Seahorse
Grumpy auld mod.
OK, so I got a bit distracted by what I thought were caves that I could see up in the cliffs above the beach at St George. So no snorkelling for me that day.
In the end, it turns out that the caves are actually man made excavations in the soft rock, and were used for burial. Most likely for early Christian upper echelon type folks. I've not been able to find out much more than that about them. And whilst they are simply holes, I thought they were quite interesting holes. Although I have a sneaky suspicion the fenced off parts of the site would have been a bit more interesting. But since the missus told me to be quick, I thought I'd better be sharpish about it. In the end, I was away for 3 hours... got a bit distracted by a nearby 6th Century basilica too. I'm such a tourist.
Anyways, here are said holes...
This is a somewhat more modern church sitting on top of the cliff above the tombs.
One of the tomb entrances.
View of the wee beach and harbour from the tombs.
I think somebody has had a fight... and lost.
I'm thinking cat of some kind, but the skull was too big to have been a domestic moggy. Any skull experts out there? It was about as twice the size of my two fists together.
Holes within holes. No idea why they would have carved them like this, since don't imagine the dead would need windows.
Another fairly recently dead occupant of the tombs.
Once you've seen one hole in the rock, you've seen them all.
The graves themselves. Apparently there were traditionally 2 types of rock grave. One type cut into the wall of the tomb, and the other simply dug into the floor. I forget what the proper names for each are, but here's an example of both in the same cave.
All in all, not as grand as the more famous (and misnamed) Tombs of the Kings over by Paphos itself. But it kept me out of mischief for a while. Thanks for looking.
In the end, it turns out that the caves are actually man made excavations in the soft rock, and were used for burial. Most likely for early Christian upper echelon type folks. I've not been able to find out much more than that about them. And whilst they are simply holes, I thought they were quite interesting holes. Although I have a sneaky suspicion the fenced off parts of the site would have been a bit more interesting. But since the missus told me to be quick, I thought I'd better be sharpish about it. In the end, I was away for 3 hours... got a bit distracted by a nearby 6th Century basilica too. I'm such a tourist.
Anyways, here are said holes...
This is a somewhat more modern church sitting on top of the cliff above the tombs.
One of the tomb entrances.
View of the wee beach and harbour from the tombs.
I think somebody has had a fight... and lost.
I'm thinking cat of some kind, but the skull was too big to have been a domestic moggy. Any skull experts out there? It was about as twice the size of my two fists together.
Holes within holes. No idea why they would have carved them like this, since don't imagine the dead would need windows.
Another fairly recently dead occupant of the tombs.
Once you've seen one hole in the rock, you've seen them all.
The graves themselves. Apparently there were traditionally 2 types of rock grave. One type cut into the wall of the tomb, and the other simply dug into the floor. I forget what the proper names for each are, but here's an example of both in the same cave.
All in all, not as grand as the more famous (and misnamed) Tombs of the Kings over by Paphos itself. But it kept me out of mischief for a while. Thanks for looking.
