Happy Belated Valentines Everyone! I'm a little behind post-wise. For Valentines Day, we found a great deal! The Hilton Park Hotel had a deal for about 200 euros, it included: a Deluxe Suite, Wine and Strawberries on arrival, a 5 course dinner (which sold separately was worth 55 euros each), full breakfast, and full access to the gym and spa facilities.

Heart-shaped, strawberry mouse cake which was super deliscious. Mark also got me an adorable teddy bear, a Cypriot flower arrangement, decadent chocolates, and a stunning diamond and pearl necklace which was made in Cyprus =)

The day of Valentines I spent with some girlfriends walking through Old City and getting out nails done. I realised around 7pm that I didn't eat all day (dinner started at 9pm), so ordered a soup which siunded yummy. This green "coriander" soup is what I got. My first though was of Ashley haha since she hates most food, especially if it is green! It actually was pretty good once I got paste the repulsing color.

Yes, that is the necklace which was also partly a birthday gift. I think it is just dazzaling!

The restaraunt was so well done! Everything was so romantic and elegant. And notice the place setting, it reminded me of Princess Diaries and/or Pretty Woman when in both movies, they are at the fancy business dinner and there are so many forks, etc on the table they are overwhelmed and don't know what to do. Luckily, I paid attention during those films, so knew to start with the outermost silverware-thank you Hollywood!

The main course was an almond soup with beetroot capapd (gibberish, I have no idea what the pink stuff was). It did not taste like almonds, but was deliscious anyway. Once we got a menu and were relieved to find out we were not eating rosewater caviar, the pink stuff was quite fun. It had a texture like puddy and wanted to be played with and tasted sort of like strawberry cream cheese. Also note that rosewater flavor is possibly one of my least favorite things, I know now that if something taste gross to me that Cypriots consider "good sweet" it has rosewater in it. Therefore rose water caviar (which is a deliscasy here) would have been the grossest thing I ever consumed in my life.

The next course was fish based. The pink goop on the side was rosewater paste, the central item was lobster with foam on it (gross foam), and the last item is a scallop with rosewater caviar on top and misc veggies underneaht. The lobster was actually really good, but the scallop was disgustingly fishy-like sushi times 10.

The raviolli-like dish was definitely my favorite! Not only were they heart shaped and adorable, but they were scrumptious and the cheese sauce was to die for. The only other close tie to this taste-experience was the first time I had chicken marsala at Azure in Freeport, Maine. Needless to say, it was superb.

This was a berry sorbet in between courses to cleanse the pallet. All I could think of was again, Princess Diaries, luckily I knew it was sorbet so did not have the same dilema she had in the movie (I'm hoping the majority of you reading have seen the movie so know what seen I'm refering to here).

This meal was...interesting. I thought it would be incredible, but unfortunately I mistook the mushroom as the filet minon as my first bite. A bad mistake because the flavor contaminated the rest of the dish. The filet minon was surprisingly tough and we only had butter knives, so it was not nearly as good or even comparable to say Cafe Med in downtown Portsmouth.

This dessert looks yummy, smelled yummy, and tasted...weird. I have found with fancy meals that I anticipate enjoying about half the courses. This was very tart/tangy in an unpleasant way. It was like a crossbreed between a rasberry and a lemon, so when I ate it I made the "sourness" face. Also, not the sugarcoated rose petal on top..it tasted worse than rosewater. Rosewater by the way is very common here. It is found in everything traditional, welcoming, custom, etc. Therefore I have had a lot of it. Before coming here, I had never relaly experienced the taste, so if you get the chance, try making something that the base flaor is rosewater..you will see what I mean.

This is the hotel during the daytime.

Breakfast was so impressive. The options jsut continued down the entire venue. One of my favorite things about Cyprus so far is how fresh everything is! The fruits, cheeses, meats, everything taste like it was just picked or made. Even the orange juice was so orangey, I have never had orange juice that tasted so much like an orange.

These are my lovely flowers

This was our balcony. The view was quite nice. Something I cannot seem to get a good-quality picture of is the mountains. They are such a major part of the landscape and look so much more magnificent every day than in the pictures. Also, note the Turkish flag again. It has to be at least the size of a football field in person to be seen from so far away!

Unfortunately, I did not take pictures of the chocolate, etc. Nor did I take any of the spa. The spa though was like something you see in the movies. Actually I believe in the first Batman movie, there is a seen with an indoor pool and spa room, this looked very similar. We tried out the hammam for the first time, which was interesting. The locals rave about hammams! They go for several hours at least twice a month to "detox the body, cleanse the soul, etc etc." The room itself was this igloo-like structure, but made out of stone beside the pool. Inside, there are slabs of marble on the grounf and a sink. The stones are 50*C which is very hot. All you do is lay a towel on them, and then law on your back in the hot room. I have to say, it was not quite the magical experience I was anticipating. But the steam room hammam was refreshing. Also, weird note: one of my professors works at the spa, and it was so weird seeing her. But she said she can get us in for free anytime!