Adventures in Europe: Trodos Mountains, Cyprus

Our day trip to Lefkosia yesterday was rather spontaneous, but I had planned our drive for today weeks ago.

We started out heading north from Lefkara, doing some incredible switch-backing through the valleys and hills before the road more or less straightened and flattened out. We stopped to stretch our legs at a village called Episkopeio where there is a Russian church . . . 

. . . and a Romanian Orthodox church (entirely made of wood!).

Somehow this place is built like a tourist attraction and both churches are featured on the cyprusisland.net website. You can get a sense for the plaza in these videos: https://youtu.be/NzL82PUfme4 and https://youtu.be/stvk-Rk1x3Y.

Soon after we entered the Troodos park area, there was a pullout for a view of this lake. The scene gives you a sense of the landscape we were driving through.

Besides the mountains and the beautiful nature, the Troodos Mountains are famous for old, Byzantine-era monasteries and churches, ten of which are on the UNESCO World Heritage List. We visited the Monastery of the Virgin Mary of Arakas. There is a wooden superstructure now surrounding the old stone building, which makes for a unique look. 

You can see how the wood wall is lattice and covers the dome as well. 

This side does not have the wooden wall protecting it. 

Anyway, the churches are not noteworthy for their exteriors, but the painted interiors. Unfortunately you cannot photograph these, but there are lots of photos online, including at this website: http://www.lagoudera.org/en/what-to-know-ten/moni-panagias-arakac-ten.html.

After visiting the monastery, we stopped for a coffee at a roadside cafe in a little place called Chandria, and then really headed up a mountain for a hike. 

The trail takes you along the edge of the mountain, with some great views of the valley below and mountains all around. 

We were surprised to encounter a lot of snow!

After 3.5 km of hiking you reach the foot of a fairly steep climb up to the Madari fire station.

Up here you have a 360 degree view.

You can take the fire station access road back down to the trailhead, which is a bit of a shortcut. In total the hike probably works out to five kilometres or so.

It was almost 13:30 now and we had worked up quite an appetite, so from the trailhead we drove 15 minutes to Agros, one of the larger villages in the area. We parked by the church and set out to find some lunch.

There were many restaurants and cafes here, but we had a frustrating ten minutes of walking along finding that places were either closed or packed to the gills on this Sunday afternoon. Agros is a nice place, but we did not feel very welcome and left hungry! Luckily, as we worked our way back to Lefkara, we came by a bakery/convenience store and were able to buy some snacks, including some wonderful baklava, to dull our hunger. We drove back a different way than we had come (hence the loop in the map above), and it was a gorgeous drive, too. Although I had been nervous about driving on the left, I am beginning to actually enjoy it.