On The Hunt Again - Fikardou, Gourri And Machairas Monastery

We had an extra day off this week so what could have been better than spending it out, hunting for places we've never seen before.

I heard about Fikardou - the deserted village before so I thought that would be a good spot to start our day adventure at.

It took us an hour drive on winding roads to get there, but the mountains view was totally worth it. Climbing higher and higher, passing by quarries, turquoise dams and small villages

made the journey very enjoyable.

This day Fikardou was busier than usual, having to host other villagers celebrating their national holiday, the Assumption of the Virgin Mary resulting with the scent of charcoal and grilled meat but apart from the hungry people in the tavern no one else were on the streets, the village was just as deserted as usual, since the beginning of the 19th century. According to the latest inventory or to the owner of the only restaurant in the village, the current population is between 3-7 people.

There were untold stories behind every chunky wooden doors and even though they were locked, I was hoping to see the past by peeking through the keyholes.

I wasn't too lucky to be honest, could not explore as much as I wanted but the medieval characteristic and folk architecture was still very charming.

The rural museum was closed due to the bank holiday but we found the village church open.

The Church of Apostles Petros and Pavlos is a small 18th century church but what made it very unique for me was the timbered ceiling decorated with the primitive pattern. I've never seen anything like that before and it was really captivating.

Once we left the church the village tour was over so we decided to have a look at Gourri too which was just 5 minutes away from Fikardou. I must say this exceeded my expectations with the steep narrow streets, mud brick houses, unobstructed views of the mountains and forests and of course the many abandoned ruins revealing the architecture of the past.

Not only that, but we were actually able to see the inside of some houses, finding elements of the village life and culture, wine barrels, pithari oli and wine jars, kleftiko ovens and in one place a big wooden loom machine.

Gourri is an early settlement too, from around 800 AD with a recent population of 300 people, mainly elderly which explains the amount of deserted homes. Located on a rough side at the foothill of the Machaira mountains, in the center of the village stands the Agios Georgios church surrounded by charming cottages and alleys.

For an unplanned stop it was a really nice little walk, totally worth the time.

Talking about unplanned destinations, our next stop was the Machairas Monastery one of the most famous on the island and yet I have never heard of it. We were driving away from Gourri when I spotted the red brick rooftops in the middle of the forest and luckily the monastery was in our way, so paying it a visit was a must. It transpired to be the most beautiful and peaceful places we've been so far.

Legend has it that an unknown hermit smuggled an icon of the Virgin Mary to Cyprus which remained in its hiding place until the arrival of two other hermits who stumbled across the icon in a cave. To reach it, they had to machete their way into the cave through the thick plant growth, so the icon assumed the name 'Machairotissa' in reference to the Greek word for knife. The whole monastery founded on this site takes its name from this icon.

Given that this day was dedicated to the Virgin Mary there were quite a few pilgrims visiting which for the first time I didn't mind. I saw the No photos allowed signs so I thought if we blend in, I might be able to take some sneaky pictures.

So we did. We put on the capes to be appropriately dressed and walked in.

It was really peaceful and tranquil there and although I didn't see any monks around I tried to play invisible, didn't want to be told off for taking photos.

The monastery played an important role in the fights of the country, the EOKA hero Gregoris Afxentiou was hiding here in many occasion until an informant had betrayed his location and the British forces resorted to pouring petrol into his hideout and lighting it, burning him alive and also never reported on this crime, opting to tell the public newspapers in Britain that Afxentiou was already dead when they scorched his body, in fear of it being seen as a Crime Against Humanity. How sad!

We wandered in and around the churches, enjoyed the amazing view and silence and drank from the cold refreshing mountain water before we left the monastery and hit the road again just to find another memorial statue of Afxentiou.

We weren't entirely sure what we were looking at when we spotted the angel looking statue on the top of the hill so we turned the car around and drove there to check it out.

I really didn't know anything about this part of the country's history so I was only assuming the statue was representing a fallen soldier of sort but after learning more about Afxentiou and their fight, the whole composition and its location makes perfect sense.

Of course my Mr P had to have his "on the top of the world photo" before calling it a day and driving back home, stopping in Lefkara, but I will talk about that another time...