They say you can breakfast in Agia Napa, have lunch in Larnaca, take afternoon tea in Limassol and dine in Paphos and have seen all of the main resorts in the southern part of Cyprus. Better still, the weather is year-round sunny, people speak English and the euro is the currency so, all in all, quite a stress-free place to holiday.

No wonder a pilot I met in the VIP lounge in Dublin airport confided that of all the countries he has visited, the one place he would buy a home if he won the lotto would be Cyprus. We flew via Stansted and on to Larnaca, and our first port of call was Limassol, where we stayed at the five-star Le Meridien Limassol Spa & Resort.

With its own beach, pools, spa and numerous restaurants and bars, Le Meridien was the ideal base for touring the area. Limassol is the second-biggest city in Cyprus, after Nicosia. It's a mixture of ancient and modern, and a visit to Lemesos Medieval Fort was well worth the effort. The castle was originally built by the Byzantines in 1000AD and houses the chapel where Richard the Lionheart married Berengaria of Navarre and crowned her Queen of England. It has been completely restored, and is now home to the Cyprus Medieval Museum. The nearby Sea Sponges Exhibition Centre was great for gifts to bring back home.

The Cypriots are a very warm and laidback people and for the duration of the trip, I felt I had died and gone to heaven. The Cypriots have no ban on smoking, so given that I'm an inveterate smoker, I was in my element. They also drive on the same side of the road as Ireland, so hiring a car is less stressful than in most European locations.

A tour of some of the surrounding villages, steeped in history is a must. A short drive took us to the wine-growing region and the village of Omodus. The Monastery of the Holy Cross stands in the middle of the village, and, according to legend, St Helena left a piece of rope here which had tied Jesus to the cross. The narrow little streets are full of shops and stalls selling the local papilla lace. We had coffee with Pater Neophitos, who looked young enough to be my son but who was actually a grandfather.

On to the village of Foini and the Netaida Restaurant for lunch. The speciality in Cyprus is meze, which basically is food that goes on for ever. Plate after plate of local specialities. We had Koupepia (which is stuffed vine leaves to die for), and Stifado -- tender meat with onions, spices and red wine. We also had lamb souvlaki cooked over charcoal. Plate after plate of food is brought and they get upset if you don't eat it. Given my robust appetite, I had no problem obliging. There are numerous hotels on the beach, all serving a fabulous buffet lunch, and the five-star Amathus Beach Hotel didn't disappoint. The attempt at dieting had now well and truly gone out of the door.

Cyprus has become become very popular for Irish weddings, and Elias Beach Hotel was hosting a pretend wedding for some travel reps out from Ireland. Though the bride and groom were actors, I still got a lump in my throat when the Wedding March was played and the bride with her pretend father walked up the beautifully bedecked pier.

Chairs covered in white and a gazebo decorated with copious amounts of flowers completed the picture and the mayor performed the ceremony. (A civil ceremony takes place two days before the festivities). We were treated to canapes and champagne, and a banquet fit for a king down near the water's edge ensued. Most hotels have lovely little chapels, and during our stay we encountered four weddings in the various hotels. It's a great way to ensure only the people you want come to your wedding. No unwanted aunts and uncles, and the groom and best man can smoke all through their speeches. As can the bride while she listens.

From Limassol we went to Paphos and the Aphrodite golf and leisure hotel. Built beside an 18-hole golf course, the hotel boasts a tennis academy and equestrian centre and a village square with shops and restaurants. An ideal location for a spot of golf and then a trip to the spa with a massage to ease away the aches. Pure hedonism. Its grounds roll down to the sea and the Rock of Aphrodite, where the goddess of love is said to have emerged from the sea.

Louis Cruises offers a range of excursions from Cyprus, among them visits to Syria, the Lebanon, the Greek Islands and the Holy Land. We chose the Holy Land, which involved a two-night stay on the Sapphire cruise ship. The captain of the ship had the unfortunate name of Fokas Dikeos, which caused me to giggle inappropriately when talking to him. When I queried what we should call him, he informed me, without flinching that his family name was Fokas. I wish I could grow up. We docked at Haifa and took a minibus to Jerusalem. We stopped at the Mount of Olives to look down at the city. It's a truly amazing city, full of history, beautiful old buildings and oriental bazaars. The Wailing Wall is mesmerising. I have never seen such devout faith in my life. Really elderly people being led by relatives to touch the wall and place their hand-written wish in its crevices. Bethlehem was much poorer, and somewhat bleak. We visited the spot under the church where the manger is said to have been, a humbling experience.

On our return to Cyprus, our last port of call was Agia Napa, the buzzing and glitzy resort of the east, where we stayed at the Adams Beach Hotel. It was a quiet fishing village until the Turkish invasion in 1974, and it still retains its charm. The square with its fountains is a perfect place to sit and watch the world go by. Bars, restaurants and night clubs abound and it definitely is the centre of the tourist trail. We had dinner at the Grecian Park Hotel, which is secluded and houses the most exclusive nightclub in Cyprus -- it's a beautiful venue with a hidden clifftop bar. There's so much more to see in Cyprus and a week is not enough, so I'll certainly be back. Maybe to get married. I'd better start looking for a man!

- Eleanor Goggin