From Vretsia it is a very pleasant if somewhat bumpy drive to Roudia Bridge. This is one of several Venetian Bridges dotted throughout Paphos Forest and beyond. They formed the Camel Trail, which was the route minerals mined in the mountains went to get them to the sea. The bridges tend to be hump-backed. This lets camels walk over them during winter time, but gives them enough room to walk along the riverbed during the dry summer months. Roudia itself wasn't always this well preserved. I have seen a picture from the 50s where you can see the top portion was missing.

This drives me nuts. Roudia Bridge is an historical relic. However, it also has water, so receives regular visits from the ministery who sprays the area to prevent insects, presumably mosquitoes. Nothing annoying so far, but they insist on writing the date and initialling it on each visit. And they write it on the wall of the bridge itself!

Oh come on! Surely the workers have mobile phones. Could they not just take a timestamped picture of the bridge? Why deface it with all these scribblings?

There is an Information Sign here too, so they must know it is historically important.

The "Venetian Bridges" Nature Trail, connects three bridges (Roudias, Tzelefos and Elias), which were constructed when Venetians controlled the island (1489-1571), to serve access and trade needs of the nearby population.

The trail was part of the old route for the transportation of copper from "Pera Pedi" mine to Pafos Port. The transportation was carried out by camels to "Pera Vasa" where the ore was primarily treated. then it was carried out by horses to the port for export.

The path has two starting/finishing points. The first starts about 1km south of Kaminaria village, at the left side of the main road from Kaminaria to Arminou Dam. and Agios Nikolaos Village, whilst the second starting/finishing point is about 500m to the east of Vrestia village. The biggest part of the path, passes along forest roads.

The hiker of this Nature Trail enjoys panoramic views and passes through several Calabrian Pines Stands (Pinus brutia). Important points of interest along the "Venetian Bridges" trail, are "Arminou Dam" that is being supplied by "Diarizos River", the vulture observation point, the Old Forest Station of "Pera Vasa" and the homonymous Picnic Site where, one, can see the felled trunk of the century old pine and.

The sign itself finishes with "and". I would like to point that out! On the other side of Roudia Bridge you can see where lots of trees were knocked over the last time we had a really wet winter. If you want to see what it looked like just after the deluge, then read our article on The Camel Trail Venetian Bridges.

I remember taking the pictures for that article. It was one of the most enjoyable trips I have had in Cyprus.

Downstream of Roudia Bridge there was a man-made dam across the river. It was only small, but enough to produce a nice pool of water. There was a rope swing above the water and you could swing on it before plunging into the ice-cold depths. Unfortunately, they appear to have removed the dam, and flattened the area where the pool was. Now only the swing remains.