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.
An 83 km round trip from Kyperoúnta - roughly 1 h 42 in the saddle. On the way it passes Church of Timios Stavros, Church of Panayia and back through Church of Timios Stavros. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
From the outside they look like barns: low stone buildings with steep pitched roofs of flat tiles, sometimes covered by a second wooden roof to keep off the snow. Inside, every surface glows with Byzantine and post-Byzantine frescoes. The painted churches of the Troodos mountains in Cyprus, nine of them inscribed in 1985 and a tenth added in 2001, form one of the richest collections of Byzantine painting anywhere.
Read the complete Painted Churches in the Troodos Region write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Painted Churches in the Troodos Region is where the day begins. Next is 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.
Read the complete Church of Timios Stavros write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Church of Timios Stavros comes up about 22 km into the recorded legs. Next is Church of Panayia.
The churches of the Troodos mountains look, from outside, like barns. In the high, cool country of the island's interior, where snow can fall in winter, builders covered their churches with a second, steeply pitched timber roof of tiles to protect the older domed buildings underneath, and the result is a plain, sturdy exterior that gives no hint of the paintings within. Inside, walls and ceilings are covered with Byzantine frescoes, some from the eleventh century and later, showing saints, angels and scenes of the life of Christ in rich, deep colours. Ten of these churches are listed by UNESCO.
Read the complete Church of Panayia write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 41 km into the recorded legs you reach Church of Panayia. Next is back through Church of Timios Stavros.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Church of Timios Stavros write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Church of Timios Stavros, late in the day. Next is Painted Churches in the Troodos Region.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Painted Churches in the Troodos Region write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Back at Painted Churches in the Troodos Region. That is the ride.
Painted Churches in the Troodos Region → Church of Timios Stavros is 22 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Church of Timios Stavros → Church of Panayia is 19 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Church of Panayia → back through Church of Timios Stavros is 19 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Church of Timios Stavros → Painted Churches in the Troodos Region is 22 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.