Church of Archangelos Michael and Church of Stavros
Plan this ride
Recorded distance
117 km
Riding-time estimate
2 h 41
Journey
Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis
Ordered leg totals agree within rounding. Stop distances are approximate sums of rounded legs. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
A 117 km round trip from Kakopetriá - roughly 2 h 41 in the saddle. The stops in between: Church of Timios Stavros, Church of Stavros and back through Church of Timios Stavros. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 800 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Church of Archangelos Michael
From the outside, the church of the Archangel Michael at Pedoulas looks like a barn, with a steep wooden roof covered in flat tiles coming almost to the ground. Inside, its walls are covered with frescoes painted in 1474 by a local artist named Minas, with bright colours and lively scenes from the life of Christ and the saints, and the archangel himself presiding over the door. It is one of the painted churches in the Troodos region listed by UNESCO, a group of small Byzantine churches and monasteries whose humble exteriors hide some of the richest interiors in the Eastern Christian world.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Church of Archangelos Michael is where the day begins. Next is Church of Timios Stavros.
2. Church of Timios Stavros
The painted churches of the Troodos mountains look plain from outside. Squat stone boxes with steep timber roofs, built that way to shed the snow, they hide inside some of the finest Byzantine frescoes in the Mediterranean, and nine of them were listed by UNESCO in 1985, with a tenth added later. The Church of Timios Stavros, the Holy Cross, at Pelendri, is one of the group, with frescoes from the fourteenth century that show scenes of the life of Christ, in the dark blues and ochres of the period, and an interior lit by only a little daylight so that the figures seem to glow.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Church of Timios Stavros comes up about 31 km into the recorded legs. Next is Church of Stavros.
3. Church of Stavros
High in the Troodos mountains of Cyprus, in a quiet valley below the village of Platanistasa, stands a small church with a steep, pitched timber roof that comes almost to the ground, making it look more like a barn than a place of worship. This is Stavros tou Agiasmati, the Church of the Holy Cross, and inside it holds some of the finest late Byzantine frescoes on the island, painted in 1494 by Philip Goul, an artist whose name is recorded in a dedicatory inscription. The scenes from the life of Christ and the legend of the True Cross, rich in colour and detail, cover every wall. The church is one of ten painted churches in the Troodos region listed by UNESCO.