type dishes, washed down with Keo beer.

All in all a good break - although our little madam got a bit overheated in the airport on the way back and threw the world's most spectacular tantrum. Still, the cathartic effect of that made her sleep all the way back to Gatwick so the trauma was I suppose worth it. She's generally a very good baby, cute and full of laughs, so we're happy to put up with the very occasional lapses.