If you only ever visit Cyprus in the summer you will be amazed to see what it looks like in Spring. Here is Fasoula, nestled in the Diarizos Valley. We are viewing it from above. There is a very good shortcut here from the F617, but that's for another blog.

From here, you can see the Church. What you can't see is the mosque. That's because it is hiding behind the trees. So let's go down and take a look.

As you descend to Fasoula, you can see where Souskiou is, in the distance, on the other side of the valley.

Fasoula is only a small village. It used to be populated by Turkish Cypriots, but they left after the troubles. In their place came Greek Cypriots who were displaced from the North.

This is what the PRIO database has to say about Fasoula:

Fasoula is a village located in Dhiarizos valley, twenty kilometers east of Paphos (Ktima) and three kilometers southwest of Mamonia. Goodwin suggests that although Fasoula means “beans” in Greek and Turkish, however, the village was most probably named after an early land owner. In 1958 Turkish Cypriots adopted the alternative name Bağrıkara, meaning “heartsick” or “afflicted.” The village suffered severely from the 1953 earthquake and was rebuilt in another location almost a kilometer away from its original location.

That's actually quite interesting, about them having to move after 1953. I wonder where the old village is?

Anyway, PRIO continues:

Historical Population:

As may be seen from the chart above, Fasoula was always a Turkish Cypriot village. Throughout the British period, the total population of the village constantly fluctuated. However, there was a steady increase recorded after 1946.

Displacement:

No one was displaced either during the tensions of the late 1950s, or during the intercommunal strife of 1963-64. However, the village served as a Turkish Cypriot enclave between 1963 and 1975 and together with Stavrokonou(338) constituted the most important Turkish Cypriot stronghold of the region. These were among the five Paphos villages that refused to surrender to Greek Cypriot forces in 1974 and were eventually evacuated to the north under UNFICYP escort on 7 September 1975, taking their weapons with them. Many of them were resettled in Koma tou Gialou/Kumyalı(154), Lysi/Akdoğan(167), Nicosia(074) and Famagusta(140). The total number of Fasoula Turkish Cypriots who were displaced after 1974 was approximately 210 (208 in 1973 census).

Current Inhabitants:

After the departure of the Turkish Cypriots, some displaced Greek Cypriots from the north were resettled in the village. The 2001 census put the total population of the village at 57.

So, unlike Souskiou and Maronas (links at foot of page), Fasoula is still very much alive. A walk through Fasoula will therefore give you a bit of a glimpse as to what life in those villages might have been like.