Traveling is without any doubts the biggest passion of mine. After Amelia was born we took her to seven countries as we wanted to make the most of it before she becomes a challenging toddler! Traveling with babies is easier than it seems, especially if breastfeeding because they still sleep so much and only need milk or purees if they are above six months old.
When Amelia started walking and choosing a traveling destination required more thorough thought we started trying charter trips. Back in my wild traveling days as a student, I would laugh at people doing charter trips. “What’s the point of traveling to another country just to stay at the hotel by the pool? One needs to explore, meet the locals, taste local cuisine, discover nature…?” Well, as they say, never say never! Comfort becomes an important factor with a tiny active human who is much more sensitive to a new environment and heat than us adults!
We always try to go to a new country none of us have been to, so we opted for the Greek part of Cyprus at that time. I spent a ridiculous amount of time reading reviews about hotels and towns on TripAdvisor until we chose one large family-friendly hotel at Cavo Maris in Protaras. Many of these large family-friendly hotels are often further from towns because they have such large facilities and private entries to the beach.
For us, it is important not to be too far away from the towns as we still want to explore other beaches, cute tiny cafes, and local markets. We actually chose the option to eat twice at the hotel, as we promised not to do ever again as it would be so stressful to come back to the hotel for dinner time. The busses sometimes would be late or not taking passengers if they are full and the taxes would not always be easy to find.
We enjoyed the wonderful azure water and discovered many lovely beaches in day time for Amelia to cool down. It was not easy to do something more with her as it was simply too hot during day time, so all she wanted to do was eat some juice ice-cream and splash in the water! As I was pregnant I also took things easy and did not go on any organized trips solo this time, it was really nice just to… Yes.. You are right! Relax by the pool or at the beach! We also took a boat trip in a small yacht and they were sweet enough to allow Amelia to nap inside the yacht downstairs as we did not take the pram with us. So we had a few moments just for the two of us and Matilda in the belly while Amelia was sleeping. We went to see one of the famous attractions – the Love Bridge, even though the heat was really blasting, so we managed to cool Amelia at a nearby hotel prior.
Gorgeous Grecian Park Hotel has access to a lovely Konoss beach (be aware lots of steps to climb down and not that many food options besides a sandwich bar!) If you come by car there are parking spots a bit more down (still some climbing required.) We enjoyed a lovely sunset view from one of the bars at Grecian Park Hotel which had a lovely Ibiza lounge vibe, great cocktails (I took a virgin berry option), and one of the waiters there was a young Lithuanian, so it was super lovely!
Simon took a fishing boat trip and managed to catch a fish which he even brought to the hotel to show me as I always laugh that he goes to fish but comes empty-handed. (Deep inside I am happy though, as the whole idea of him ending an innocent life of a fish is terrifying.) We asked the hotel to take care of the fish: (“Hello, sorry, we have a huge fish at the bathtub, would you mind taking care of that?”) and they gave it to the boat service guys by the hotel.
Simon was always chatting with them and in exchange, they gave him some salt they collected from the cliffs. Pretty nice souvenir! We went to the towns of Protaras and Ayia Napa a couple of times and I also went shopping for some local souvenirs and hair products with olive oil. It is hard to find these genuine hand-made souvenirs, but I always try to bring something which looks the most genuine. We have been collecting colourful hand-made bowls which we have already brought from Turkey, Cyprus, and the United Arab Emirates.
It was a lovely holiday enjoying the magical sun and getting a yearly dose of Mediteranean sun!
