We did some more sightseeing in Paphos Tuesday after work.
Which means it was so hot my antlers were drooping. (This is a real problem).
I wanted to stay back with a cold Keo (beer in giant cans) but AJ said we had to go exploring.
We found an old old old old old old church.
Give me a break, I’m not the historian or archaeologist, I’m just an intern jackalope. I’m learning.
The church was a site that had “original” construction around the 4th century AD, though it’s been reworked multiple times.
It seems even the old Bishop of Paphos fancied himself on the medieval version of Extreme Makeover – he had the beautiful mosaic floors from the 4th-6th centuries covered over with marble.
That’s the problem with archaeology, to see what’s there, you have to destroy what is on top of it.
Yes, the marble was lovely and expensive and a status symbol and all that. But I like the mosaics.
In one of the pictures you can see mosaic floor, and then a chunk of marble floor sitting over top of it.
Funny thing, the current construction of the still-operational church is from the 14th-15th century.
AJ had to cover her scandalously bare arms to go in.
They wouldn’t let me in. Some kind of anti-mythical creatures blather. I suppose if it were St George slaying the JACKALOPE, I could get some credentials. “Mythical creatures”, my fluffy arse…
So AJ took discrete pictures for me while I waited at the gate and read the tourist info.