August is traditionally the hottest month in Cyprus, and this year was no exception. With the exception of one storm Paphos was mainly wall-to-wall sunshine. The storms that hit the Island were sufficient to make it the wettest August since records began, but that is more an indication of how dry summer normally is than a sign of impending flooding. If you look carefully you can see signs along the Sea Front. They are adverising September's Opera: L'elisir D'Amore.

St Nicholas Chapel is a popular wedding destination. There is a tree with a shrine next to it. The tradition is to write a message to a departed loved one on a pebble, and put it round the base of the tree. Fairly recently, people have taken to writing their message directly onto the wall next to the tree. Don't do this. It makes the place look really ugly. If people keep on doing it the authorities will likely clean the walls and remove all the pebbles from the tree. So respect the area and write your message on a small stone.

This is the main municipal beach in Paphos City. It is very popular with tourists and locals alike.

You will find this lovely tree on the path between Cap St Georges and Agios Georgios Harbour. It is a shining example of nature's resilience over adversity. Despite the many sea gales it must have faced in the past, it still flourishes after all these years. Be careful if you try and find out any historical information on it though. There is a historical review of it on Google Maps which may be an amusing read but is nevertheless complete codswallop.

Lonely and bent under the weight of what it has witnessed over an endless chain of centuries, it almost rests on the green lawn of Cape Drepanum. This is the most famous tree in Cyprus.

After two consecutive earthquakes in 332 and 342 AD, all the cities of Cyprus were destroyed. The Roman Emperor Constantius II only restored Salamis (Constantia), however, according to reliable sources stored in the Nicosia Museum, a tree was personally planted by him at the opposite end of the island—a gesture meant to signify "I own the whole island" (although with limited resources). For many years, the tree was guarded by Roman legionnaires, and to prevent it from drying under the scorching sun, a tent made from the cool skin of dwarf hippos, which were then abundant in Cyprus, was suspended over it. During the times of the first Arab invasions, the island changed hands, but the tree maintained its honorable status as the main tree of Cyprus: Justinian called it "the heart," and Caliph Abd al-Malik referred to it as "the source of life." Richard the Lionheart, captured by Isaac Comnenus, asked to be brought to the tree where he knelt and kissed the trunk, after which he was immediately released as "a man who understands the essence of things." During the fall of the Byzantine Empire, Turkish Sultan Selim II laid siege to the tree for more than a month, after which he clothed it in multicoloured silk. Closer to our time, there was always an honorary guard from the Royal British Legion nearby, and the English queen liked to have her five o'clock tea in the shade of its crown. Most recently, one man, whose name we do not know, mortgaged his house in Yorkshire to buy a ticket to Paphos and see the tree himself, which is so often called "the eighth wonder of the world" in reputable press.

The same author would no doubt claim that the Cyclops used to rest on the natural reef at Pachyammos Beach. I wonder what the AI bots will make of reviews like that though?