Abandoned Villages - Vretsia
A House In Use!
This house still appears to be in use. The garden is slightly overgrown, but the gate was padlocked and the place looked lived in.
Max, who supplied one of the above photos, visited here many years ago too. He recalled meeting an inhabitant then:
“Finally I like to tell you a story when I visited Vrecha the first time. Next to the minaret I realized that somebody may live there and stopped my little Mini Moke in front of a ruined building. An old lady came out of the house and invited us to come in. There was no any furniture but one chair which was used as table. The old lady offered us water to drink and made us sit down on the floor. Then she came with halloumi cuts and black olives to eat. Conversation was very hard as I spoke not any Greek then. After we finished the food she was very proud to show us in a small shed next doors a black pig but then something happened I will never forget in my live. There was a second very small low shed, very dark, and coming out of the sunshine I could not recognize what she was pointing to. As she realized that I was not understanding she took one bamboo stick and stirred something up. Now I saw it: she had dying embers, yes she had fire if she wanted, all the time.....
And she was so proud about it, you would not believe. We left the place but could not stop talking about the situation what just happened until we arrived back in Latchi were we stayed at the time.”
I don't think this was the house that Max visited, but perhaps the lady decided to move into a less dilapidated dwelling?
A Tiny Church or a Big Shrine
Originally I thought that this might be the smallest church in Paphos. But it is actually a fairly large shrine. We found it while looking for the tavern. We have visited Vretsia several times over the years, and had heard about the tavern. However, it only seemed to open during the hunting season, and we had never previously visited in that period.
Inside The Shrine
Hunters presumably prey for a decent hunt.
On The Way To The Tavern
We like how random chairs appear in Cyprus. This was on the way to the tavern, and unfortunately we could already see that all was not what we were expecting...
Outside The Tavern
This scene almost looks lovely. A swing for the kids, outside a rustic tavern. Unfortunately, the tavern was gutted by fire last year. I have photos of it, but I will save them for my next blog. I will close this blog with an interesting tidbit again supplied by Max:
"I don't know about the tavern but I know from the press that the locals tried to run a brothel there and it was closed down from the authorities."
Oh I say!
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Related Blogs:
From Vretsia to Kelefos
This is another Road-Trip blog. Paphos Forest contains many treasures, and two of it's finest are the Venetian Bridges Roudia and Kelefos. Of the two, the latter is easy to locate. However, Roudia eluded us for some time, as it is easy to miss, being buried in woodland. So we have put together this guide, showing the route we took from our starting point of the abandoned village of Vretsia, through the forest to Kelefos and beyond. The aim of this blog is not to provide a de-facto route through the forest. After all, tracks get closed, and new tracks get opened every year. No, we mainly want to show you what you can expect to find should you decide to venture into the forest. We will do other blogs on the bridges themselves; today is all about the journey...
Vretsia Tavern Revisited
A few months ago, I wrote a blog about the abandoned village of Vretsia. I also did a supplementary blog about Vretsia Taven which, until last summer had still been open seasonally, for hunters and the like. In that blog, I reported that it had obviously had a nasty fire, as it was very badly burned. Well yesterday we were giving some guests a tour of the area, and we popped in to see the tavern. I was pleasantly surprised with what I found...
Abandoned Villages - Statos
Statos is unusual, as abandoned villages go. People deserted it not because of inter-communal fighting, but because of the threat of landslides. And then, no sooner had they emptied, some of the abandoned buildings were repopulated. Were villagers returning, or had outsiders moved in, prepared to take the risk of landslide?
Chrysochou Cemetery
If you drive along the B7 towards Polis, pay attention as you pass by Chrysochou. On your right, through the trees, you will be able to make out some strange stone shapes. One day recently, while we were preparing for our recent Chrysochou blog, we decided to investigate further...
Return to Vretsia
Vretsia has always been a favourite place of ours to explore in Cyprus. Nestled on the edge of Paphos Forest, it has been the gateway to many an offroad adventure. We first blogged about it a couple of years ago, but recent changes have made us return to take a closer look...
Playing With The Vretsia Donkeys
We meet any number of animals when we are out on our travels. On the last bank holiday, we thought we would pay some of them another visit, so we packed a picnic and headed off to Vretsia, to say hello to the donkeys...
Ayios Ioannis - Part 1
We haven't explored the further reaches of the Diarizos Valley much, especially not the hilltops that head towards the Xeros Valley and Paphos Forest. We've been rectifying that recently, and in this blog we want to take you on a visit to Ayios Ioannis. We thought it would be a smallish village, but we were in for a surprise. This blog is large, so we have split it in two parts. The second part will be published in a day or two.
Ayios Ioannis - Part 2
In the concluding part of our visit to Ayios Ioannis we continue through the village before visiting an old abandoned school, and finish up gazing down upon the Xeros Valley and Paphos Forest.Good Pages To Visit
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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.
