Riding in Cyprus – Omodos…

Every road out in the country is clearly marked, which was a very good thing, as my GPS had no idea where the heck we were...!!

I mentioned before that for me, Cyprus was full of surprises…My rides here have been filled with great roads, amazing scenery, and made in perfect riding weather…!!

I had not intended visiting the island when I planned my original route through Europe, and had it not been for Willi’s persistent emails and sms’s, telling me how much I would enjoy a visit here, I would be working my way through the deserts of the Middle East right now…

I had very little time to do any research before arriving here and when I asked about info on Cyprus, all I ever heard was talk about the divisions between North and South…

Nothing was ever said about the natural beauty, or the great weather, or about the centuries of history that are part of the Cyprus I am coming to know…

When I look at the map of the island, its shape reminds me of a flying squirrel… Tail streaming out behind, (the Turkish held, Karpasia Peninsula) four distinct “legs” stretched out, two on either side, and the south central highlands of Troodos forming the “head”… Yeah…, you need a bit of imagination to see it, Dudes…!! Check the map below and see if you agree with me…!!

Riding the Red Route on the Flying Squirrel...!!

I set myself the rather ambitious target of riding up into the highlands to visit Mt. Olympus, and then cut across to Polis on the Bay of Crysochou in the far west, before turning for the long run east through Pafos, Limassol and back to Larnaca… (HQ…!!)

I figured that 450 odd km wasn’t too big a deal… What I did not count on, was having to ride long sections of the mountainous roads at speeds that seldom allowed me to touch the 50 km/h mark… It took me ten hours to cover my planned route, with two of those hours being “down time”, when I was off the bike, either visiting a monastery, or eating lunch, or just stopping to admire the beauty around me…

Every hillside is heavily terraced, the "flats" planted with vineyards and olive groves... I was told that some of the stone walls were centuries old...

I stopped to admire the Church of Amvrosius on the way up into the mountains of Troodos...

It was a great ride, and easily makes it into the “top-ten” of my rides thus far…

I made the ride alone, as Willi was not prepared to leave as early as I planned to, which was a later than usual, 8.30 am…!! At that time of the day, he is usually reading the morning news on his Blackberry, and thinking about what he might do for the remainder of the day…

In hindsight, if Willi had chosen to ride with me, I doubt whether we would have got to Polis on the far side of the island, by dark…!! His clock ticks to a different pace than mine, and he is too easily distracted by any eating establishment that we happen to pass…!! I don’t think the man has worms…. He has Anacondas…!!

As it was, I made the final two hours of my ride from Pafos to Larnaca in complete darkness, missing out on visiting two archeological sites that I had been intent on seeing…!!

Above the village of Omodos, I stopped to marvel at the neat little houses that were built on the slopes of the mountain range...

This plaque stands near the arched stone doorway leading into the courtyard of the monastery...

After riding along the motorway to Limassol, I turned north and headed up into the mountains… The twisting road climbed quickly up to over 1000 m.a.s.l. and then leveled off until we reached the village of Omodos… I stopped here to visit the Timios Stavros Monastery of the Holy Cross, which was built in 290 A.D.

Legend has it that a small wooden cross was discovered in a cave by inhabitants of the area, after a mysterious night-time fire had directed them to the spot…

A church was built above the cave, and later expanded to become the monastery that it is today… Although a large sign forbids the taking of photographs within the church, the monk on duty was busy entertaining a young child, who was bouncing up and down on his lap, and while he was thus indisposed, I took the opportunity to snap a few pics…

The interior of the chapel...

The small chapel is crammed with religious artifacts and icons… An ornately carved dais dominates the right hand side near the front of the church, and this more than anything attracted my attention… It was beautifully made, and made up of hundreds of pieces of interlocking walnut timber… It is known as the Throne of the Holy Cross, and serves as a crypt for the original cross found in the cave below the floors of the chapel…

Throne of the Holy Cross, ornately carved from solid Walnut...

Back at the bike, the Big Fella reminded me that we had covered almost 380 km since he last had a “drink”, so in the tiny village of Plano Platres, we stopped to refuel… He got what he wanted, while I settled for a toasted sandwich and two cups of coffee…!!

Parked outside a neat little little restaurant in Platres...

The young waiter was enthralled by the bike, and while I sat eating, he fired off question after question about the various extras I had attached to the Big Fella, and then came and sat opposite me to inquire where I had been, and where I was going… His eyes lit up when I handed him my card and told him that he could “read all about it” on my website and he finally left me in peace to enjoy the rest of my meal…!!

Any further questions...??

Sufficiently sated, the Big Fella and I headed for Mt. Olympus…

©GBWT 2010