Our autumn trip to Cyprus

I have been very bad in updating this blog (or any other, for that matter), with the result that I have been not very quick in posting about few events, like for example a trip we have taken during early autumn.
And not only, now I was trying to find some pictures from the trips and I found very scarce traces of them. Sadly!

Fig Tree Bay, view from our hotel

Our destination was Protaras, in Fig Tree Bay in Cyprus. The place didn't really disappoint us. Of course, turistic shaped (possibly more for a British market) but quite convenient for a family with small kids, afterall.
We chose an hotel which could grant closeness to the see, wifi, decent food based on the reviews and some other extra (some also that we were not exactly looking for).
Its name is Sunrise Beach Hotel and it has a bit "outdated" style for few things. A bit of 80s atmosphere is around in how the building is, as well as some part of the service (the buffet restaurant for example), but it had quite good comforts.

Sunrise Beach Hotel

The pools were quite nice, there were a lot of activities if one wanted to do some (from watergym, ping pong tournament, baby disco and even kids club, with a very new and fresh small cinema!) and there were a lot of restaurants one could pick up through the hotel. We went to few of them and some of them were very good (Kyklos, greek and Fishbone, with fish specialities, although a bit more expensive), others  impressed us less (Marcello's, the italian one, but of course...we are Italian!).
The breakfast was not exactly my cup of tea (but my comparison meter is based on the breakfast we were having in Nai Harn in Phuket at the Nai Harn Hotel, so possibly it is a a bit unfair.
 

The beach and the sea

 Walking along the beach was very beautiful, also during the evening.
We chose a good time to be there. The day was warm and nice, not too hot (except maybe during the warmest hours, but I was in the hotel room with Oscar who was sleeping and Mattias and Isabella were at the kids' club). We got few afternoons of rain, which shortened our afternoons at the seaside, but we still managed to enjoy the wonderful sea, with warm water, clean and turquoise, nice sandy beach.
There was also not that many people, possibly few other retired people (as us), being that low season and that suited us since it is nice to not have to share the beach with the whole world.
The sunbeds at the beach were not owned by the hotel, but by the town, but that didn't bother us too much since we were mainly using as homebase the pool area (fairly closed to the beach anyway).

View over the bay

We got some disturbance for the first nights, when our kids couldn't fall asleep because our neighbours, with whom we were sharing a door (which of course we didn't need to use) were playing dice the whole night. The sound was just horrible.

After complaining to them, we went to the reception explaining our issue, and we got a new room where we could squeeze us.

The room were ok, but a bit compact for the four of us. A double bed, with an extra bed and a coat bed. 

It was not the worse room of the planet, but it could have been a bit more spacious and "fresher" - it had a bit torn look.

Beach

The child entertainment was a surprisngly positive note, which we didn't forecast not thought about. Apart from the kids' club, a nice "daycare" facility where one could leave the kids (we were always with Isabella if there) there was the baby disco which was very funny and the highest peak of the day for Isabella and Oscar.

The restaurant choice of the small town was quite good. We ended up though twice at Pizza Hut because Isabella wanted that (!!!), but we tried few local restaurants a couple of times.

We were eating a bit too early for the standard opening time, so we were often alone in the restaurants at lunch time. However, we always had very good food.

Portions were always big and the price not too bad. 

One of the most memorable visits was the one to Vangelis Tavern, which I saw also as highly ranked in Tripadvisor.

I wonder though if the food was "modified" a bit for the turistic market (a lot of fried potatoes were served all the time).

My lamb ribs at Vangelis Tavern (with Elsa drooling over the plate)

Amazing fried calamari in Kyklos restaurant

What I am most sad is that, possibly as a combination of having small kids (and Oscar needing to sleep during the afternoon) and the low season, we couldn't really do any excursion. I know that Cyprus has a lot of interesting places to visit and a lot of culture and history and I regret not making more efforts to actually go somewhere, but since in general, our vacation was a positive experience, I think we might go back there again and explore more (and the kids will be also older then!)