introShort This guidebook has been designed to provide visitors with an extensive insight into the delightful world of rural Cyprus. This is a world apart from the beaches and tourist hotspots. Here, timeless villages, tiny remote painted churches, stunning scenery, forested mountain trails and a way of life that has hardly changed over the past centuries, are just waiting to be discovered. The first part of this book provides general information on rural Cyprus, its history, traditions, cultures, flora and fauna, places of interest and more. The second half of the book, details 15 recommended driving excursions. All of the routes can be accomplished easily within a day’s drive in a regular car, yet all have something different to offer. The routes highlight points-of-interest along the way and all start and finish on one of the main roads. These routes are also ideal for organised group tours with small buses. The routes include places to stop for walking, cycling, bird watching, fresh-water fishing or to simply explore the countryside and charming villages. All that’s needed is a good road map, a sunhat, plenty of water, comfortable walking shoes and a spirit of adventure. NOTE: The spellings of all place-names conform to those indicated on the road signs. However, in some cases, these may vary from those shown on your road map. Contents Useful Information 3 Welcome to Rural Cyprus 4 Natural Environment 8 Cultural Heritage 12 Rural Crafts and Skills 18 Food and Wine 22 Rural Accommodation 28 Countryside Activities 32 Religious and Local Customs and Celebrations 38 The Rural Year in Cyprus 44 Route 1 – The Southeast Area 52 (Kokkinochoria – Red Soil Villages) Route 2 – The Central Plain 60 Route 3 – Larnaka West Coast 64 Route 4 – Lefkara Area 70 Route 5 – Machairas and the Southwest 76 Route 6 – Lemesos (Limassol) Forest 82 Route 7 – Lemesos (Limassol) West Coast 86 Route 8 – The Wine Villages 92 Route 9 – Troodos and the Solea Valley 98 Route 10 – Troodos and the Marathasa Valley 104 Route 11 – The Pitsilia and Southwest Mesaoria 110 Route 12 – The Pafos Valleys 116 Route 13 – Pafos and the Akamas 120 Route 14 – Polis, Kato Pyrgos and Kykkos 126 Route 15 – Pafos Forest 132 infoUseful Remember the country code ñ Avoid the temptation to pick wildflowers and take a photograph instead. This way you protect the plant and still have an enduring reminder of its beauty. ñ Avoid disturbing natural habitats and nesting birds. ñ Take your litter with you. ñ Do not light fires, except at designated picnic sites, Always be particularly careful about extinguishing cigarettes. Learn Greek: English is widely spoken in Cyprus. However, it is always an advantage to know a few key words of Greek – you may find them very useful and you will certainly impress the local people. Hello & goodbye: YIASSOU (plural is YIASSAS) Please: PARAKALO Thank you: EFKHARISTO Yes: NAI No: OCHI Road: DROMOS Left: ARISTERA Right: DHEXIA Straight on: ISHIA Where is? POU INE Up (over or above): PANO Down (below or lower): KATO Slowly: SIGA-SIGA Today: SIMERA Tomorrow: AVRIO Water: NERO Car: AFTOKINITO Petrol: BEZINA (local dialect) Mechanic: MICHANIKOS Telephone: TILEFONO Doctor: YIATROS Police: ASTYNOMIA Pharmacy: FARMAKIO Cyprus Coffee: KAFE - gliko (sweet), metrio (medium), sketo (no sugar). Dress Code: Always dress respectfully when visiting churches and monasteries. welcome to Rural Cyprus Cyprus enjoys an enviable worldwide reputation as a sun and sea holiday destination, with year-round sunshine, blue skies and warm waters. However, this fascinating island has much more to offer. Away from the tourist areas, the Cyprus countryside has a diverse wealth of its own with traditional villages, vineyards and wineries, tiny fresco-painted churches, remote monasteries and cool shady forests. This is a nature-lovers paradise, where you can walk for hours without seeing another living soul. In springtime, fields of flowers stretch as far as the eye can see, and a ramble along a mountain path will suddenly reveal a tiny chapel or a Venetian-built bridge that once formed part of the route of an ancient camel train. Around every corner is another surprise; a magnificent view; a rare sighting of the Cyprus moufflon as it scampers up an almost vertical slope; or a chance encounter with someone who will surprise you with his or her knowledge of your language and an invitation to join the family for a coffee or refreshment. 4 The island of Cyprus may be small but it has literally hundreds of villages, many of which are no more that a handful of houses clustered around a church, and a coffee-shop that also serves as the village store, post office and general meeting place. In the more remote parts of the island, these villages have remained virtually unchanged and although motorised transport has made them more accessible, their older inhabitants still cling to the traditional lifestyle which basically revolves around the seasons of planting and harvesting. For some of these people, the donkey is still the preferred mode of transport and these faithful animals can still be seen making their way home from the fields, laden with firewood or green forage for the family goats. Even in the larger villages, traditional values are still very much in evidence. Here, maybe the village shepherd carries a mobile phone and the farmer drives to his fields in a double-cabin pick-up truck but this is merely a sign of the times – a veneer that, when scratched, will expose the true character of the village people - family-orientated, warm-hearted, friendly and unbelievably hospitable. 5 The main activity in rural Cyprus is arable Autumn is also the time to harvest the and livestock farming. What is grown olives. As in most other Mediterranean where depends on the area, the terrain and countries, the olive plays a significant role the climate. But the island’s range of in the lives of the people. Every part of the produce is amazing. Just about anything will tree is important: the deadwood is used to grow here, from tropical fruits such as stoke the winter stoves; the fruit is either mangoes, kiwis and bananas to produce preserved in brine, or crushed for its more associated with that from northern precious oil. Even the leaves are dried, climates. On the island’s south facing blessed and burnt as aromatic incense slopes, especially in the western part of the during church services. Olive trees grow all over the island, except high up in the mountains, where they are unable to survive the harsher winters. Almost all villagers in the remote areas own at least a small plot of land on which they grow their own vegetables, such as tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers and aubergines, as well as pulse vegetables that can be dried and stored for the winter months. They raise chickens for eggs and meat, and many also keep a few goats, which provide them with enough milk to make their own yoghourt and cheeses, including Cyprus’ famous Halloumi cheese. Sea fishing is also an important rural activity and fishing shelters are dotted around the coast. Visit them early in the morning, to watch the fishermen bring in the catch of the day. island, are the vineyards. Cyprus is famous Mining the island’s rich mineral deposits for its fine wines and a visit to one of the of copper, asbestos, chromium, pyrites and many wineries is a great way to spend umber used to be a lucrative part of the a day. The grapes are harvested during rural economy but its importance has autumn, when entire families, from declined as the mines gradually become grandparents to the youngest toddlers, worked out. work together in their vineyards to bring in the crop. 6 Away from the cultivated land, there is an The Cyprus hinterland is a great place for abundant ecosystem of flora and fauna with botanists, artists, bird watchers, hikers, many endemic species. In spring, ramblers, anglers, cyclists, photographers the island is carpeted with wild flowers and geologists. and orchids. Cyprus is on one of the The greatest wealth of any country is its north-south migratory paths and during people and whatever your interest or spring and autumn millions of birds either wherever you travel in Cyprus you can over-fly the island or break their long always be sure of receiving the warmest journey here. During winter, the Larnaka of welcomes. and Akrotiri salt lakes are an extraordinary sight with thousands of pink flamingos wading in the shallow waters. The moufflon, an indigenous wild sheep, roams the forested slopes of the Troodos range, and both Green and Loggerhead turtles breed on the island’s more secluded beaches. The cultural landscape of the rural areas is rich and varied, with archaeological sites, monasteries, museums and churches, while traditional crafts such as basket- making, pottery, weaving, wood carving, and lace-making are still maintained in many villages. 7 natural Environment Geology The island of Cyprus was formed around seventy million years ago by the collision of the Euro-asian and African tectonic plates. By the Lower Miocene era, some twenty-five million years ago, the Troodos mountain range was an island and the Mesaoria (central plain) and Pantadactylos range to the north were submerged under the sea (evidence of this can be found in several areas, where fossilised seashells can be clearly seen embedded in the rocks). The Pentadactylos Mountains began to emerge eleven million years ago at the end of the Miocene era, but the Mesaoria appeared much later, during the Pleistocene Age, a million years ago. Today, the Troodos massif, a bulky range with the 1951m Mount Olympus (Chionistra) at its peak, dominates the south of the island.