Event: Cyprus - Paphos

Tombs of the Kings

When:	Daily
Where:	Tombs of the Kings
Costs:	€1.71
Opening Hours:	8am-5pm (until 6pm Apr-May & Sep-Oct; until 7.30pm Jun-Aug)

On UNESCO's World Heritage list, the Tombs of the Kings date back to 300BC, when the Ancient Greeks ruled Cyprus with Paphos as their capital. High officials rather than kings were buried here, but the magnificence of the tombs gave the locality its name.

The site is divided up into eight different tomb complexes. Some of them are just holes called loculi, but others are far more elaborate, involving flights of steps down to the roomed tombs. Numbers three, four and eight have Doric columns forming a peristyle around a central courtyard. Peeling off, like rooms in a house, are adult-sized and child-sized spaces. No bones, urns or other funerary deposits remain, all long since looted by antique hunters.

As you walk around, keep an eye out for the Cypriot plant life which blooms in winter and spring. Unploughed, the ground harbours many flowers, including cascades of cyclamen during January, February and March.