Holiday in Cyprus

I'm fresh back from a holiday in Cyprus. The country is beautiful. I've been to Turkey, the hubby has been to Greece, both arid countries. Neither is as green as Cyprus. Wildflowers had bloomed across the mountains, a glorious display of colour.

And perhaps I was most excited by the lizards. They were everywhere! I spent many happy hours following them around with my camera.


This fella on the left is an agama (laudakia stellio cypriaca) that we found in the Troodos Mountains. He was only a few feet away from the path, bobbing his head in a warning display. At one point he fled up a tree, only to climb back down and threaten me some more.






There were many smaller specimens outside our villa. The colouration was slightly different, but I have done a little research and it seems that the juveniles of the species do have darker bands of colour.









There were a couple of other species on the island. The troodos lizard (phoenicolacerta troodica) was the most plentiful, a slender, quick-moving lizard that often ran across the path before us.


We weren't lucky enough to see any of the native species of snake (something my husband was very grateful for). Perhaps next time.





One of the biggest highlights of the trip was our days in the Troodos Mountains. At one point we were some 1,952 meters above sea level, passing through the clouds to reach the summit of Mt. Olympus. Our ears were popping due to the change in air pressure. The temperature dropped from a balmy 18 degrees at the coast to just 4 degrees at the summit!




The densely-forested mountains were beautiful, every turn in the road revealing another jaw-dropping vista.