Another sunny day in Cyprus although it is quite cold (13C hence the woolly hats). Today we decided to use the local bike hire scheme, the Cypriot Boris bikes.
They used to have a sophisticated system with QR Codes, smart phones and electronic locks but that must have been a failure as now the bikes are locked with conventional bike chains with combination locks and when you call the help desk they just text you the combination to release that particular bike.
When you return the bikes you lock it with the chain and then call the helpline again to say you have done it.
So tonight or tomorrow if we want a free bike we just use the same bikes as today as we know the code to unlock them and no one will be any the wiser.
We cycled about 5 miles along the sea front and, being the hooligans that we are, most of the way along walkways clearly marked “No Cycling”, we do like to live dangerously.
Our destination was the ancient city of Amathous which was an important city from the 11th century BC right through to the 8th century AD so from bronze age tribes through the Greek and Roman era’s and finally a Christian city.
The most interesting item from my perspective was a long stone water pipe each section of which was about 20 inches in diameter and perhaps 40 inches long described as “pierced column drums”. These must have taken ages to fashion, presumably with chisels. The pipe was used to feed a fountain so it needed to withstand a bit of pressure. They even cut a small access point in the top of every other section so, by removing a bung, they could gain access to clear any blockages.
After walking round the site we had a very nice lunch by the marina and then cycled back. We both now have saddle sore bottoms so perhaps that is how they stop people using the bikes again.