I mean, this hill is right next to where we parked the car. But is that a real hill, or is it man-made? It doesn't have much in the way of antiquity about it. Does all this belong in the quarry we saw in the drone shot?

It isn't all like that though. The undergrowh in the background here is a lot more substantial. It would be so great if we could use Google Maps to look back 100 years at satellite images. I certainly envy our Great Grand-Children. Mind you, I just looked at the Victorian Maps of the area, and there is no sign of any mine there at all. I was able to find out that the mine was filled in again between 2008 and 2011. Further digging(!) revealed the following nugget(!!) about Cyprus mining in general:

"In modern years, copper exploitation began around 1921 from the area of Skouriotissa and it was continued intensively up to 1974"

So the entire mine and slag heaps are all less than 100 years old.

From the car it looks a bit like there are patches of snow dotted around.

You can see this more clearly from the drone. In fact, what you are looking at is a bed of chemicals that have been deposited on top of the slag. We will get a close up view soon. First though, I want to show you the most interesting part.

If you want to find crystals here, there are three ways. First just walk around looking for them. Second, bash some of the rocks you see with a hammer. You will find a number of little crystals encased in fossilised bubbles. We showed you some of these in a previous article, so look at the links at the bottom of the page to see more of them.

Finally though, come to a gulley like this. Here you will find gypsum, pyrite and a host of other weird and wonderful minerals that have been washed by the rain water. However, you do need to be a bit careful. During the winter the area can be very boggy. During the summer, if any water is still flowing through it (and some was when we were here) then it will be a Mecca for hornets. They won't be interested in you unless you get too close to one of their nests. But be on your lookout, as they are fairly widespread.