Category: Cyprus

Today we went to Pafos Aquarium. It is a really nice place and I feel pity because we didn’t get in there earlier. We had only 15 minutes to wonder around, since we came in about 19:45 and they close at 20:00. I will repeat the visit sometime in the near future.

I got a little bit worried in the beginning, since there are a lot of sings like “No photocameras allowed” and “Please do not photograph”. After a breif chat with the cashier I found out that photographing is OK as long as you keep you flash off. So I switched to Av mode, closed my flash and entered. Video shooting is OK too so Hazard didn’t have to throw away his camera.

Photographing in the aquarium is a bit difficult. It is very dark. No flash allowed. The only light that is there is used for highlighting the aquariums with fish. I had to use ISO 1600 thoughout the shooting. The good thing is that I could get pretty close to aquariums. And I also used the solid surrounding of the aquarium to support my camera to minimize shaking.

Slow fish and snakes are the best to photograph. Fast ones are terrible. They blur too much. Also I had some troubles focusing when dark fish were hiding in dark plants or stones. Some fish were getting scared by me and swimming away to an opposite corner of the aquarium. Some were curios and wanted to be photographed. Some were indifferent. Next time that I will know that there are plenty of willing and cooperating models – no reason to lose time on the stubborn and scared ones. The only exception were sharks. Sharks are georgeous, but that have to move a lot. There are only a couple of places to shoot them from (near the lights), but the camera should be preset and prefocused. I didn’t manage it this time.

Meanwhile, the results are here.

Olga and I went to the Reptile House today. You can find it near Limassol’s Old Port, next door to the left from the Ladas Fish Tavern.

It has been a while since we wanted to get there, but today we found out that we were not missing a lot. It is a small, dark, hot room with about twenty glass cases. One of these cases is bigger then the others and is filled with midium-sized turtles. There is another bigger one turtle too. A couple of lizzards in two other cases. Everything else is devoted to snakes. All the reptiles make you feel pity. They look dead. Really. No action at all. A couple of snakes lay in the plates with drinking water. Lizards are not any better. There was a lot of excitement from our side when in about 10 minutes one of the snakes started to move a bit to get in the water. That was about it.

There is not a lot of information about these species. There are few printed out paper sheets with descriptions in Greek and English, but they are boring to read due to the small font and darkness. Visually though, there was nothing surprising. I had a feeling that if I would go deeper into the fields somewhere in the mountains that I can find any of these snakes or lizzards. Probably this is wrong to feel. :)

You are welcome to enjoy the Reptile House and make your own opinion for a mere 1.50 CYP. Few pictures from the place are here.