Trek to an isolated beach near Pissouri Village in Cyprus

If you can call any trek dramatic, then it has to be this one. The views and the thrills offered by this trek are amazing and this has to be one of the best coastal treks in Cyprus. I found this trek from a book called "Walks in Cyprus", but this is a very old book and the directions don't hold good any longer as he refers to "a building under construction" in many places as references and they are obviously no longer in that state.
Highlights of this trek
- Excellent photo opportunities with the cliffs and the sea
- An isolated beach at the end of the trek, reachable only by boat or through this walk
- Pissouri Village is just a short drive away from Paphos/Limassol

Things to note if you are going on this trek
- You need good shoes with a strong grip as almost the entire route consists of just barren loose rocks and is very slippery. Some sections of this trek are extremely close to the edge of the cliff, so you wouldn't want to risk "slipping" over the edge!
- Take lot of water. Even the downhill section gets tiring. It takes approximately an hour and a half (with lot of photo breaks) to go downhill and an equal amount of time uphill. Uphill is much easier.
- The best time to do this walk is in early winter or in spring. You are totally exposed to the elements on this walk and it can get very hot/cold if you are walking in the peak seasons.

How to get to the starting point of the trek: The treks starts from the top of the hill on which Pissouri village is located. Pissouri village is a short drive from Limassol/Paphos. Once you drive up to the centre of Pissouri, keep on going straight (there is only one narrow road) until you come to a fork in the centre of the road. Take the left and keep going. You should always be on the "main" road and not venture into the small exits which lead to apartment complexes. After a while you should see a tall tower somewhere at the end of the road. This is supposed to be a military complex. Park anywhere near the apartments before the tower complex and walk around the tower to go behind it. You should hit a trail clearly visible at the edge of the cliff. Start walking towards the right (west) towards the beach. That's it, you are on your way.

I have been on this trek three times. The first time, we didn't know the correct starting point, tried to find a way ourselves ( we knew we had to reach the beach, it should be easy to find a way!), got lost and ended up on a cliff which had no way out! The second time, we took a better approach, followed a stream's course (They all have to flow into the sea, right) and ended up at the top of the 20 foot waterfall which we obviously couldn't climb down. But, we managed to climb up the sides and find the correct path and we reached the beach. The third time ( very experienced now!), we went on the correct path. I am writing about all the three attempts below. So, if you are just interested in the correct way, scroll down to the third story. But, you might miss some good photographs if you do so :-)

First (unsuccessful) attempt:

We didn't quite understand the map drawn in the book for this particular trek. There was a mention of a goat enclosure. We found one, assumed that this was the one mentioned and started walking in the direction of the beach. After 10 minutes, we realised that there was no way that this could have been the correct way, but we decided to press on anyway. We also saw a herd of mountain goats on the way and felt happy that we were not the only living beings around. We finally reached a cliff beyond which, we concluded, there was no safe path towards the sea.(the place where Gopal is standing in the first pic above) So, we started climbing the cliffs and rocks on this cliff for lot of photo ops. Looking back, this attempt was lot of fun as it was totally investigative in nature and at some places, it was a real struggle to keep going.

Second attempt (Took lot of time, but finally made it):

This time Puneeth gave the suggestion of following the path of what would have been a stream in the rainy season(The path in the first photo above). It was an interesting suggestion and we enjoyed the initial part of the walk. Since we were following the stream, we had to walk through narrow gorges, over rocks and some pretty slippery terrain. The most fun was to climb down the places where there would have been a waterfall in the rainy season. We did climb down quite a few of them, some even around 6-7 feet tall. Puneeth and i decided to follow the exact path of the stream which meant scrambling through thorny bushes into steep gorges while others preferred the safer longer route.

The path became more and more meandering (we were enjoying it). Then as i was walking around a blind corner, i came to a waterfall. Good that i had been walking slowly, otherwise, i cannot imagine the situation i could have been in. The fall was more than 10-12 feet high and there was no way we could climb down the wall. We had no option but to look for other routes. But, we were stuck in a gorge with steep walls on either side. We didn't want to retrace our route, so we took the decision to climb the walls. It was tough, but we managed it and continued on "top of the stream" towards the sea. Luckily, we saw two other trekkers in the distance, the kind who come out with a backpack and walking sticks (the so-called pros) and they seemed to know where they were going. So, we went in their direction and found something resembling a track. We realised that this was the elusive path we had been looking for and finally managed to reach the beach. Btw, this was the first and only trek in which Parthipan was short of breath and needed rest!

Third Attempt (Now, we are pros on this trek!):
So, to continue from the initial paragraphs, once you park near the tower complex, go around it (from the left) and keep going towards the edge of the cliff. There you will see a clear goat-path going towards the right. This is the track you should take. All along the track you will see markers put by trekkers (even we have contributed to quite a few of them) consisting of few rocks on top of each other. So, if you see them, you know for sure that you are on the right track. There are even markers on the beach to tell you that you have reached the correct beach !!

The path can get slippery at places and it was interesting to see the approaches taken by my friends in overcoming those obstacles!

i was the first to reach the beach and has some good opportunities to take photos of the rest of the gang climb down.

Don't forget to take lot of breaks during the trek for taking photographs. If the weather turns out to be fine, you can get some real nice pictures. Enjoy the trek and drop in a comment about your experience!

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Ayia Napa sea caves near Cape Greko

Though Cyprus is famous for its beaches, there are not many areas in Cyprus where you would find the sea meeting the land at a beach. Most of the Cyprus coastline is rugged and in some places, there are massive cliffs (like the ones near Episkopi and beyond) and in others, there are small cliffs which are easily accessible for adventure seekers. There are two very popular "sea caves" in Cyprus, one at Ayia Napa and the other at Peyia.
The Ayia Napa sea caves is the more visited one because of its proximity to the party-town of Ayia Napa. These are located almost on the south-eastern end of Cyprus next to Cape Greko/Caveo Greko. They are easily accessible from Ayia Napa, Protaras or Paralimni. This is how you go to the sea caves:

• I assume that you know to reach Ayia Napa. Just look for Ayia Napa on the maps and drive over. Simple.
• Once in Ayia Napa, go towards the McD next to the Luna Park. You should be able to see the Mc D sign/Sling Shot towers in this Luna Park from quite a distance away. A reference to this McD would be a dead-end road by its side which is often used for parking and a mini-golf course right next to it (across this road).
  
• Proceed East on this road i.e. moving in the direction of McD from the luna Park.
• You will come to a T-Junction. You have to take a left here if you want to go the main clubbing area of Ayia Napa. But, we shall leave that for later and turn right at the T-Junction.
• This road will go towards the sea and end at a beach. Take a left at the roundabout and within 10/20 metres, the road will again turn left. take this left turn (taking the mini lane to the right would take you to the sea). This is like taking a very big U-Turn.
  
• Keep going on this road until the road curves right and comes to a round-about.
  
• On this round-about, go straight (third/last exit towards Cavo Greko).
• After some distance, you will come to a t-junction again. Follow the direction of Cavo Greko which in this case is towards the right , towards the sea.
• Keep going on this road, you should see a small sign saying "sea caves" pointing to the right. This is proper road which branches off to the right, but stays parallel to the main road for a distance. On this road, after some time, a small earthern road turns to the right. The road (not really a road) looks real bad, but is ok to drive on. Drive on straight towards the sea and you should see the sea caves on the right.

These caves are the result of millions of years of the sea pounding on the cliffs and making inroads into the walls of the cliff. You can climb down to sea level at the east end of the cliff and walk close to the walls and explore many of the caves which have formed. Some are them go in quite deep and you have to be sure-footed to explore them.

For those who are afraid of clambering over the rocks to climb down, there is an easier way, just jump off the cliffs into the water. This is a very popular activity here and is supposed to be pretty safe. The water is quite deep and crystal clear. So, as long as you have your orientations right, you can jump quite comfortably into the clear water avoiding the rocks.

This place is a great one for photography enthusiasts. You have numerous crevices with which you can explore your creative photography skills. Also, the sunset at this place is amazing. If you have the patience and the "foothold" to climb down and get into the caves, you can get some really nice pictures at sunset.

For the adventurous, once you climb down, you don't have to climb up the same way again. You can walk along with cliffs and climb up at the other end, though it is bit of a struggle at some places.

A few minute drive away from the sea caves is official south-easternmost point of Cyprus. You cannot go to that exact spot, as there are some military antenna installations there. But, you can go to the top of the hill right next to it for amazing views of the Ayia Napa coast. There is even a short nature walk from the top of the hill which takes you to further cliffs by the sea.

If you have time left after visiting the Ayia Napa sea caves, you can drive over to Konnoi bay, only a short distance away and maybe even walk to the cyclops cave. Other places of interest nearby: Protaras Aquarium (Ocean Aquarium), the Dancing Waters musical fountain in the Protaras tourist area.

Enjoy!

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Cyclops Cave in Konnos Bay near Ayia Napa

Cyclops cave is a small cave which can be reached after a comfortable 1.5 km walk from Konnos bay. The cave has 3 to 4 "rooms" and you can find many stalactite formations in this cave. The walk to this cave is a steady walk without much ascent and even kids can be taken along for this walk.

There are numerous spots on this walk overlooking the sea which are ideal for a small picnic. You can also climb down to the sea at many sections of the walk. Also, the route to the cave follows the cliff walls closely and you will be able to see the effect of the wind on the cliff walls. There are interesting rock formations on the cliff walls which provide for a good photo opportunity.

Konnos bay is sometimes referred to as Konnoi bay on the maps. It is located to the east of Ayia Napa between Cape Greko (Cavo Greco) and Protaras. Konni Bay is a beautiful wind-swept bay which is almost like a secluded beach. You have to go down the slope from the main road through some hairpin bends to reach the beach. The setting of this beach is amazing.

Directions to Konnoi Bay/Cyclops cave:

• I assume that you know to reach Ayia Napa. Just look for Ayia Napa on the maps and drive over. Simple.
• Once in Ayia Napa, go towards the McD next to the Luna Park. You should be able to see the Mc D sign/Sling Shot towers in this Luna Park from quite a distance away. A reference to this McD would be a dead-end road by its side which is often used for parking and a mini-golf course right next to it (across this road).
  
• Proceed East on this road i.e. moving in the direction of McD from the luna Park.
• You will come to a T-Junction. You have to take a left here if you want to go the main clubbing area of Ayia Napa. But, we shall leave that for later and turn right at the T-Junction.
• This road will go towards the sea and end at a beach. Take a left at the roundabout and within 10/20 metres, the road will again turn left. take this left turn (taking the mini lane to the right would take you to the sea). This is like taking a very big U-Turn.
  
• Keep going on this road until the road curves right and comes to a round-about.
  
• On this round-about, go straight (third/last exit towards Cavo Greko).
• After some distance, you will come to a t-junction again. Follow the direction of Cavo Greko which in this case is towards the right , towards the sea.
• Keep going on this road, you should cross the Ayia Napa sea-caves sign (pointing to the right). Keep going and you should cross another exit towards cavo greko which is the one leading to the lookout point on top of the "obviously" visible hill on your right.
• The exit to Konnos Bay (on the right) is approximately 2kms from the exit to the Cave greko hill. Another landmark for Konnos Bay is the Grecian Park Hotel.
• Don't drive all the way down to the beach if you plan to go to the cave. Around half-way down, you will come to parking lot with a clear sign saying "Cyclops Cave 1.5 km" or something like that. (it has been more than 2 yrs, so i forgot what is said on the sign).

Hope that this information was useful and you found it to be a nice walk. If you have time left after visiting the cyclops caves, you can drive over to the Ayia Napa sea caves, only a short distance away. Other places of interest nearby: Protaras Aquarium (Ocean Aquarium), the Dancing Waters musical fountain in the Protaras tourist area.
Enjoy!

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Cyprus car rally 2008

The annual Cyprus car rally is just around the corner - happening next weekend (17th and 18th May 2008) . This rally is not part of WRC (world rally championships), but part of the Middle East Rally Championship 2008. Cyprus was removed from the WRC calendar in 2007. It was supposed to be back on WRC from 2008, but according to the organisers, this year's rally is also not part of WRC. I am not a reagular rally follower and do not know any of the big names in rallying. So, for me, as long as there are fast cars, lot of dust and action, it is worth a visit for excellent photo opportunities.
We had been to one of the stages in 2006 and spent a lot of time taking photos of the action. We went pretty early to the place (you have to if you need to find a nice spot). We walked along the road for a small distance until ee got a nice spot next to a sharp curve.

There were many people who had considered the same spot as a good location and it was pretty crowded. But, most of them were high up on the slope behind the bushes. We were surprised as to why these people come to such a good spot, but then climb up the slope to move away from the place of action. We understood why as soon as the first car sped by. The wind was blowing towards us and the few million tons of dirt and rock released by the spinning wheels of the car came straight in our direction. It was too late. We were consumed by the dust and ended up well camouflaged on the dirt road!

But, the spot was too good to let go of. So, we adopted a new procedure. We would click photos right until the moment the cars passed us, then put the camera inside out t-shirts, turn to the opposite direction, bend down and pray to god that nothing big falls on us!
I then moved a little ahead, to the side of the road to get some closer shots. Some people were so close to the cars that a small mistake by the drivers could have proven fatal.

Well, i too decided to join those people as i concluded that the experience was worth the risk. But i doubt that i will do that again, as there were many close calls.

After i was satisfied with the amount of dirt i had consumed, i crossed over and found that, because of the wind direction, not even a speck of dust was falling on that side of the road. Here was an opportunity to try some artistic shots!

I used the burst mode on my nikon D70 to capture a sequence of a car passing by.

In 2006, for the first time, a special stage was introduced in the Cyprus rally. This was called the Downtown special and was to be held in the narrows streets of Limassol downtown area. While the usual visitor tickets for any stage cost around 2 pounds, tickets for this stage cost around 18 CYP and were sold out within a few days of being announced. Special stages were put along the roads where seating options were provided. There were separate tickets for the seating and the non-seating options.
I didn't have any tickets, but i went to the downtown area nevertheless in the hope that i would get to see some action. To my surprise, there was no one to check any tickets. The whole area was open to anyone and one could go to any curve/street to watch the race. This was because, the race was actually changed to an exhibition race as many drivers complained of the high risk involved in racing through the very narrow streets. So, at the last minute, the organisers announced (only to the participants) that this was just an exhibition stage and the points didn;t count towards the overall cyprus rally.

Though it was an exhibition race, the drivers were turning on the heat by taking the curves as fast as they could and in some places, it was really too close for comfort. If you see the sequence below, the car skids a lot to the left, almost touching the barricades.

But, one Citroen driver tried too much and ended up banging his car on the side of the road. He turned out the star attraction of the evening, as soon as he started crying!

If you are looking for details on this year's rally, go check out the official cyprus rally website here.

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Easter Vacations in Cyprus: What are your plans?

We have a long weekend coming up, in fact a very long one of 5 days. Many take the 2 days off in the next week to make it a pretty decent break of 10 days. I am going to Dubai for a short vacation, but about you. If you are in Cyprus, are your plans done? If not, let me help you with some suggestions. You can check out the links in each of the plans below for more details.

• You could go to North Cyprus for a 2-3 day visit. Visit the Saint Hilarion castle and enjoy the Kyrenia harbour. Who knows, you could also win a fortune at the North Cyprus casinos.
• It is a great time now in Cyprus to rent a 4WD jeep. It is still not unbearably hot, as there is always a cool breeze around. You could rent a jeep and explore the ruggedness of Akamas by visitung the Avakas gorge or going up to the Baths of Aphrodite.
• If you want to have a break with your family not involving lot of walking around, visit the medieval bridges of Cyprus, the kelefos bridge (which is good for a lunch break) and the Elia Bridge and also visiting Trimiklini double bridge on the way. If you have a jeep, then you can also add Roudia Bridge to the itinerary.
• Another good option with the family would be to go camping in polis or at the governors beach. It would be a nice outdoor break, but without much of the hassle of any other activity.
  
• If you want to spend your time with nature, there is no better way than to go for the short Kalidonia waterfalls trek from platres. Of course, if you want to rough it out, you can choose the longer trek down from the top. You can also visit the beautiful Millomeri waterfalls on the way.

So, there you are, many options to make your easter vacations interesting. I am off to Dubai and i hope that those in Cyprus would make the most of this time and explore this beautiful island.
Happy Easter!

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Roudia Bridge - the most beautiful medieval bridge in Cyprus

Roudia Bridge is the third of the medieval or the venetian bridges in Cyprus. I refer to Roudhia bridge as the "third" Medieval bridge because any website mentioning about the bridges in Cyprus refer to mostly the Kelefos bridge and in some cases, the Elia bridge too. There is rarely a mention of Roudia bridge. In fact, i found only one blog of a Britisher (The blog is closed now) who had mentioned about his "difficulties" in finding this bridge. The reason might be that the location of this bridge is very remote, deep within the Paphos/troodos range and the roads to this place are unmarked and very narrow and almost impossible to go with a regular car. We struggled to find the place and it took a lot of questions to absolutely-no-english-speaking cypriots to find it. But, I shall make it easier for you!
So, here is the way to go to Roudia Bridge: (It has been more than 4 months since we went for a Jeep trip (Christmas time). I shall try to recollect as much as possible. If you do follow the directions below and have something which can enhance the details, drop in a mail/comment.

• First, go to Kelefos bridge. If you don't know to go to Kelefos bridge, checkout my other post on kelefos bridge. Once you get down the slope, the road seems to go across the river. Those visiting Kelefos bridge, park here. But, to go to Roudia bridge, you have to make this river crossing. Check out the photo below from our Jeep trip many ago. Of course, at that time, i didn't know about the Roudia Bridge and just did this crossing for fun.

• Once you cross the river, the road climbs up. Keep heading towards Pera Vasa picnic site. At the pera vasa picnic site, you should see a treek trunk on display. This was supposed to be the biggest/oldest tree in the region.

• After you cross the Pera Vasa Picnic site, you will come to a T-junction, where you have to turn right. I think the one on the right goes towards Mylikouri and the other towards Arminou. Not sure about this, but I am sure that you have take a right here.
• If you keep going, you will come to a big fork in the road. In the middle of the fork, you will see a brown-board with an arrow to the left saying "Venetian Bridge". This board points to a trail going down the hill. I don't know whether this train goes to Roudia bridge, but the bridge is far away from here. You have to take the road going right (and downwards) towards Pano Panagia. We took the other one and went for a long distance and returned back. The road was too narrow to even attempt a 3-point turn and we had to travel a long distance just to find a spot to turn the jeep.
• The moment you enter this road (after about a 10 metres), you will see two branches, one going straight and the other turning right. You have to turn right on this one. The one going straight stops at a check-post, probably a private road. This road goes downwards all the way to the bottom of the valley. Don't get disheartened by the state of the road, you are almost there!
• I assume that you will be on the lookout for a photo-op all throughout the way. If you don't, better start looking out now. Otherwise, you will miss the bridge like we did. At one point, you will take a right and then go over a small road-bridge which goes over a river. The river should appear on your left with trees on either side. The photo below gives you an example as how the scene should look like.

• The moment you pass this bridge, the road turns left and passes through a big open area which also has signs such as "Lighting fires is prohibited in this area". At the end of the open area, the road turns right and upwards. Don't go there. Look left and there you have the bridge!

Unfortunately, we didn't find the bridge so easily. The moment we entered this open area, we saw a jeep speed of ahead of us climbing onto the road upwards. We also decided that it would be best to ask someone about the location. So, all our eyes were on the jeep ahead of us that we missed looking towards the left where we would have found the bridge. We chased the jeep for another 20 mins and came to a fork. At this fork, we saw a board (The only one!) which said "Gefri Roudia" and pointed in the direction we had come from! A little ahead, we saw another jeep and went to enquire. That guy spoke no English at all and didn't understand the word "bridge". So, i called up my Cypriot colleague and found that "Gefri" meant a bridge. By this time, another gentleman with his jeep had also joined us. Luckily, he spoke English. He told us that we had to go back and we would find the bridge at the bottom of the valley. So, we turned back and kept driving. This time, when we drove down the final stretch to the bottom of the valley, the bridge was there right ahead of us! Well, i was supposed to watch the road, but what were the others doing? We were so tired by then, that we had some snacks before proceeding for photo sessions!

The Road-bridge over which you drive across

Getting all the kit ready for the photo session!


Vidhya and Anit tried to cross the river, but it turned out to be too cold for Vidhya!


We are ready to pose wherever you want!


And then, there it is finally, the roudia bridge...

You can go on top of the bridge, but the other side is blocked. It abruptly finishes on a cliff. The colours of the trees and the leaves and the evening lighting proved irresistible to attempt lot of photos. This place should look heavenly in Spring. So, if you are reading this before Easter, go there during the Easter holidays!

After the round of the usual shots, we moved into the experimental photographs. When you Anith, "the brave", Kumar around, you are guaranteed to get your share your share of weirdness!

Anith tries to do a Tarzan, but all that he achieved was to wet his ****s in the extremely cold water! Btw, the **** stands for "pant".

More photos...

Another way to approach this bridge would be Ayios Ionannis, Arminou and then through the abandoned village of Vretsia, but i have heard it is almost impossible to find Vretsia, as all the signs pointing to this village have been removed. Hope that you enjoy visiting Roudia place (hope that you find it!). If you think that any other detail would explain the directions further, do let me know.

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Millomeri Waterfalls in Platres near Troodos, Cyprus

Though Kaledonia waterfalls is claimed to be the highest waterfall in Cyprus, the milomeri waterfall is a few metres higher. A probable reason for this could be that access to Millomeri was made easier only a couple of years back and not many people know about this place. There is no doubt that the trek to the Kaledonia fall is much more beautiful and green than the regular approach to Millomeri, but this one is better for the ones who don't want to trek, but want to just step out of the car and visit places.
A possible explanation of the name comes from greek words for Wet (Millos) and Meri (Place) meaning wet place, but i checked with many Cypriot colleagues of mine and none of them seem to recognise the word millos to have the meaning "wet". Anyway, the road to Millimeri falls was opened up in the past few years and it has caught up as a tourist destination.
There are two ways to reach this waterfall

• Drive right up to it in a vehicle
• Trek/Walk a kilometre long train from the Platres Church.

The driving option: The exit to Millomeri falls appears 2 kms before the first exit to Platres on the way from Limassol to Troodos. The exit appears right in the middle of a sharp right turn (from Limassol to Troodos), so it is easy to miss it. So, watch out for the distances on the signboards, the exit should come approximately 2 kms before Platres when the road turns right on the main road. After a short distance into this exit, the road apparently deteriorates, but don't worry, it is good enough for any car to go on. But the final stretch of a few hundred metres depends on the landslide conditions and i have seen situations where the road is just a few metres across at places because of fallen rocks. You keep on going until you come to a wide open area which seems to have a dead-end across a small bridge. This bridge finishes at a kiosk (which i have never seen open!). Park anywhere here and then right after the kiosk, you will see a long flight of stairs to the right. This will lead you to the base of the falls.

The trek to the falls: This is a small trek of around a kilometre one-way, but it does involve lots of ups and downs, so it is better if you plan to take a break (with drinks/snacks) at the falls. Go to Platres, drive towards the platres church. Actually, just keep driving along the road when you enter Platres, don't take any of the smaller side lanes and you should reach the church. The waterfall lies in the valley down below. The start of the trek is a small path going down just after a house around a 100 metres before the Platres church. The path is quite slippery at the start, so be careful if you have got kids tagging along.
The path is very green particularly in winter/spring it is an enjoyable short trek. Don't be surprised if the patch climbs a lot after the initial downward slope. You drop down to the valley then climb all the way up to the other side of the mountain and again all the way down to the waterfall. At one particular spot, a little bit of adventurous climbing could actually land you on top of the millomeri fall.

If you have reached the waterfall by car and feel that you haven't done anything adventurous enough, try to climb the slope opposite the waterfall and reach the lone tree on top of the slope. Climbing up is pretty easy, but coming down is tricky as the slope is made up mostly of loose rocks and for some reason, the rocks also want to come down the slope along with you.

So, the next time you are off to troodos, take this small diversion and enjoy the "highest" waterfall in Cyprus. If you are going in winter, it gets really cold at the fall, because is is deep in a valley with little sunshine. So, be prepared with lot of warm clothes. Also, the amount of water increases a lot in winter because of the melting snow and it can be quite an adventure just to get to the base of the fall.
Look at the difference below. The first one was taken in winter and the second one in summer. But, one thing is sure, any time of the year, a visit to Millomeri waterfall is a good trip to make.

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Double Bridge in Trimiklini Village, Cyprus

Cyprus is famous for its medieval bridges, but the ones that hog the limelight are the Kelefos bridge and the Elia Bridge. There are many more bridges in Cyprus but they rarely fall into the itinerary of a tourist.
One such bridge is the one found in Trimiklini Village on the way to Troodos. This is unique considering the fact that this is the only double bridge in Cyprus. Ages ago, there used to be traffic along both the layers of the bridge, but now only the top section is accessible through a road which runs on it.
Many years back, we went in search of this bridge. We knew that it was in Trimiklini, but didn't know the exact location. Since i didn't have a photo of the bridge, i couldn't get much help from the locals either. So, we started off by venturing into every paved exit branching off from the main road near Trimiklini. We also found a old stone bridge running over a stream and even concluded that this was the one!

Finally after many wrong turns, we found the right one and drove right to the bridge. It looks quite good with the greenery around. On tracing the stream across the valley floor, we found that the old stone bridge also lies on the same stream.

So, how do you get to the Double bridge in Trimiklini?

• If you are going from Limassol, take the road to Troodos from the highway.
• You will enter the village of Trimiklini after around 20 kms (not sure of the distance, but you cannot miss this village, as it is right on the main road)
• In this village, you will also find a shop advertising a "Waterfall". Don't go to this. This "waterfall" is just the trickling water from the kitchen probably. He even used to charge 1 pound for this sometime back.
• Just after the village, you will come across a small road bridge. If you stick (you or the car) close to the shoulder on the left of the bridge, you should get the view below.

If you reach the junction where the road on the left goes to Omodhos/Mandria and the road on the right goes to Saittas, you have crossed the exit to Trimiklini. Actually, the exit to the bridge is a very small lane to the left of the road just before the road bridge mentioned before. It won't cost you much to reach the road bridge, look out and say "Ah, there is the bridge" and reverse a bit to take the first left you come across. This is much safer than me trying to tell you instructions to find the exact lane to take!
After you finish seeing the bridge, you might ask "So, where is this stream coming from?". To answer this, all you have to do is come out onto the main road, cross the road bridge and then park to the right (there is an open parking space next to/in front of a restaurant). By the side of the restaurant, you will see a narrow path heading towards what looks like a dam. Yes, it is a dam, one built across the same stream.

This was how the stream looked like 4 years back, just before the best rainy season Cyprus had for a long long time. It was a very deep valley with just a trickle of water flowing at the bottom. We had even thought of carrying out a trekking expedition to the bottom of the river at that time.

This is how it looks now. Yes, it is the same stream. So full that it even overflows across the dam. Now, our thoughts were like "This would make a nice place to try kayaking"!

Don't forget to visit this place when you got to Trimiklini. Perapedi dam is also close-by, but that would be part of another post!

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Getting high on the Troodos mountains

Whenever there is lot of snow on the troodos mountains, I say "The whole of Limassol is going to be in Troodos this weekend", but the last weekend, it looked like the entire Cyprus population was on troodos! Never have i seen such a traffic jam on troodos. The best part was that we had left at 9.30 AM from Limassol. Usually, our groups gets up this time on weekends and then starts planning to go somewhere. So, we reached the troodos square under the assumption that we would have the entire snow to ourselves.
We were wrong! Terribly wrong! It took us almost an hour to cover the distance of 2 kilometres from the Troodos square to the top of Mount Olympus. It took a wait of over 30 mins on the top to find a parking place. Many returned, having lost hope of finding one. But, we waited and finally got one around 500 m from the ski station.
But, we didn't actually go straight to Mt.Olympus. On the way, the fresh slopes on the sides of the road were too enticing to avoid. So, we stopped and bought a plastic slide thing and started fooling around!
But, it doesn't always work out fine. Anith, "the brave" kumar ("The brave" part is yet to written abt - another post) always ended up in the wrong direction. Harish had another kind of problem, he never managed to stay on the slide thing.

After a few such unsuccessful attempts, we decided to go to our favourite spot, the place opposite the ski center, on the ridge. Guess what, Harish found life there, not the human kind, but the insect kind and it was alive and kicking!

Like last year, we found this ridge "undamaged" by human intervention and decided to go ahead and damage it with our footsteps and slides.

We were tired and about to make our way back to the car. Then a small snowball fight erupted and by chance, i kicked at a snowball. Harish happened to take a photo of this. I liked the photo a lot. Harish then asked me to do a kind of jump-kick which turned out to be even better on the photo.

So, this started a series of snowball-throwing-and-kicking photo session.

After a while , people got bored of snowing snowballs at me. So, they decided to get into the action and we started attempting flying kicks at each other. Harish was satisfied with staying on the ground level!

Of course, as always, we have the famous smart Cypriot and his four wheel driven jeep, attempting smart tricks on the snow, then getting caught and requesting for help! They are one of a kind!

From the videos taken by Anith "the brave" kumar, i have created a small video (1.5 MB) of all the sliding action, the first part is very small because of some wrong setting. Enjoy!

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Kalidonia waterfall snow trek in Troodos, Cyprus

This waterfall is also referred to by the names Calidonia Falls, Caledonia Falls or Kaledonia waterfalls. There are different stories as to its name. Some say that it is because of the Caledonia trees in this area while other sources say that it was named so by a Scottish explorer. Never mind the name, this is the highest waterfall in Cyprus and it is beautiful!

If you are reading this post anytime in Jan/Feb/Mar, then go for this trek! I assure you that this will be one of the best treks you have done in Cyprus. This doesn't mean that you can't do this trek other times of the year, just that you have the snow to wade through. If you are trekking in the US or other parts of the world, many of the trails would be closed because of the presence of ice/snow on the trails. I have experienced this in South Carolina where the best trails were closed because of slippery conditions. Probably, they don't to get sued if someone slips and hurts himself. But, this adds to the adventure, right?
No such rule in Cyprus! The Kalidonia trail is open throughout the year, be it sun/rain/snow. This trail is at its best in late winter when the track is covered with more than a foot of snow and you have to predict the path and proceed on it. We have done this trail in peak summer, when it was raining, just after it had snowed and each time, the experience is different. I particularly like the snow trek and have been it doing this walk for the last 4 years now, each time introducing a new group of friends to this wonderful trail. Btw, this waterfall is also referred to sometimes as Calidonia

You can walk this trail in either direction or even half way. The bottom of the trail is at Platres, right next to the Psilo Dendron Trout farm (you have take a right where the exit to platres goes to the left). From this point, you can walk to the fall in under 30 minutes (one-way). This distance is about a km or so. You have many stream crossings, but this part doesn't have much snow unless the snow has been very heavy so as to even bury Platres.

If you are planning to go the full stretch, some of the points to take note of:

• The trek can be done either from top to bottom or the other way. It is not a circular trek.
• So, if you are really in the mood, you can retrace your path along the trek to reach your starting point or if you have really nothing else to do, walk the 7 km stretch on the road instead of retracing the trail.
  
• What i do: We always go in n cars such that our entire grp can fit into n-1 cars. We leave one car at the bottom point of the trail (near Platres) and then all of us go (in n-1 cars) to the top of the trail. After we finish the walk, the drivers get into that one car and then go and fetch the remaining cars.
• The snow can be upto a foot deep and it can get very slippery at places, so it is a must to wear good shoes, not the kind which wet your feet after few minutes in snow or sneakers with plastic soles. I have knee-high rubber boots, so i just don't care where i put my feet! Get one of these, they are great and pretty cheap too. I got mine in Festival Shoes for just 4 CYP 3 years back and I have been putting them to real bad use on the snow and also on the salt lakes.
  
• Even if it sunny, it can get quite cold towards the early part of the trek (you are warmed up later!) because you trek under the cover of the trees.
• Be prepared to fall often. So, gloves are a must, as even a few seconds of the snow/ice on your bare hands can be terrible. Of course, this means that you have the painful task and removing the gloves often to take photos of the beautiful sceneries you get to see.
• There are lot of stream crossing and some of them are a bit tricky. So, be prepared to put your feet into the water.

There is one steep downhill section. There are steps here, but they are covered with snow during winter. It is not a problem if the snow is heavy. You don't see any of the steps, you just slide down the entire way. But, if there is not much snow and there is ice, these steps get really slippery and difficult to navigate.

After you climb down this section, the trail goes to the left, but if you go to the right, you can see a mini-waterfall. If you look hard, you can also the wrecked remains of car caught in the trees above.

There is also another area which stands out from the rest. This particular area has lot of boulders, all covered by moss and the green colour of the moss stands out from the white snow surroundings.

After this trail, depending on the mood of the fellow travellers, we go over to Mount Olympus. We don't go to the skiing side, it is very crowded and there is nothing much non-skiiers can do there. So, we go to the ridge opposite to the ski station, where there is also a viewing telescope (though i don't know whether it ever worked). Here, the crowd is less as it is open and much more colder than the other areas. If the snow is fresh, this slope provides a great opportunity for some crazy sliding.

If you want to see more beautiful photos from the trek (65 of them with comments about each photo), click here to go to the Kalidonia Trek Photo page for a flash photo presentation. Warning: The flash is 3.5 MB is size, but rest assured that the wait will be worth it.
Enjoy the beauty that Cyprus has to offer!

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It's cold is Cyprus: Very cold

In July, it was extremely hot, now it is extremely cold! The weather is going crazy. Hailstorms were a rarity in Limassol, but just yesterday, there were more than 3 or 4 hailstorms. But, the good news is there is LOT of snow on troodos, good enough to last for a few weeks.

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Elia Bridge - Venetian Bridges in Cyprus