Russian Church And Copper Mine Adventure Part 1.

As usual, I have come up with a road trip idea but wasn't sure how to pitch it to the family. After all how often does a 9 years old want to visit a church let alone an abandoned copper mine. But luckily I have underestimated her enthusiasm and they both agreed to be on the road again.

The plan was visiting the new Russian church first in Episkopeio village then drive to the red lake in Mitsero and finally explore the copper mine.

I am not a spiritual person but admire beautiful architectural buildings, and I still remember visiting a similar looking church in Bulgaria on one of our family trips. I wasn't older than 5 or 6 but the glistening onion shaped gold domes were a big attraction to my child mind, made me imagine I was in fairyland.

We left home early morning and took the highway to Nicosia following the guidance of our GPS. Once we got off the carriage way we had to drive through couple of villages and empty fields. At some point it felt like we arrived to a western movie scene, mountains in the middle of the desert, dry grass rustling in the wind, maybe some cactus would have helped too ... I kept looking around to see some cowboys riding horses chasing some poor Indians but there were none.

We continued driving few more minutes and not too far from Tamassos dam I could finally see the shiny domes ahead us.

We just reached the parking lot but I already couldn't wait to get out of the car. It was an amazing, extraordinary view, a huge area with greenery, parks, amphitheatre, playground for kids, fountains. In the middle the church itself simply breath taking.

This is the first Russian Church in Cyprus built by a Russian millionaire. The five gold domes were brought from St Petersburg, weighing nearly 8 tons and the temple was later assembled here. Not exactly like in the middle age but just as fascinating.

We were all very excited to walk around but once Emma saw the the playground she was sold and wouldn't leave the trampoline, which gave us time to explore.

We passed a couple of beautiful miniaturised churches on the path leading up to the main square where we could finally enter the main temple.

The interior is truly wonderful, I find it hard to describe it, you need to see it with your own eyes. Thousands of bright colors, hand painted masterpieces on every inch of the walls, sunshine reflecting on the marble floor, mild smell of scented candles. As soon as we passed the gates everything just calmed down around us, we entered into a magical world.

We both were speechless and tried hard to take it all in.

In the right wing we saw an artist still working on the decoration and painting leaves on the ceiling. I quite enjoyed to idea of witnessing the birth of a beautiful design.

Centuries ago other people might have felt the same when they were having peek of Michelangelo's ongoing work in Sistine chapel.

This lady could be flattered now as I compared her to Michelangelo, however that was not my intention.

Eventually we left the church and continued our walk towards a wooden gate which opened to another wonder. Behind the glamour and shine was hiding a sleepy Maramuresan Romanian Orthodox Church surrounded by other tiny houses, beautifully carved from wood brought from Romania. The grass was so green and soft, red and purples geraniums were planted in the front of the porches, the whole peaceful village idyll reminded me of Andrersen's fairy tales.

The small church seemed to be open, but soon after we stepped in a nun appeared and gave us a grumpy look so I didn't dare to touch my camera or stay longer.

It was around noon so we said good-bye to this amazing place, walked back to the car and set off to our next destination. Mitsero's red lake and copper mine. (See part 2.)