Paphos Country Sightseeing
Inside
Not only that, but it is worth going in the church to see the lovely altar.
Mary The Guide
Thanks to numerous articles on churches that I have written over the years, I was able to explain to our guests that this was an example of a particular style of church painting known as "Mary The Guide". She holds the baby Jesus on her knee and guides us towards him with her outstretched hand.
A Hodegetria, (the Guide Greek: Οδηγητρια), is an iconographic depiction of the Theotokos (Virgin Mary) holding the Child Jesus at her side while pointing to him as the source of salvation for humankind. The Virgin's head usually inclines towards the child, who raises his hand in a blessing gesture. In the Western Church this type of icon is sometimes called Our Lady of the Way.
The most venerated icon of the Hodegetria type, regarded as the original, was displayed in the Monastery of the Panaghia Hodegetria in Constantinople, which was built specially to contain it. Unlike most later copies it showed the Theotokos standing full-length. It was said to have been brought back from the Holy Land by Eudocia, the wife of emperor Theodosius II (408–450), and to have been painted by Saint Luke the apostle himself.
Picnic Time
We finished our adventures with a somewhat windy picnic near the village of Koilineia. We came here from Sinti Monastery, and had hoped to stop at the lovely chapel of Agios Nikolaos Galataria on the way. Unfortunately though, it was closed to the public while they performed some maintenance work.
Distant Koilineia
The picnic site was very pretty, and had some lovely views. They were laying pipes in the road nearby though, so if you hot foot it up there for a quick sandwich do watch out for roadworks.
Xeros View
And that was the end of our adventure for the day. Well, we drove past another couple of abandoned villages on the way back to Polemi, but I won't go over that here. If you fancy doing some exploring of your own, but want to stay on high quality roads, then check out our Road Trip eBooks available on Amazon. Each one will take you on a wonderful voyage of discovery without putting your hire car at risk. So check them out!
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Related Blogs:
Vouni Path
Pano Panagia is a village full of charm and beauty, that lies in the foothills of Paphos Forest. As well as being the birthplace of Archbishop Makarios III, it also has an amazing nature trail to tempt you to visit. If you feel like a decent bit of exercise, then put on your walking boots and join us as we follow the Vouni Path.
Abandoned Villages - Vretsia
Cyprus has more than it's fair share of abandoned villages. The troubles caused the displacement of both Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots.The environment itself has caused other villages to be abandoned for reasons of safety. Whatever the reason, the abandonment caused emotional pain and suffering to the affected people. So is it right to right a series of blog articles on them? I thought about this for a while, but decided that yes it was. Cyprus is a land built on antiquities, and these villages are just the latest example. I had no problem blogging about a Necropolis after all. However, some of these villages, and especially Ventris, do still get visits from the displaced families. So if you do decide to visit these places on the strength of these articles, please bear that in mind, and treat them with respect. The urban exploring motto "take only pictures, leave only footprints..." nicely sums it up.
Vretsia Tavern
We recently did a blog on the abandoned village Vretsia. Until recently, a tavern still operated there. Unfortunately, last summer it appears to have burnt down. It is now a very eerie place to visit...
Roudia Bridge Time Warp
An old photograph, showing a young man standing on top of a broken Venetian Bridge got us excited recently. It looked a bit like Roudia, but the rock outcrop in the background seemed in the wrong place. There was only one way to find out for sure...
The Xeros Valley
The Xeros Valley should be the goto destination for anybody who wants to experience off-roading in Cyprus without running the gauntlet of assorted buggies and ATVs you find on the Akamas in mid-summer. This article is a summary of the recent Facebook journey we made up it, from the sea to Paphos Forest.
Sinti Monastery
It's time for another guest blog, and this time Max has taken a break from his minerals to show us somewhere a bit more spiritual. Over to you Max... Sinti Monastery is a very important ancient monument and not far away from Paphos, in the beautiful Xeros River Valley. I thought I would take a round trip. In order that people can visit the place all year round (even after a good Winter's rain) in a normal car I took the longer route over the hills where the roads nowadays are all properly surfaced. On the way back you can either take the same road (Winter) or use the short cut along the Xeros river bed which is only 8 km until the next village Nata.Related Pages
MapPaphos Country Sightseeing
We have recently had friends from the UK visiting, and naturally took them to see some of the treasures of Paphos that are away from the usual tourist's eye. In this article we explore the top part of the Xeros Valley, take in an abandoned village and a beautiful Venetian Bridge.
Good Pages To Visit
FB PagePaphos Life on Facebook
Like us on Facebook and stay notified of new blog posts.
FB PageOur Facebook Chat Group
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.
ListBlog Locations
Planning a day out? Then use our map of blog locations as a handy guide. Some of the places we visit our closer to each other than you might think, so take a look and start planning your next adventure...
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.
