Several months ago, one of the embassy’s local guards sent an enthusiastic email to all Embassy staff announcing “SOCRATES’ FIRST ANNUAL ROAD TRIP!” and promising 10,000 years of history in a single day.
Since I appreciated his gumption, and the mere fact that you can even deign to visit 10,000 years of history in Cyprus in a single day (let alone in a caravan with god knows how many Embassy staff), I was TOTALLY IN. I tried to drag many others down with me, but since it was Memorial Day a lot of people were busy. In the end, we had a group of eleven or twelve cars and more than 30 people! However, by the end of the road trip, the only people left standing were Severin and I, the Marines, and one of the other local guards and his family (plus Socrates and the tour guide) of course. 75 percent of the group didn’t even make it past lunch. Pfffff!
The problem with traveling in such a large group is that it’s basically the most inefficient way conceivable to travel (environmentally and time-wise). For instance, before we even started, several people had to go home to get a change of clothes appropriate for the monastery, because knees are an affront to God (alas, the monastery provided some tres chic robes, meaning the 30-minute delay was unnecessary). Then we had to stop for gas– and at this point I must confess, we were those people that set off on road trip with a quarter tank of gas. But in our defense, we planned on stopping and then just catching up with the rest of the group, but apparently there were many forgetful among us. The gas stop was made worse when a couple of mavericks broke loose and walked down the block to get frappes, causing more delays.
Once we finally got underway, we headed deep into the Troodos Mountains to visit Kykkos Monastery. Socrates had formed a What’s App group, and our government-certified tour guide was sending audio messages to the group describing the sights as we drove past them. Once we got deep into the mountains, it was taking the cell towers a bit more time to relay the messages, but for the most part this arrangement worked in nearly real time. Technology, man. It’s taken a lot of the spontaneity and surprise out of travel, but it sure is nice sometimes.
Kykkos is Cyprus’ most famous monastery. It was founded by the Byzantine emperor after a hermit with curative powers healed the emperor’s daughter in exchange for an icon of the Virgin Mary. The icon, called the Virgin Kikkotisa, is famous for being one of the few that was painted of Mary during her lifetime, by the apostle Luke. There is a little more to the story, but that’s the short and easy-to-digest version. The emperor really didn’t want to part with the precious icon, but eventually he did and it made its way from Constantinople (not Istanbul) to the Troodos. It’s hard to see in the photo, but Jesus basically looks like a toddler-sized adult in it. Here is the icon leaving, you can see the trees bending in deference to it:
The icon is located in the iconostasis of Kykkos’ church, but we didn’t get to see it. In fact, it allegedly hasn’t been seen by anyone since 1669. It’s covered by a decorative plate and curtain and it is said that anyone who tries to look at it will go blind. I can’t help but think that in 300+ years, the chances are pretttttty good that someone was naughty and snuck a peek. But maybe I’m wrong. We weren’t allowed to take photos inside the church but suffice it to say there were two Orthodox priests were on their knees polishing brass when we were in there and I suspect that’s their full time job. There was also a really eclectic mix of chandeliers, which were gifts to the monastery from around the Orthodox Christian world. Many of the chandeliers incorporated ostrich eggs on their chains, as is common in Greek Orthodox churches (apparently they’re an ancient Greek symbol for good luck!) Here’s a photo of the threshold, that’s all you’re going to get:
The monastery itself is quite modern as far as Cypriot religious sites go, considering 1,000 year old churches here are a dime a dozen, and that took away a little bit from the uniqueness of Kykkos for me. Most of the monastery and buildings appeared to have been built in the late 19th or early 20th centuries. A monastery in some form has been here since the 11th century, but there just isn’t much evidence of that now. However, the walls of the monastery have at least a few dozen modern gold-leaf mosaics, which I’m told were quite expensive (I want to say $20,000/sq ft, but don’t quote me on that). It also has a very opulent museum with many old icons, and very beautiful and intricate religious artifacts, particularly very finely carved wood that requires a magnifying glass to truly appreciate. Our reaction was, “Wow! How does a church that was able to amass this much wealth still have a flock!” It’s actually pretty amazing to see the opulence when you consider that Cyprus was a highly agrarian and rural society through the 1930s.
I bought a very classy fridge magnet icon of St. George on his white horse slaying the dragon to add to our growing collection. Severin rolled his eyes because he knew I was only buying it because it’s the only icon with a horse on it. Of course, he’s right, guilty as charged. I only like St. George because he’s on a horse, and also because he has a totally badass story associated with him. But mostly because he’s on a horse.
We took a short detour to see the tomb of the Archbishop Makarios, who was the founding father of Cyprus and was president during the attempted coup and ensuing war in 1974. I insisted Severin get in the picture because the first picture I took of the statue looked like it was a life-sized statue, when in fact it is significantly larger. See for yourself, isn’t it better with my resident model for scale?
After we finished up at Kykkos, we took the scenic route on fairly rough and windy mountain roads to a Venetian bridge. There are many of these bridges (I’m told about 40) scattered throughout the Troodos and are part of the old Venetian roads system. This is one of the largest and most scenic, the Tzelefos bridge, and there were several 4×4 loads of tourists visiting while we were there, presumably on their way up to Kykkos from Paphos. I would hate to be a Venetian pushing a heavy hand cart up this bridge– first of all, it actually has a fairly steep grade up and down, and second of all, it would have been very bumpy. But it’s better than the alternative, I suppose.
We continued to wind our way back down to Paphos and passed some of the best scenery Cyprus has to offer. As soon as I saw this enormous goat herd I shouted at Severin to stop (in the middle of the road) and leaned over his lap so I could get this photo out the car window. For the rest of my life, when I see goats, I will think of Cyprus. I see them all the time here, most often when I’m at the stables and the farmer across the way lets the herd out to graze. They stick together and their tiny goat bells cling softly as they bend down to grab bites to eat– it doesn’t matter how many times I see them, I always have to stop and watch. Goats are just the best. For being taken through a car window, I am pretty happy with how the photo turned out. I just wish the grass in the foreground wasn’t there…
We passed numerous old churches along the way, as well as this adorable mosque, which was right next to a church. The mosque is a relic of the pre-1974 days, when Turkish Cypriots (who are secular Muslims) lived interspersed in small villages throughout the island (as did the Greek Cypriots), instead of just the northern third.
During our lunch stop, we were seated next to pretty miserable company– a teenager whose iPhone was literally glued to her hand and could not be bothered to pass dishes (kind of important when eating meze); and a sick adult who was laying her head down on the table. Severin and I left to check out the view since there appeared to be an abandoned (probably Turkish Cypriot) village across the canyon. Most of the group broke off at this point, but we had come so far we weren’t about to stop.
From lunch, we stopped at the Sanctuary of Aphrodite, which we had passed on the highway before but never really considered stopping at, because it didn’t look like there was that much there. The site was an amalgamation of old, older, and oldest: ruins from Greek antiquity, a Lusignan manor/fort, and a 12th/16th century Orthodox church. In antiquity, the Cypriots were charter members of the Cult of Aphrodite, and the Temple of Aphrodite was founded here in 1500 BC even though Cypriots probably worshiped her before that. The temple was what we would today call a “whorehouse,” and the priest “a pimp”; I think the anthropologists prefer to call it “ritual prostitution.” Young virgins were sent to the temple to “serve Aphrodite,” and they did so by lining up each evening, then men came and offered money (which was retained by the priest) to choose a woman with whom to do the deed. After the act, the women were released to go live their lives. If you were beautiful, you didn’t stay long; if you were not so beautiful, you might have been hanging out at the temple for a while.
The Lusignan manor:
A view of the internal courtyard of the manor, with the sea beyond.
Not much remains of the site, just some large rocks (the Romans rebuilt it in the first century AD after an earthquake). There was a small museum in the Lusignan fort but otherwise not much else to see. Here you can see evidence of the Egyptian influence in Cyprus:
Here is a stone tablet with very old Cypriot writing:
The husband, again forced to stand by a large vase for scale!
Amazon can’t ship me a pie plate via U.S. mail without breaking it, but this small glass jar can be buried for a millennia and live to tell the tale.
From Aphrodite’s Sanctuary, we stopped by Aphrodite’s Rock (which is the second set of rocks in the back), where Aphrodite emerged from the ocean:
We ended our day with a visit to just a small portion of the Kourion archeological site. Kourion was a city-state in 1000 BC, but most of the ruins are from the Roman period in the 1st century AD. The amphitheater was rebuilt and is used for performances today:
The site had a fairly large bath complex (with an ocean view!) This mosaic was probably 30-40 feet long. The woman in the mosaic is holding a ruler that measures one Roman foot.
After our quick breeze through Kourion (we will definitely need to go back later to explore more), the group broke up and we set off for the final hour home to Nicosia. We arrived about 12 hours (!!!) after we set off. However, I can’t say we actually achieved our goal of seeing “10,000 years of history” in a single day, because we didn’t actually see any Bronze Age sites, so we were several millennia short. Next time…