Kykkos Monastery, Pedoulas, Kakopetria, Old Church and a Hike

5/30/2024

We have a variety of sights and to-do's today, let's get started!

This is some twisty mountain driving - but it's all fairly close together.

First off - Kykkos Monastery...

"The Holy Monastery of the Virgin of Kykkos was founded around the end of the 11th century by the Byzantine emperor Alexios I Komnenos (1081–1118). The monastery lies at an altitude of 1318 meters (4325 feet) on the northwest face of the Troödos Mountains. There are no remains of the original monastery as it was burned down many times. "

"Throughout the centuries locals have revered the icon of the Virgin Mary and have attributed miracles to its presence. In 1760 a success in the struggle against locust devastation, a frequent problem of the time, was believed to be the work of the icon. The icon has also served as a template for other paintings depicting the Madonna in eastern Orthodoxy. The icon is never viewed, and its top half remains hidden behind a protective covering as legend has it whoever looks at it will be blinded. The last person to have seen the icon is the Pope and Patriarch of Alexandria Gerasimos, in 1669. The icon is rarely uncovered, although this happens on occasion. In recent years there had been a drought affecting Cyprus, in response to which the fathers took the icon to a throne, and read special supplications for rain, while looking away from the uncovered icon."

In the gift store, curiously we didn't have to exit through it (it's behind Gerri in below photo), is a copy of the icon, your's for only $14,000 - we stick with what we usually take away - the photos and the memories.

Here, just outside the monastery front door, we take away ice cream in our bellies...

Let's check out Pedoulas, here in a valley at 3,600 ft - the city name translates to "valley people".

We move on to Kakopetria sitting at 2200 feet, and find another waterfall in the middle of town...

Nearby we find Agios Nikolaos Tis Stegis...

"The 'Church of St. Nicholas of the Roof' is part of an 11th-century Byzantine monastery that flourished in Kakopetria. The church is the only surviving Middle Byzantine katholikon (monastery church) in Cyprus during the 11th century and is not mentioned until the 13th century in surviving texts. St. Nicholas of the Roof prospered from the Middle Byzantine era until the beginning of Frankish rule, around the 12th century. During Frankish rule the church remained open, but served as a small village church and a pilgrimage site. The church is one of the ten 'Painted Churches in the Troödos Region', which were inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1985 because of their outstanding frescoes and testimony to the history of Byzantine rule in Cyprus."