Up at the summit, I met Viktor and Angelica from Konstanz in Germany... Viktor proudly advised that he and his wife still rode their bike, a BMW (1970 Model) on the roads near their home... In the background is the "Big Mushroom"...!!
The Central Highlands of Cyprus are known as collectively as Troodos… Many of the highest points on the island are found here, and Mt. Olympus, where a military radar station is positioned, is the highest. With the Big Fella standing right next to the gate that prevents you going any further, my GPS read 1 945 m.a.s.l., and at this altitude, snow can cover the area in mid-winter…
The ride from Platres climbed steadily up to the central tourist area of Troodos, where enumerable walking trails begin, and loop through the mountains before returning to the square…
The summit of Mt. Olympus lies about 3km to the north east of Troodos, and the road twists and turns all the way up to where it ends at the gate of the military base…
I strolled up to the two soldiers sitting in the sun, and greeted them with a hearty “Kalimera…!!”
They returned my greeting but didn’t move from their sunny perches… The great ride I had enjoyed getting up there had me in a good mood, and I decided a bit of banter was in order…
I pointed over to the huge white dome up on the hill to my right, and in a load and clear voice, said,
“That is the biggest mushroom I have ever seen…!! The soil up here must be very fertile…!!”
Their eyes swiveled up to the massive dome that covered the sensitive radar equipment within, and then back to me… Then they looked at each other with frowns creasing their brows…
“It is not a mushroom…!!” one of them said a little nervously…
“Really….?? Then what is it…??” I said, trying to hide a smile…
“It is military, and we cannot speak to you…!!”
“Ah… A secret military mushroom…!! What does it do…??”
I could see they were getting a little agitated, and began casting glances towards where their rifles were clipped into a rack on the wall…
The soldiers at the sentry post thought I had been in the sun too long...
“Go away…!!” one of them eventually said, pointing down the hill behind me…
“Why is that big one white and the other one behind you camouflaged…??” I asked, ignoring his outstretched arm… “Is it a different species of mushroom…??”
“It is not a mushroom…!!” one of them almost shouted at me… “You are making trouble with your questions…!! You must go now…!!”
“Where does this road go…?” I asked pointing up the road that ran higher up the mountain to another set of gates…
“Nowhere…!! You cannot go up there…!!
“Why…?? Are there more mushrooms on the other side…??”
One of the soldiers went into the guard hut and began speaking rapidly into a hand held radio… A minute later, I heard a vehicle start up somewhere in the base behind them, and decided that it might be a good time to leave the immediate vicinity of the base…!!
“I’d love to stay and chat about any other vegetables you may have up here, but I have to go now…!! Long ride ahead and all that…!!” I said as cheerfully as I could, trying hard not to burst out laughing… “And by the way, you guys need to lighten up a bit…!!”
Just as I was turning the bike around, a Landrover arrived at the gate with four other soldiers… I accelerated smoothly away, and watched the little group in my mirrors… I think I saw one of the guys who I had been speaking to, tap his head with a forefinger, but have no idea how that fitted into the explanation he was giving to the officer he was addressing…!!
Decisions, decisions...!! We headed left towards Kykkos...
Freedom fighters once hid out in the caves of these mountains...
The village of Pedoulas lies nestled in the valley below us...
Excellent roads twist their way up and over the mountain ridges in central Cyprus...
At a stall nearby, an extensive variety of local produce was being sold...
The warm weather and clear blue skies made my ride through the mountains even more pleasurable that I had hoped…!! I encountered only a handful of vehicles on the way to the Monastery of Kykkos, which was a good thing, as the roads here are narrow and hug the mountainside on one edge and have massive drop-offs on the other… Mistakes here will generally receive punishment of the severest sort…!!
On many of the corners, small stones and fist-sized rocks, had me braking hard and sitting up in the saddle to avoid a slide that could only end in tears…!!
At Kykkos, almost a dozen large tour buses and just as many cars were parked in and around the large parking area… I sat the bike awhile, considering whether I wanted to join the fray to get into the inner sanctums of the monastery, and eventually decided against it…
I noticed that people were donning purple robes before entering, and as I was already perspiring heavily in my riding gear, I figured I might come back next week when it was a little quieter…
Entrance to the Kykkos Monastery with its beautiful mosaics...
I was surprised to see that if was already 2.00 pm, and I had hardly ridden half the distance I had intended to cover…
Late afternoon at Balancing Rock...!!
We left Kykkos and headed further east toward Stavros and Polis on the coast beyond that… Most of the road was covered in shade, and ran through forests of Mediterranean Pine… I passed a pair of logging trucks, filled to capacity, and clearly not expecting to encounter a big bike blasting towards them…!!
I avoided the first one easily enough, but the second one had come around the corner using most of the road…!! We missed each other by inches, the metal barrier uncomfortably close to my left knee, and my right mirror almost clipping the log that stuck out of the back of the truck…!!
Exhilarating…!!!
And more excitement followed, when I rode through a patch of pine needles on a sharp corner, and felt the back of the bike slide away from me…!! Not sure how I escaped falling, but I did…and that’s all that matters in the end…!! This happened on two more occasions, even though we were traveling at barely 40 km/h…
“What seems to be the problem Big Fella…?” I asked…
“You have my tyres pumped to carry a full load, Wise Guy, and with this combination of pine needles and sharp corners, I may as well be wearing a set of skates…!!”
I was in no position to argue, so we slowed down after that little exchange, and I began ticking off the places we would have to give a miss on this particular ride… The sun was sliding inexorably behind the mountains we were riding in and we had no choice but to continue to Polis, before turning for “home”…
A splash of Autumn against the backdrop of the Pine forest...
I figured we would have just enough time for a quick visit to the Baths of Aphrodite, before taking the highway back to Larnaca…
©GBWT 2010
No sense of humour those army boys, and that’s on a slow day, can you imagine what they will be like during a war….
Another question – what did you buy at the the local stall??
Great pics!!!
BIG kisses
K
Oh boy – you never know what you can find on an Army Base. You, of all people, should know that 🙂