A long day with two highlights: the Kykkos monastery and some Venetian bridges.
It was another 9 kilometres to reach the Kykkos monastery from my camping spot, mostly uphill. Nevertheless I admired the patterns of morning light from the rising sun on the massed pines on slopes so steep that they verged on scree. In places the trees grew out of sheer rock, their roots squeezing into small cracks to find some water.
Arriving in the area of the monastery area at around 9:00 am, I was glad to see the pick ups of workers parked outside a restaurant, a sign that coffee would be available. To rectify a lack of fresh food yesterday I had a Greek, sorry Village, Salad for breakfast with a white custard affair that I mistakenly took for yoghurt. By the time I left, after making good use of the toilets, tourists were beginning to arrive and various stalls had opened up selling honey, nuts, icons and the like.
The monastery museum contained some old icons, beautifully presented using lighting to good effect and with appropriate background music. There were also ancient books, old liturgical vestments, church related items and somewhat incongruously, bronze age pottery.
The monastery's church was by now full of people, some believers, crossing themselves and kissing icons before the iconostasis, others were tourists wandering passed them waved on by a church official. Many of the tourists looked like Buddhist monks in long purple robes. These were provided by the monastery to cover up any man's legs showing beneath his shorts, or ladies showing too much flesh (knowing that shorts were not acceptable I had changed into long trousers). A couple took a selfie that would probably also show the "no photographs" sign in the background.
More tour buses were arriving as I left.
Sadly losing height (which I would pay for later) the tarmac road took me to the village of Mylikouri where I stopped for another coffee. On route, various "jeep safaris" passed me in the opposite direction loaded with tourists. In between I listened to the road's steel crash barriers creaking as they expanded in the heat.
Some way after Mylikouri I was walking along a gravel road idly wondering whether if cows and pigs knew they were going to die, would they still want to live their life? Then I thought we humans know we are going to die but I am still glad to be alive, parts of my life I would not want to have missed. Then I looked at my GPS and realised I had missed a turning 1 1/2 kilometres back and had to retrace my steps. Bad news as I had a long way to go today.
Somewhat later than planned I reached the village of Kaminaria and detoured off the E4 to view two old bridges. Not as good as some I had seen in the Pindus mountains of Greece but the signs on the associated nature trail were useful. I now know that I have seen many Oriental Plane trees in the valleys of the Troodos, their leaves more serrated than the London Plane tree.
Soon after leaving the bridges I needed to find a place to camp before sunset. Not so easy, the gravel track I was following had steep slopes each side, so just as I did yesterday I found an abandoned track. Stony but moderately flat to camp on. As I spoke to my wife on the phone that evening the crescent moon was rising and the plough was beginning to appear in the sky, and was that the milky way, faintly visible?
It was another 9 kilometres to reach the Kykkos monastery from my camping spot, mostly uphill. Nevertheless I admired the patterns of morning light from the rising sun on the massed pines on slopes so steep that they verged on scree. In places the trees grew out of sheer rock, their roots squeezing into small cracks to find some water.
Arriving in the area of the monastery area at around 9:00 am, I was glad to see the pick ups of workers parked outside a restaurant, a sign that coffee would be available. To rectify a lack of fresh food yesterday I had a Greek, sorry Village, Salad for breakfast with a white custard affair that I mistakenly took for yoghurt. By the time I left, after making good use of the toilets, tourists were beginning to arrive and various stalls had opened up selling honey, nuts, icons and the like.
The monastery museum contained some old icons, beautifully presented using lighting to good effect and with appropriate background music. There were also ancient books, old liturgical vestments, church related items and somewhat incongruously, bronze age pottery.
The monastery's church was by now full of people, some believers, crossing themselves and kissing icons before the iconostasis, others were tourists wandering passed them waved on by a church official. Many of the tourists looked like Buddhist monks in long purple robes. These were provided by the monastery to cover up any man's legs showing beneath his shorts, or ladies showing too much flesh (knowing that shorts were not acceptable I had changed into long trousers). A couple took a selfie that would probably also show the "no photographs" sign in the background.
More tour buses were arriving as I left.
Sadly losing height (which I would pay for later) the tarmac road took me to the village of Mylikouri where I stopped for another coffee. On route, various "jeep safaris" passed me in the opposite direction loaded with tourists. In between I listened to the road's steel crash barriers creaking as they expanded in the heat.
Some way after Mylikouri I was walking along a gravel road idly wondering whether if cows and pigs knew they were going to die, would they still want to live their life? Then I thought we humans know we are going to die but I am still glad to be alive, parts of my life I would not want to have missed. Then I looked at my GPS and realised I had missed a turning 1 1/2 kilometres back and had to retrace my steps. Bad news as I had a long way to go today.
Somewhat later than planned I reached the village of Kaminaria and detoured off the E4 to view two old bridges. Not as good as some I had seen in the Pindus mountains of Greece but the signs on the associated nature trail were useful. I now know that I have seen many Oriental Plane trees in the valleys of the Troodos, their leaves more serrated than the London Plane tree.
Soon after leaving the bridges I needed to find a place to camp before sunset. Not so easy, the gravel track I was following had steep slopes each side, so just as I did yesterday I found an abandoned track. Stony but moderately flat to camp on. As I spoke to my wife on the phone that evening the crescent moon was rising and the plough was beginning to appear in the sky, and was that the milky way, faintly visible?
36 kilometres walked today, a result of missing a turning while thinking of something else, and a visit to the Kykkos monastery, without these it would only have been 29 kilometres and a total ascent of 850 metres. A gps file of my walk can be downloaded from wikiloc.com or ViewRanger under short code johnpon0045.
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| Morning in the Troodos mountains |
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| Entrance to Kykkos monastery |
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| Ancient bridge near Kaminaria |
Stunning
ReplyDeletethanks for sharing