Cyprus 2002


Heretics:	'Where can we find a church?' we ask. 'What sort - Orthodox or Heretic?' 'Heretic please!' - in Cyprus there is only one option for a place of worship: in the south, it is an Orthodox church, in the north, a Moslem mosque.
Paphos

Paphos is a sleepy tourist port originally named Kitthim, and the capital of Cyprus for many years. According to tradition, it was named after Noah's great grandson who landed here (see Gen 10:4).
Right: 'Saint Pauls Pillar' in Paphos (see Acts 13). The stone stands on the site of a Roman ruin with impressive mosaic floors. On part of the site a church has been built to honour Eric the Good, a Danish King who died there while making a pilgrimage. Below: You don't see too many of these in England.		.

Nicosia - capital of Cyprus. (that's what it used to be called - now the name has changed to Lefkosia).
Right: The view from the roof of Woolworth's store: The mountains in the distance are bedecked with an enormous mural of the Turkish flag. It is decision time for Cyprus - EU membership is in the offing and Turkey is anxious to solve the Cyprus issue - the island was split in two by its invasion of the north in 1974. Now only Turkey recognises the economically limp northern enclave which its army still occupies. The UN monitors the border - the 'Green Line', separating and completely dividing Greeks from Turks. As with the Germanys' that once straddled the iron curtain, it is impossible that a unified Cyprus will not be dominated by the superior economic clout of the Greek south.
Left: On the Green Line, the demarcation border between Greek and Turkish Cyprus that runs through the middle of the city of Lefkosia. Here, a barricade blocks a street (beyond is the UN buffer zone and then the Turkish line). You can peer over at the sandbags and abandoned properties imprisoned in 'no-mans land'. A Greek soldier mans the post in the striped box at the left. Note the menacing inscription: 'Nothing is gained without sacrifices and freedom without blood.'
In Omodhos, we sip tea at a bar along the cobbled street. It is an ancient hill village with one overwhelming focal point - the orthodox church, a veritable palace. The priest sits at another bar while visitors file in and out of his majestic church, the repository of many fine treasures, including the skull of Saint Stephen (!!) - in a cabinet display (no photos allowed).
Near Troodos we visit Mount Olympus - 1,900 metres (that's 6,600 feet in old money). The top is bedecked with an RAF radar station, again no photos allowed.
The Cyprus brochure mentioned the village of Kakopetria as a place of interest in the Troodos mountains. We parked the car and were walking through the tiny streets when suddenly, up a steep side alley I see something I remember - a place I had been to before - several times in 1991 somebody had taken Karen and I to this unique multi-storey timber restaurant set into the side of a hill. It was like stumbling on a vision from a half-light dream. 'The Old Mill' at Kakopetria. I never knew the name, never knew how to get there, didn't know I remembered it until I saw it again!
The Old Mill at Kakopetria
Before, the driveway was un-surfaced and the wooden walk-way across the river had not been completed....
We cross the little timber bridge and climb up the other side into the town beyond. It is a Hansel and Gretel hamlet, with streets just wide enough for a car. Hidden away in the labyrinth of Lilliputian cottages and shops we come across 'Serenity' - a bar café-cum-boarding lodge-cum-tourist haberdashery shop, run by Andreas, who is 64 and has lived in Kakopetria all his life. Rooms are CY£15 per night and like everything in Kakopetria the building climbs up the side of a hill.
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