Church of Panayia and Aphrodite's Sanctuary at Kouklia village starting at Kyperoúnta

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. Church of Panayia

   Cyprus has a church for every season, and the finest are hidden in the folds of the Troodos mountains. These small, plain stone chapels, with steep timber roofs that stretch over the older walls like a wide-brimmed hat to shed the winter snow, hide inside a world of colour: Byzantine frescoes, painted from the eleventh century to the sixteenth, of saints with huge dark eyes, scenes from the Gospels and the Virgin enthroned. A group of these painted churches in the Troodos region was listed as a World Heritage property in 1985. The Panayia, the Virgin, is the dedication of many of them, and the stop on this ride is among the foothills on the northern side of the range.

   Read the complete Church of Panayia write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Church of Panayia is where the day begins. Next is Choirokoitia.

2. 2. Choirokoitia

   Long before the Greeks, the Phoenicians or the Romans arrived in Cyprus, people lived on a hillside above the Maroni river in the southern part of the island, in round stone houses with flat roofs, packed close together inside a defensive wall. Choirokoitia is a Neolithic settlement dating back to around the seventh millennium BC, one of the most important prehistoric sites in the eastern Mediterranean. The inhabitants farmed, herded animals and buried their dead under the floors of their houses. Several of the round houses have been reconstructed near the entrance, giving a vivid sense of how they lived. The site received UNESCO recognition in 1998.

   Read the complete Choirokoitia write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Choirokoitia comes up about 64 km into the recorded legs. Next is Aphrodite's Sanctuary at Kouklia village.

3. 3. Aphrodite's Sanctuary at Kouklia village

   According to the Greeks, Aphrodite rose from the sea foam off the coast of Cyprus, and the place where she came ashore was near Paphos. The rock of Petra tou Romiou, a sea stack a few kilometres east of Kouklia, is the traditional spot, and the sanctuary on the hill above, at Palaepaphos, was one of the most important shrines of the ancient world. People came on pilgrimage from across the Mediterranean from the Bronze Age to late antiquity, and the cult went back to a Near Eastern fertility goddess long before the Greeks arrived, with the goddess worshipped in the form of a cone-shaped black stone.

   Read the complete Aphrodite's Sanctuary at Kouklia village write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   about 149 km into the recorded legs you reach Aphrodite's Sanctuary at Kouklia village. Next is back through Choirokoitia.

4. 4. back through Choirokoitia

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Choirokoitia write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   back through Choirokoitia, late in the day. Next is Church of Panayia.

5. 5. Church of Panayia

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Church of Panayia write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Back at Church of Panayia. That is the ride.