I am sharing with you a rather unusual route through the highlands of Cyprus. It is accessible from anywhere on the island, but it is most convenient to start from Limassol. All points can be traveled in one day on the B8 highway if you leave in the morning.
The abandoned village of Alassa (Άλασσα) and the Kouris Reservoir (Kouris)
The first stop is the village of Alassa on the shores of the Kouris Reservoir, the largest in Cyprus.
This place gives a very strange impression, it is as if time has stopped here. It is very quiet and peaceful, there are almost no tourists, and the water in the Kouris Reservoir seems frozen. The village was relocated here in the 1980s during the construction of the dam, and today only the ruins of St. Nicholas Church remind us of its existence.
In fact, the church was also moved, but, as it turned out, not high enough — in 2004 it was flooded by the overflowing reservoir. The water level in the reservoir varies: sometimes the church is almost completely submerged and only the top of the bell tower remains visible, and sometimes it is even possible to go inside.
A little higher up on the hill is a chapel commemorating a tragedy that occurred nearby in 2011 and claimed the lives of 13 Cypriot soldiers. It was a massive explosion at the naval base due to the detonation of several dozen ammunition containers. The chapel is always open to the public.
The village of Alassa is also very close to the reservoir and both churches. It is most convenient to get here by rented transportation, and from Limassol you can come by buses number 60, 61, 62, 63, 64. The journey will take 30—40 minutes.
Troodos Mountains
After stopping in Alassa, continue on the B8 highway north to the village of Platres. The journey by car will take about half an hour, by bus 64 a little longer: allow 40—50 minutes for the journey.
The route passes through a unique place — the Troodos mountain range, the largest mountain system in Cyprus. Tourists come here all year round for a variety of purposes, as recreation here includes hiking (there are several routes of different levels of difficulty), cycling and skiing, pilgrimage and visiting craft villages.
See the highest point of Cyprus — Mount Olympus (Olymbos is not the Olympus where the ancient Greek gods lived, «the one» is in Greece), linger at the waterfalls and visit a couple of villages along the way. And if you want to explore the local beauty in detail, you can stay here for a couple of days.
Two of the most famous waterfalls are Kaledonia and Millomeris. The first one, 13 meters high, is considered the most beautiful in Cyprus and the scenery around it is breathtaking. There are two ways to get here: the paths lead from the highway and the starting points are marked on the map at the beginning of this article. The closest is Psilo Dendro restaurant (Ψηλό Δεντρό) — 1 km.
The second waterfall, Millomeris, is the largest in Cyprus, with a height of 20 meters. The easiest way to reach it is from the church of Faneromeni (Εκκλησία της Φανερωμένης) in Pano Platres (Πάνω Πλάτρες) — you have to walk 1 km along a forest path.
If time permits, there are 9 churches and 1 monastery in the Troodos Mountains that are UNESCO World Heritage Sites — you can spend a whole day exploring. Information about each church, including visiting hours, can be found on the official website.
Kykkos Monastery (Ιερά Μονή Κύκκου)
The Kikka Monastery is worth a visit even if you’re pressed for time — it’s one of the main attractions of the whole island.
This active male monastery is the most famous and richest in Cyprus. In season, the parking lot is always crowded with tour buses and the interior is jam-packed with tourists. The place is legendary, so you should come here even if you don’t like crowded sights.
The monastery was founded during the reign of Byzantine Emperor Alexius I Comnenus (1081 — 1138). There is no more precise information about the time of its origin. But there is a curious legend.
The main characters are the emperor, his viceroy in Cyprus, Manuel Voutomitis, and a hermit named Isaiah, who lived in the cave of Mount Kykkos. It was there that the Viceroy came across Isaiah when he got lost while hunting. When asked for directions, Isaiah remained silent — he was busy praying. This angered Manuel, and he struck the hermit, for which he was punished by being paralyzed on his return home.
He begged God’s forgiveness and was healed, but he undertook to deliver from Constantinople to Cyprus an icon of the Virgin Mary painted by the Apostle Luke. Emperor Alexis I Komnenos did not want to give it away, but his daughter was also stricken with paralysis, and the icon had to be parted with — it was sent to Isaiah together with an order to build a monastery in the mountains.
The icon is still kept in the monastery church in the central part of the iconostasis and attracts a great number of pilgrims. However, it is impossible to see it — it is believed that those who see it will be blinded. It is closed from human eyes with a gold embroidered curtain, but there are many copies of the Kikka icon in the monastery. You can take a copy away with you: they are sold in the monastery shop.
Another interesting fact about the monastery: Archbishop Macarius, head of the Church of Cyprus and the first president of Cyprus, started his ecclesiastical career here in 1926. His tomb is only 2 km away from the monastery.
When visiting the monastery, you must dress according to standard rules — shoulders and knees must be covered. If you forgot about this and came here in shorts and a T-shirt — no problem, you will be given special purple robes at the entrance.
Getting to the monastery by public transportation is very laborious: you can get from Limassol to Nicosia, then take a bus to the nearest villages — Platres or Pedoulas, but after that you still have to take a cab. It is much more convenient to use rented transport or take an organized tour.
The grave of Archbishop Macarius
The tomb of Archbishop Macarius is very close to the monastery. It can be easily reached on foot or by rented car or cab. This legendary Cypriot man, elected in 1960 as the first president, was a novice at the Monastery of Kykkos from 1926 to 1932.
The mouflon sanctuary
If you’ve already traveled this far, you can’t miss the reserve where the Cypriot authorities have been saving the beautiful mouflon from extinction for decades. They were once abundant here, but were exterminated by colonist hunters. The moufflons in Cyprus are lucky, because at the beginning of the XX century there were only 15 animals on the island, and now their population has recovered to more than 3000 animals.
The mouflon is a wild ram with large, rounded sickle-shaped horns. A distinctive feature of the Cypriot mouflon is a dark spot along the entire neck and chest. They are very sensitive and cautious, so it is almost impossible to meet them in the wild, but in the reserve you will almost certainly see them. Its territory is very small — only about 500 square meters, and it is inhabited by 20—30 individuals.
In Cyprus, the moufflon is a national pride. It was for a long time depicted on the national currency, the Cypriot pound, which was replaced by the euro in 2008.
The mouflon reserve is located near the village of Stavros tis Psokas. Few tourists know about the reserve, so it is always quiet and peaceful. The reserve is not accessible by public transportation. You have to drive to the village, and there you will find a sign to the forest station, which is only 200 meters away.
Visiting the reserve is free of charge. It is best to come here in the cool season (fall-winter), when mufrons are active throughout the day. In summer, they are most likely to be seen in the morning or evening.
A trip through Mountain Cyprus is an occasion worth renting a car or a bike for. Even by car, the route will be long and quite tiring, and the most interesting and protected places cannot be reached by bus. The return trip to Limassol by car will take about 2.5 hours.
This trip will show the kind of Cyprus that the vast majority of tourists do not see, where tour groups do not reach: ancient churches, cozy mountain villages, amazing animals and thickets of green Mediterranean plants, which here look fresher than down at the hot cities and beaches.
Even if you come to Cyprus for its beach vacation, it is worth allocating at least one such day. The mountain air filled with the smell of pine forests, breathtaking scenery and ancient Christian shrines will be remembered for a long time.