Spreading in an arc north of Lemesos, the Troodos foothills offer an opportunity to get away from the brashness and heat of the city and the coast. This is open countryside that rises in a series of ridges towards the heights of the Troodos massif, dotted with hill villages that have supported themselves over the centuries by cultivating citrus fruits, olives and above all wine. The southward-facing slopes provide the perfect terroir for growing grapes (particularly indigenous Mavro and Xynisteri as well as imported Grenache and Cabernet Sauvignon varieties), something they’ve been doing in this area for over five thousand years.
It’s not easy to explore the foothills of Lemesos District in any systematic way. One approach would be to follow the wine routes organized by the Cyprus Tourism Organisation and contained in a useful free guidebook available from tourist centres and participating wineries.
Another approach might be to cluster the villages to be visited into geographical groups – the ones sometimes called the “Krassochoria” (Wine Villages) to the west, the group in the centre, once ruled by the Hospitallers in Kolossi and known collectively as the Koumandaria, and the villages to the east marketed, rather hopefully, by the tourist authorities as “the Cypriot Tuscany”. Or you can, of course, simply meander through the region, going where the spirit takes you. Do, though, stick to the main roads, even though this can mean a lot of doubling back – what on the map may look like a tempting short-cut between villages could turn out to be a rutted dirt road for which you’ll need a 4WD.
Omodos
OMODOS is the epitome of the Troodos foothills wine village. That’s why it attracts so many visitors and that’s why it’s lambasted for being too touristy. Don’t listen to the critics – if you’ve only got time for one village, make it this one. Surrounded by vineyards, Omodos is laid out around a large pedestrianized cobbled square which slopes gently down to Timiou Stavrou (Holy Cross) Monastery. Around the square is a bunch of souvenir shops, together with a good range of tavernas/café-bars: check out the Village Inn, for example. There’s a massive old wine press near the square, dating from the Lusignan period, while 1km north is the Ktima Gerolemo winery, which offers winery tours and wine tasting (25422122), as well as a gift shop. In addition to wine, Omodos also makes zivania, an explosive spirit, together with a number of sweets made from wine must.
Outside the entrance to Timiou Stavrou (Holy Cross) Monastery, a statue commemorates a past abbot, Dositheos, who was one of 486 Greek Cypriots beheaded or hanged in Nicosia by the Turkish authorities on July 10, 1821 during the Greek War of Independence. Inside, what was the monastery church now acts as the parish church, while several of the rooms and outbuildings have been colonized by the Struggle Museum, which has lots of memorabilia of the EOKA campaign against the British. Other areas of the monastery host an Icon Museum, which not only includes icons, but also decorative woodcarving (look up at the ceiling for a wonderful example), and an Ecclesiastical Museum. The museums give an interesting taste of how the village sees itself.
The Wine Routes
The Cyprus Tourist Organisation’s excellent guide to wine routes in Pafos and Lemesos Districts is a must for any oenophiles visiting Cyprus. Six routes are described, three in Pafos District, three in Lemesos District. The routes are also clearly signposted on the ground with signs that are, appropriately, a Burgundy colour. Each route includes a summary of the climate, terrain, vineyards and grape varieties to be experienced, a detailed description of the roads to be travelled and the villages to be visited, and a list of wineries and tavernas to be found along the way, together with a lot of advice on the storage and drinking of wine. The Lemesos District is covered by Route 4 (the Krassochoria), Route 5 (Koumandaria) and Route 6 (Pitsilia).
West of Lemesos
To the west of Lemesos city centre lie three fine attractions: the greatest Greco-Roman site on the island at Kourion, the best-preserved Crusader castle at Kolossi, and a fine private Wine Museum at Erimi. All are a short drive from each other and from the centre of Lemesos. Beyond them are meandering lanes and some surprisingly uncrowded beaches – the British base at Akrotiri stopped the westward spread of the city – and the stylish resort of Pissouri Bay.
Ancient Kourion
The Kourion complex of archeological sites (including the Sanctuary of Apollo) is blessed with both archeological significance and a spectacular location. Sitting high on a hill overlooking the deep blue of the Mediterranean, its tumble of ochre columns and walls, its theatre set like a fossilized shell into the hillside, its paved roads and mosaic floors are both spectacular and well-preserved, offering a portal through which we can glimpse life as it was lived two thousand years ago. Settlement in the area goes back to Neolithic times, with the city of Kourion itself being established during the Mycenean and Dorian invasions of Cyprus from about 1200 BC. Nearly all of what you can see today, though, is of Roman origin, revealed by excavations from the 1930s onwards by a series of American teams, and from 1964 by the Cypriot Department of Antiquities.
After passing through the main entrance, visit the pavilion area which houses a relief model of the whole site as well as a small cafeteria and toilets. Immediately in front of the pavilion are two of the gems of the site. The House of Estolios, sitting under its elegant timber protective roof, gives a good idea of the sort of luxury enjoyed by a rich Roman of the fourth or fifth century AD, with its numerous rooms, courtyards, bath complex and intricate mosaic floors of fish, birds, and one of a young woman holding a measuring rod, with the word “Ktisis” (“Creation”) above it. Inscriptions tell us not only the house-owner’s name, but also the fact that he was a Christian. One inscription, at the entrance, charmingly welcomes the visitor: “Enter to thy good fortune and may thy coming bless this house”. Next to the house sits Kourion’s famous theatre, first erected in the second century BC, but rebuilt by the Romans in the second-century AD. Seating 3500 spectators, it is still used today for cultural events.
A short walk to the northwest lies the Roman Agora (marketplace) and public baths, and beyond them the House of the Gladiators, a third-century AD structure so-called because of its vivid mosaics of gladiatorial combat, and the House of Achilles, a fourth-century AD Roman villa named, again, for a mosaic showing the revealing of Achilles’ true identity by Odysseus in the court of the king Lycomedes at Skyros. These are the highlights of the site, though in among them are subsequent remains of early Christian origin. There are also fine views of the forbidding eroded terrain to the north and across fields and stables to the beach and the sea to the south.
George H. McFadden
Something of a real-life Indiana Jones, George H. McFadden was a graduate of Princeton University (class of 1930) who became the leading light in the excavation of the Kourion archeological site. In charge of a University of Pennsylvania excavation team, he was working on the site off and on for nearly twenty years from 1933, wintering on site and returning to America for the summer. Work stopped when the US entered World War II in 1941 and resumed in 1948. Though some doubts have been cast on the rigour of his methodology, his work certainly drew attention to the importance of the site, and paved the way for further work by the Cypriot Department of Antiquities from 1964. McFadden is still revered in the area, and his death by drowning at the age of 46 in a sailing accident on April 19, 1953 is regarded as a great tragedy. As the framed eulogy in the Museum rather floridly put it, “It was fitting that he should find his end in the Greek and briny sea whence came the goddess of beauty herself to his beloved island – Cyprus”.
The Cyprus Wine Museum
Based in an attractive traditional house in the village of Erini, some 10km west of Lemesos centre, the excellent Cyprus Wine Museum provides the lowdown on over five thousand years of wine production on the island, as well as, of course, the opportunity to sample a few vintages. With almost divine appropriateness, shortly after the museum was opened in 2004 wine flasks were discovered close to Erini village and dated to around 3500 BC, among the earliest evidence of wine production in Europe. Divided broadly into the past (upstairs) and present (downstairs), you’ll find lots of information on these discoveries and the evolution of the famous Commandaria sweet white wine under the Knights Templar. There's a range of good-quality wine-related merchandise for sale, effective use is made of quotations from ancient writers and depictions in ancient mosaics, there are photographs and tableaux, an interesting audiovisual presentation and a useful pictorial wall map of the vineyards of Lemesos and Pafos districts.
A recent development – the Commandaria Orchestra (and friends) – is based at the museum, which plays a variety of classical, Greek and Cypriot music all over the region. It’s worth noting that the museum might open a few minutes late on a Sunday morning – it depends on the length of the service at the local church, at which the museum curator (and son of the owner) is a chanter.
Kolossi Castle
Eleven kilometres west of Lemesos, at the southern edge of the village of the same name, is Kolossi Castle a great brutalist lump of Crusader military architecture, impressive in both its dimensions and its state of preservation. Originally built by the Knights Hospitaller in 1210 AD on land granted to them by the Lusignans, it became far more important after 1291 when, following their retreat from the Holy Land, the Hospitallers made Kolossi their military headquarters. It fell into the hands of their rivals the Knights Templar in 1306, but was returned to the Hospitallers six years later when the Templar order was dissolved. Although the Hospitallers subsequently moved their main operation to Rhodes, Kolossi Castle remained their command centre in Cyprus, controlling more than forty villages in the region (still called “the Koumandaria”). In 1426 the castle was destroyed in a Mameluke attack, then rebuilt in its present form by Louis de Magnac in around 1454 – his coat of arms can be seen, together with those of Jerusalem, Cyprus and Armenia, in a recessed cross on the eastern external wall of the castle.
The castle follows the classic medieval design of a square keep. The sides are 16m long on the outside, 13.5m on the inside, and 21m tall. Accommodation inside is on three floors, and the views from the crenelated roof are worth the climb up the steep spiral steps.
As interesting as the castle itself are the ruins in its grounds. The main building, which looks for all the world like a church, is actually a sugar factory, and although there is no access for visitors, the aqueduct which brought water to the cane-crushing mill can clearly be seen. The millstone is still in situ. In 1488 the sugar factory was transferred from the Hospitallers to the Venetians, following their takeover of the island, and production continued into the seventeenth century, when competition with the West Indies finally brought Cypriot sugar production to an end.
Top image: Achilles' House Kourio Basilica at The Sanctuary of Apollo at the Kourion World Heritage Archaeological site near Limassol (Lemesos), Cyprus © Georgios Tsichlis/Shutterstock