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Troodos and the Solea Valley тЂ“ Cyprus

Saittas is a settlement built around a government-run experimental fruit nursery. Its setting among tall pines on the left bank of the Kouris River attracts many visitors and there is rural acommadition at a small hotel. The houses in tiny Filagra are now mainly summer homes. You can take a detour off this road to Mesa Potamos, where there is a delightful monastery and waterfalls. Back on the main road, on your left at Kato Amiantos are some unusual old dwellings with overhanging balconies. Near the top of the steep gradient, mavrahero, wild lentils colour the hillsides mauve is spring. Stay on the B9 at the crossroads and follow the signs for Kakopetria. Karvounas is the saddle between Troodos and the Madari range and the watershed between the Kouris and Kargotis rivers. The terrain now changes to immense pines. As you go down, a hundred metres after the turning to Platania picnic site, there is a moufflon reserve on the right. Further down the road are several trout farms, some with their own restaurants. Go left at the sign for Agios Nikolaos tis Stegis and contunie to the church. St. Nicholas of the Roof, built and painted in the early 11th century, is one of the ten mountain churches on the UNESCO World Heritage List. A steeply pitched outer roof protects the original dome from rain and snow. Go back and go left at the sign for Kakopetria. Clinging go both banks of the Kargoris to your left as you enter, is the old village of stone and mudbrick houses with pitched roofs, many of them restored. Kakopetria is a holiday resort with banks, petrol station, hotels and restaurants, including a Vahkis scheme tavern. It was a silk producing centre and there around. As you leave on the road to Galata, there is a restored 18th century watermill to your left. Huge trees shade the square at Galata and nearby are fine examples of its distinctive terraced buildings with wooden balconies and staircases. Some of them have been restored and one is a Folk Art Museum. Across the river is the UNESCO World Heritage listed church of Panagia tis Poditou, an early 16th cent?ry building with its outer roof extending almost to the ground to cover the portico. The Solea villages run into each other and next up is Kaliana with its preserved hani, inn, with arches, mudbrick walls and sloping roof the 18th century buildings is a Folk Art Architectural site and you can see examples of pitharia wine jars and a traditional bread oven in the yard. Driving to Temvria, you continue through a metaphorical fruit salad. After apples, pears, plums and cherries, you now come to mespila, loquats, citrus and pomegranates among gardens awash with colour. Fresh herbs are an integral part of Cypriot cuisine, and many herbs sych as thyme and sage grow wild in the countryside. Because of the islandтЂ™s dry climate the herbs contain a higher than normal quantity of natural oils, which makes them very pungent. Follow the signs for Korakou, where figs and prickly pears are added to the fruit bowl. Go left at the fork and round the church; then go right at the street sign тЂ˜Eleftheria AvenueтЂ™. Follow this road until you came to an old watermill and ruined bridge opposite the signpost for Evrychou, then go left after first buildings, a modern olive mill, onto a cobbled road, which was part of the old camel road from Nicosia to Troodos. It ends at a railway station-the terminus of the old Cyprus Government Railway, completed in 1915 and which went from Famagusta, via Nicosia to Evrychou. Go back to the main road, go left and left again at the t-juncion. Evrychou is a large village where cotton used to grow. Today it is a regional centre and the seat of the Bishopric of Morfou, Fork right at the church, drive up to the B9 and go left at the signpost for Nicosia. As you drive north, the pines give way to olives and cereals and you can see Morfou Bay on your left. Go right onto the road to Koutrafas and follow the signs for Asinou Church. Kato Koutrafas, with its stone and mudbrick houses, is on the edge of the Mesaoria, central plain and the cornfields are parche

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