Foinikas in 2024
Foinikas is an abandoned village on the banks of the Asprokremmos Reservoir. Well, usually. At the moment it lies on Asprokremoos Prairie. Anyway, the village itself has a long history. In the Middle Ages it was the home of the Knights Templar, who once ruled Cyprus. This fact ensures the village gets a fair number of visitors from more adventurous tourists. I went there recently to fly my drone, and as well as a nice film, it also took these lovely pictures...
Reservoir Bogs
We shall begin our adventure with a view of the reservoir up towards the dam. There is a lot of dried mud about. This is a feature common with a lot of reservoirs at the moment. You may be tempted to drive across it at some point. Don't do it. It isn't worth it. Even if you are following tyre tracks, for all you know, they could have been left by an ATV which would be a lot lighter than your car. If you should sink into the mud, you will have a very hard time pulling yourself out too.
Upstream View
Turning around, you will see that a lot of the reservoir now looks like a plain. Hard to believe that a couple of years ago most of this was underwater. The reservoir was last full in the beginning of 2022.
Distant Foinikas
And here is the village itself. The golden hues of the sundried vegetation coupled with the bleach-white rocks that dot the landscape provide a lot of camouflage, but look closely in you will see a fair number of buildings in the shot.
Foinikas By The Lake
I hadn't originally intended writing an article on this visit. I wanted a film and I duly published it a few weeks ago. But when I saw the quality of the pictures that the drone took on its flight, I felt they were worth sharing in their own right.
Templar Towers
It has always been assumed that the ruins closest to the rocks are where the Knights hung out. The buildings further up the hill certainly look more modern.
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Related Blogs:
Abandoned Villages - Foinikas
Foinikas has a special place in our family's hearts. It was the first abandoned village we explored in Cyprus, some ten years ago. We have returned to it each time we visited Cyprus, and consquently have more pictures than we could ever possibly want of the village and surrounding area. We posted some of them on our blog about the Asprokremmos Reservoir. We wanted some up-to-date photos for the Abandoned Village blog series. So last saturday we revisited Foinikas, and couldn't believe what we found when we got there...
Foinikas Revisited
When we first blogged about Foinikas it was springtime, and the abandoned village was bathed in a sea of yellow. It was always an essential destination on our holidays, but we had never been in Spring, so it came as a pleasant surprise. However, it made it difficult to explore, as you never know what you might tread on when you have to wade through thigh-high flowers. As frequently happens with our blogs, people posted more information about the site in the comments. So we decided to pay another visit a few days ago, and explore it in more depth...
Foinikas by the Lake
The abandoned village of Foinikas lies on the banks of the Asprokremmos Reservoir. Now that the waters are lapping at the village boundaries, we thought we would pay it another visit, to see how it looks now.
Foinikas In Bloom
Foinikas is an abandoned village steeped in history, that lies on the banks of the Asprokremmos Reservoir, just to the East of Paphos. Current water levels make a visit a bit tricky, but if you perservere you will be rewarded by a sea of colour as the spring flowers bring the village to life.Related Pages
MapFoinikas in 2024
Foinikas is an abandoned village on the banks of the Asprokremmos Reservoir. Well, usually. At the moment it lies on Asprokremoos Prairie. Anyway, the village itself has a long history. In the Middle Ages it was the home of the Knights Templar, who once ruled Cyprus. This fact ensures the village gets a fair number of visitors from more adventurous tourists. I went there recently to fly my drone, and as well as a nice film, it also took these lovely pictures...
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Paphos Chat has been created for people who like our site and want to chat using Facebook. You can also easily upload photos of any size here. A lot of people are members of the Facebook chat group and the main forum. It's entirely up to you.
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eBookCyprus Road Trip 01: the Kathikas - Panagia Loop
Let me take you on a journey around the region of Paphos, Cyprus. Starting at Paphos itself, we travel to Akoursos, then Kathikas, Kritou Terra and Simou. We continue past Lasa and Kannaviou, before taking in the delights of Panagia. Getting a bit more adventurous, we visit the abandoned villages of Statos and Agios Fotios, before passing through Choulou, Letymbou and Polemi, and rejoining the main Paphos - Polis road.
The route is suitable for all types of vehicle, and requires no off-roading. The guide contains about 130 photographs including shots of all the road signs you need to pay attention to, as well as some of the highlights you may experience along the way.
There are also several maps which will help you keep your bearings.
You can do this journey in a day, or you can break it up into chunks. You can also do it in reverse, to get some completely different views. It is entirely up to you.
