Riding in Cyprus – Kalavasos and Kolossi Castle

Entry to the stone-age site east of Limassol...

For the first time since I arrived in Cyprus, clouds scudded in from across the Mediterranean and enveloped the entire Island… I had a feeling that the good weather would not last, and had been told by the locals that it is usually much colder at this time of year than it had been for the past few weeks…

There was however no threat of rain, so I decided to ride to the west of Limassol and check out a few of the archeological sites that are located there… Willi had a few last minutes things to do before his flight out to Amsterdam, which included a final visit to Panni’s workshop to drop off the last of the gear that he wanted to sell… Leaving him to his own devices, I took off down the motorway…

My first stop was at the Neolithic site of Kalavasos Tenta… It lies on the northern side of the motorway, midway between Larnaca and Limassol… The remains of a small hilltop village, dating back to about 7000 B.C., were discovered here in the 1940’s, and excavations continued right up until 1984. Stone age tools and other artifacts, as well as the burial chambers of the clan helped decipher the mysteries surrounding the people who once lived here…

Concentric circular dwellings were built to house the inhabitants and store the crops that they grew...

Under this massive tent-like structure, a walkway was erected so that visitors can look down onto the dwellings that hosed the settlement of Kalavasos...

It is believed that no more than about 150 souls lived here at any one time, and comprised of small family units, who grew wheat, barley and lentils in nearby fields, and kept sheep goats and pigs…

There is another similar site east of Agia Napa, also located on the banks of a long gone river, and close to the sea…

What is unclear to me, is how these people came to be on the island in the first place… It is safe to assume, that despite the age of their ailing fleet, the Turkish ferries were not in service at that time…!!

I could not find any further information to satisfy my curiosity on this particular point, but knowing that Cyprus was born as a result of volcanic activity, and that the area was prone to earthquakes in centuries gone by, I must conclude that at some point, the ancients walked across to present day Cyprus, and then, late one Thursday afternoon, after a particularly “good vibration”, found themselves surrounded by water…!!

In order to protect the mud-brick dwellings from the elements, the present tent-like structure was built over the site in 1995.

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Who could have thought up a name like this...??

Back on the highway, I noticed a sign high up on a hilltop that had me wondering about the people who had been given the task of naming places… In this case it was one of the areas that fell under the auspices of the Forestry Department…

The area was called the Missing Persons Forest… How original is that, and what the hell has it got to do with forests…?? Was it just a co-incidence that at one time or another, all missing people were eventually found there…?? Were the trees themselves somehow involved in the conspiracy…??

“Officer, my husband went out to sea in a pea green boat last week, and has not returned since…!! I’ve searched everywhere and cannot find him…!!”

“Have you checked the Missing Persons Forest, madam…?? You know they all turn up there sooner or later…!!”

“He went fishing, you idiot, not walking…!!”

“Yes, yes… I understand, but that’s the place we always begin our searches for missing persons…!!”

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Kolossi Castle lies a few kilometres to the west of Limassol...

The emblem that the knights carried into battle during the Crusades...

In 1291, Richard the Lionheart, King of England, foresaw the strategic importance of Cyprus as a base for supplying his army that was taking part in the Third Crusade… Various forts and castles were built to defend the island, but years later, having struggled to suppress the Cypriots, the king sold Cyprus to the Knights Templar…

These fine gentlemen knew a thing or two about the property market, and predicting a fall in value, and a continuation of hostilities with the uppity Cypriots, just as quickly sold it back to the king, presumably at a small profit…!! The Knights continued to stay on the island though, and during their stay, they produced and exported sugar wine that they distilled from sugar cane that once grew here in abundance…

They built the Kolossi Castle, and the sugar mill whose remains are just a few yards from the castle itself… Today, this same wine, known as Commandaria, is among the oldest named wines in the world, having had the same name for over eight centuries…!!

The castle is a huge square structure, made up a four halls, two on each level...

Entry to the castle was over this drawbridge, useful when Tax Collectors and Jehovah's Witness's came calling...

The narrow spiral staircase, which allows only one person at a time to ascend or descend...

The castle itself is made up of four huge halls with high vaulted ceilings…

There are two halls on each floor and above both floors are the battlements from which the surrounding countryside was easily defended…

There was only one entrance to the main building itself, and this was up a steep flight of stairs, which leveled out onto a drawbridge that could easily be shut, leaving a yawning chasm between the last step and the castle courtyard, a good ten metres below…

A very narrow and vertigo inducing, spiral staircase links the two floors to the battlements above them…

There is a dungeon below the ground floor where both prisoners and wine were presumably kept… A low wall surrounds the immediate vicinity of the castle today, but in the days of yore, this wall extended far beyond the castle walls…

The impressive vaulted ceiling of the first hall...

Standing in the doorway of one of the halls, I could picture the medieval scenes that must have played out here centuries ago… While tasting their latest vintage, and setting prices for the sugar they exported, the Knights must have used these very rooms to plan their forays against the forces of darkness that continued to lay siege to the Holy Land…

The neatly trimmed hedges in the gardens within the courtyard of the castle...

There were not too many visitors to the castle when I was there, and for the most part, I had the place to myself… Up on the battlements, I could see for miles around… I could see how the design of the castle made it easy to defend…

"Unauthorized harvesting" of the Olives and Grapes could be met with a shower of arrows...!!

Out in the garden next to the castle, stands a truly massive Acacia tree, said to have been planted almost 500 years ago…!!

Its branches have been propped up by wooden poles to prevent them from falling, and bring the tree down with them…

The grand old Acacia that stands next to the castle...

From high up above the gate, I spied a bus load of tourists arriving, and rushed down to exit the castle before they began swarming up the narrow staircase…

Most of them seemed to be about “80 in the shade”, and I knew that I would be trapped up on the battlements if I did not get out before they arrived…

Up on the battlements...!! I could have held other visitors off for weeks, had I not left all my Snickers Bars back with the Big Fella...!!

I needn’t have hurried, as most of them were clustered around the Big Fella, paying him more attention than they did the imposing castle itself…!!

Many of the group recognized the South African flag on the bike and asked all the usual questions while I got ready to leave…

The ruins of the courtyard, as viewed from the top step leading into the castle...

It was already well after lunch when I got the Big Fella pointed in the direction of Kourion, the Roman theatre where gladiators once fought to the death, and where a house dedicated to that fellow who had a problem with his tendons, Achilles, is located…

©GBWT 2010