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.

Technorati Tags: cyprus bridge medieval bridges cyprus venetian bridges cyprus roudia bridge kelefos bridge elia bridge

If you found the above post interesting, why don't you subscribe by email to receive updates. You will receive a mail whenever a new post is put up!

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.

Technorati Tags: cyprus waterfall milomeri waterfall millomeri waterfall Kaledonia waterfall nature cyprus

If you found the above post interesting, why don't you subscribe by email to receive updates. You will receive a mail whenever a new post is put up!

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!

Technorati Tags:

cyprus bridge trimlikini village trimiklini village cyprus

If you found the above post interesting, why don't you subscribe by email to receive updates. You will receive a mail whenever a new post is put up!

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!

Technorati Tags: troodos snow cyprus mountain mount olympus skiing

If you found the above post interesting, why don't you subscribe by email to receive updates. You will receive a mail whenever a new post is put up!

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!

If you found the above post interesting, why don't you subscribe by email to receive updates. You will receive a mail whenever a new post is put up!

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.

Technorati Tags:

cold cyprus weather cyprus limassol snow troodos cyprus skiing cyprus

If you found the above post interesting, why don't you subscribe by email to receive updates. You will receive a mail whenever a new post is put up!

It snowed in Limassol!

Yesterday, there was a small hailstorm and today, there was snowfall in Limassol. This is how winter should be. In the 6+ years before, i have seen it snow in limassol for only one or two times and that too for a few seconds. But, today it lasted much longer. Long enough for Harish to come out and take a photograph.

I didn't bring my camera to work on the two days it rained/snowed. But, i found this lovely picture of snow-covered troodos taken by Rob and Mandy from Pissouri.

If you found the above post interesting, why don't you subscribe by email to receive updates. You will receive a mail whenever a new post is put up!

Flying in Cyprus

Just as always, I was browsing around for something new and interesting to do in Cyprus. I came across a website which advertised pleasure flights over Cyprus. Looked interesting! So, i sent over an email to the contact address asking for more details. I didn't expect an answer, as my many previous attempts to contact websites advertising sea kayaking around Cyprus or Hot Air Ballooning over Cyprus didn't get any replies.

But, I got a reply within a day. The website "Flying in Cyprus" was not an amateur attempt at a website, but a full fledged one giving lot of information. They have sightseeing trips as well as planes for rent and even flight training programmes.

Some details on the sightseeing trips they offer

• The flight lasts for around 45 minutes
• The flight starts from Larnaca, goes towards Limassol, then towards Troodos and then back to Larnaca
• The price is 85 CYP + VAT per person
• The plane can accommodate two passengers at a time

They also have helicopter trips, but they are more expensive at 250 CYP per person. I would love to go for this flight trip, especially since there is snow on troodos now. I have always wanted to have a better look at the dense Paphos forests just to the west of troodos, but Vidhya isnot very interested in this. If i convince her, you can see lot of photos here!

Technorati Tags: cyprus flying cyprus flight plane cyprus helicopter trip cyprus

If you found the above post interesting, why don't you subscribe by email to receive updates. You will receive a mail whenever a new post is put up!

There is snow on troodos!

UPDATE(JAN 30th 2008): There is LOT of snow on troodos, to the extent that the sun-facing side of troodos (towards limassol) is full of snow. It is even visible from Limassol. Btw, it also snowed in limassol, something of a rarity!

at least, that is what the pictures of the Ski Cam on Zeus slope on Troodos are showing. But, it is too early in the winter for heavy snow and in all probability, you should be seeing only dirty snow now on troodos.

But, these are good signs for things to come. The amount of snow falling troodos has been steadily reducing over the past few years and the duration for which there is snow is also reducing. So, if we have early snow this time, lets hope that we have snow on troodos during Christmas.

Lots of snow means that you can do a lot of things: Make a snowman - a lifelike one, not the two lumps of snows you usually see, arrange a snow trek to Kalidonia waterfalls or just fool around on the snow!

If you found the above post interesting, why don't you subscribe by email to receive updates. You will receive a mail whenever a new post is put up!

A Trip to Kelefos Bridge

Kelefos Bridge is the most famous of the still remaining medieval bridges in Cyprus. The other two in the same area are the Elia and Roudia bridges. I have been to this numerous times in various seasons and it had always been a nice visit.

To go to Kelefos bridge, this is the route to take:

• From the highway, take the troodos exit and go towards troodos.
• After around 20 kms, you will come to the village of trimlikini.
• Immediately after Trimlikini, you will come across a junction where there are roads going to various other villages to the right and left. You have to take left where the signs point towards Mandria and Omodos Monastery.
• Proceed towards Mandria on the same road. Just after Mandria, you will see many exits. Don't go towards Omodos/Platres. Take the turn towards Ayios Nikolas/Pafos.
• After this turn, the road is pretty narrow and single-laned. You have to drive for at least 15-20 minutes to reach Ayios Nikolas.
• Just when you enter Ayios Nikolas, you will see a brown board pointing the turn towards the right for Kelefos Bridge.
• You have to travel for around 6 kms on this earthen road to reach the bridge.

I had always wanted to take decent photographs of the crabs in this river. This time, i took my 70-300 lens and got some pretty ok shots. This place is also good for a picnic with few seats available at the banks of the river. We also did a river-walk, i.e. we walked on the river (as it is just over a feet deep) upstream for more than 1.5 hours. This was a very interesting trip. More about that in a later post. Enjoy the photos.

The photo below was very challenging to take as the insect was skipping around very fast on the water and it was difficult to get a proper focus on the insect. The one below is the best from almost a dozen attempts.

I am very happy with the photos of the crab below, considering the fact that the water was pretty murky and the crab was at least 10-15 cms inside the water. Had to use manual focus with a flash for these shots.

I tried to take a "different" shot of the bridge and as can be seen below, i failed :-)

You can also visit Elia Bridge which is just 2-3 kms from Kelefos Bridge.

Technorati Tags: picnic spot kelefos bridge cyprus troodos venetian bridge

If you found the above post interesting, why don't you subscribe by email to receive updates. You will receive a mail whenever a new post is put up!