4th Day: Omodos, Troodos Mountain & Kykkos Monastery

Today culture, hiking, some education and food are on the to-do list. A bit exhausting but we have time for a relaxed trip.

But we had to refuel for the first time. This box turned out to be complicated. It took a while.

Gas-Station

After 20 minutes it went to...

Omodos

Omodos is known for its wine and fruit growing. We found it very beautiful and harmonious. A great place to start the day early.

Nice Alleys

You can take a nice walk. In some places time has probably stood still.

In the Linos House you can see devices for making wine that are currently no longer in use. A very nice thing.

Linos House

We had a very, very good cake in a café in the village. Amazing! The espresso as well!

Village Café

Well strengthened, we briefly visited the Monastery Timiou Stavrou. You had to wear a Habit. Underneath it was very warm with our backpacks, which we carried underneath. Good to see at Amanda.

Monastery Timiou Stavrou

Omodos from the Top

In the Troodos Mountains, (Paphos Forest).

Viewpoint

A really great mountain range but the same tree species is always found everywhere and on a large area. Perfect for hiking...

Here there is the so-called Cedar Valley, through which we will drive later.

We found great natural formations. The hike is worthwhile here...the quiet nature is good for you.

Hiking criss-cross

Echium / Mushroom

Natural formation

A small creek...

Creek

Alex tests his new boots...

Hiking

There are a few Viewpoints on the way to the Kykkos Monastery. Here is one of them.

Viewpoint, near Kykkos

There was a path in there and we found dead bees.

Bee colony

Kykkos Monastery

The painting and mosaic were really impressive. You should definitely see that.

U also had to wear a Habit here. The temperatures in the Monastery were better.

Alex in a Habit

Normally men are supposed to wear long pants, but someone from the Monastery gave me this Habit...seemed okay.

For the return trip we wanted to go through the Cedar valley and see how it is, as it was recommended. It should be a very, very curvaceous route.

The drive was mostly downhill. In the beginning it was really nice, the sun fell beautifully in the valley, you could hear nature sounds but at some point we got sick. The journey took a while and you could almost always see only cedar trees, as if everything was going to repeat itself. Over and over again, plus the many curves...like an endless loop. There are 40,000 Cyprus Cedars (Cedrus brevifolia) here. At that time they were used to build ships and houses.

We had to stop on the way to stabilize ourselves a bit and took a few pictures.

Cedar Valley

The route was about 45 minutes. But it seemed much longer to us. And we also had to go back home from Cedar valley.

After such a beautiful day and a bit stressed from the return trip, we looked for a restaurant on the pier. They say you shouldn't take the first one straight away, but we were tired and hungry. So we sat down in the first restaurant on the coast, with a view of the sea. And we ordered Meze, a typical cypriot meal. Meze is a variety of small portions of typical cypriot dishes. A little bit of an insight into the diversity....similar to the Tapas in Spain.

But what we were served as Meze was not worth a picture. We complained about it and told them what a Meze should look like. We only paid for our drinks and we were apologized.

There were really only 3 bowls for both of us...Meze is much more!

So always be careful!