CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
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.
231 km from Kakopetriá to Kakopetriá, about 4 h 55 of riding. It goes by way of Church of Stavros, Choirokoitia and back through Church of Stavros. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 800 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. The line favours views over speed.
The Troodos mountains rise in the middle of Cyprus, covered in black pine, oak and cedar, with the summit of Mount Olympus at 1,952 metres, which gets snow in winter and has a small ski area. Hidden in the villages of the range are ten small churches that UNESCO listed in 2001, because their walls hold one of the finest collections of Byzantine and post-Byzantine wall paintings in the world, dating from the eleventh to the sixteenth centuries. The label does not say which church this is, and there are several dedicated to Panayia, the Virgin, so I will describe the group, which is what makes any one of them special.
Read the complete Church of Panayia write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Church of Panayia is where the day begins. Next is 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.
Read the complete Church of Stavros write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Church of Stavros comes up about 50 km into the recorded legs. Next is 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.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 115 km into the recorded legs you reach Choirokoitia. Next is back through Church of Stavros.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Church of Stavros write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Church of Stavros, late in the day. Next is Church of Panayia.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Church of Panayia write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Back at Church of Panayia. That is the ride.
Church of Panayia → Church of Stavros is 50 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Church of Stavros → Choirokoitia is 65 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Choirokoitia → back through Church of Stavros is 65 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Church of Stavros → Church of Panayia is 50 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.