Paphos Harbour coastline
One day in the early 1990s, I was eating lunch at Hondros Restaurant, near the harbour of Kato Paphos when I was approached by an elderly man, who introduced himself as a long-time ex-pat resident of Paphos. He told me he had a collection of photographic slides (remember the days before digital?) showing the Paphos Harbour during the mid-1970s – 1980s, when the very first modern hotel was being constructed. (He was referring, of course, to the Paphos Beach Hotel, now called the Almyra.) He said he also had slides of other locations in/around Kato Paphos from the same period. He asked me if I would be interested to make copies of them, which I surely was and readily did.
As historical documents these photographs are both interesting and important, because they show us how much Kato Paphos has changed, for better or worse, during all those years of development as a major tourist resort. Thanks to the kind efforts of Ingela Brylde, who painstakingly scanned large numbers of slides in my collection, we now have many of these early photographs of Kato Paphos in digital form. I share a collection of them here:
The Aloe Hotel under construction and the old SODAP factory in the background, early 1980s.
View of the Paphos Harbour taken from near current location of the Annabelle Hotel facing west. Ta Mpania (“The Baths”) are visible at centre of photo.
To Limani, Kato Paphos. Look where they used to park their cars: now there are tables and chairs from restaurants and pubs exactly there.
From the top of the Fort.
Looking East from the garden of the Paphos Beach Hotel (now Almyra): the old SODAP wine factory (now Amphora Apts) is visible in background.
The newly constructed Paphos Beach Hotel with adjacent Hotel Annabelle under construction, early to mid 1980s.
Paphos Harbour in mid-1980s with completed Paphos Beach Hotel and Annabelle Hotel under construction.
View of the so-called “Nympho Bazarro” part of Kato Paphos seafront, mid 1980s.
View of the same seafront area in 2019.
Visibile in this photo taken from Fabrika Hill: Theoskemparsti Church, old SODAP Factory.
From Left to Right: the Basilica Gardens Complex with the Pharos in background, the Panayia Theoskeparsti Church and the Dionysos Hotel. Note the dirt track that led from the hotel to the coastline.
Two diametrically opposed approaches to using the same piece of coastline: The world famous Tombs of the Kings vs the construction of a modern (Venus Beach) hotel.