From Vretsia to Kelefos

[Dominic]

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...

Read the article and chat about it below...

[Ams]

Thanks Dominic, great pics as usual. Brings back memories of my trips to Kefalos (quite a few) and Rhoudia (not so many though it's my favourite bridge). I've never seen Kefalos without the river running under it though!

[memory man]

Kefalos or Kelefos

Are they 2 different places?

Or is one of them misspelt!

[cyprusmax47]

Very nice Blog again Dominic. Ashame there is no more water running in the rivers. One can see how serious the water shortage of this year is. I never ever have seen these rivers dry. I remember times when I had to return to Agios Nicolaos as there was no chance to cross the river at Kelefos Bridge even not with my Nissan Patrol that time. This route from Vretsia to Kelefos brings me back very nice memories when I was guiding a group of mountain biker from Germany, producing the first TV film from channel Eurosport as their pilot film to mountain bike in Europe. They had to carry their bikes on their shoulders to cross the rivers. A photo from October 2013 before the first rain shows at least some water, just after Roudhia Bridge.



Max

[Yioula]

Great Blog .......fabulous scenery and directions....

[PaphosAL]

Your blogs just keep getting better and better, Dominic! Thank you so much for taking the time and trouble in producing then sharing them here on Paphos Life!

A few of your beautiful photos brought back memories from when I once did a hotel stay in the tourist area of Limassol and hired a car for 3 days. Magical mystery tour up into the Troodos hills on day one...

You come to a fork in the track with no signs, and both tracks look the same. Do you go left or right? Soon, the same scenario comes up again, then again, and again... I found myself totally and utterly lost in a forested wilderness, unable to spot lalandmarks (due to all the pine trees), desperate to find civilization and escape back down the main roads to the coast...

These situations get quite scary, actually. This experience was long before the advent of GPS and (in my case) mobile phone. And the Limassol tourist map was worse than useless for navigation up there in Troodos, if you ventured off the highway to explore!

Maybe the Forestry Dept have improved signage on these previously unsigned track forks in the forested hills during the past two or three decades? I hope so...

Cheers- AL

[Mark]

I think the Arminou reservoir is fuller due to desalinated water.

Great pics, but not sure if I would be brave enough to attempt the trip, I would worry about getting lost!

Hats off to you Dominic, thanks to you, I can see parts of this beautiful Island that otherwise I would miss.

[Dominic]

Very nice Blog again Dominic. Ashame there is no more water running in the rivers. One can see how serious the water shortage of this year is. I never ever have seen these rivers dry. I remember times when I had to return to Agios Nicolaos as there was no chance to cross the river at Kelefos Bridge even not with my Nissan Patrol that time. This route from Vretsia to Kelefos brings me back very nice memories when I was guiding a group of mountain biker from Germany, producing the first TV film from channel Eurosport as their pilot film to mountain bike in Europe. They had to carry their bikes on their shoulders to cross the rivers. A photo from October 2013 before the first rain shows at least some water, just after Roudhia Bridge.

Max

Hi Max, the Roudia Bridge river isn't dry. It is only the Kelefos River. But that was dry as a bone.

[Dominic]

Your blogs just keep getting better and better, Dominic! Thank you so much for taking the time and trouble in producing then sharing them here on Paphos Life!

A few of your beautiful photos brought back memories from when I once did a hotel stay in the tourist area of Limassol and hired a car for 3 days. Magical mystery tour up into the Troodos hills on day one...

You come to a fork in the track with no signs, and both tracks look the same. Do you go left or right? Soon, the same scenario comes up again, then again, and again... I found myself totally and utterly lost in a forested wilderness, unable to spot lalandmarks (due to all the pine trees), desperate to find civilization and escape back down the main roads to the coast...

These situations get quite scary, actually. This experience was long before the advent of GPS and (in my case) mobile phone. And the Limassol tourist map was worse than useless for navigation up there in Troodos, if you ventured off the highway to explore!

Maybe the Forestry Dept have improved signage on these previously unsigned track forks in the forested hills during the past two or three decades? I hope so...

Cheers- AL

Most of the forest is still like that. Sometimes you just have to pick a route and see where you end up. It took us several attempts over the years before we managed to navigate the route successfully. And we must have driven past Roudia Bridge on numerous occasions before we actually found it.

[Dominic]

Kefalos or Kelefos

Are they 2 different places?

Or is one of them misspelt!

Same place. You will also see it spelt Tzelefos Bridge. So I think Kelefos is the correct spelling if you are using K.

[PaphosAL]

Whatever the spelling, it's still been a fascinating read today, thanks!

Cheers- AL

[Dominic]

A forthcoming blog will be on Handara waterfall, which is also spelt (depending on which roadsign you read) Hantara and Chantara.

The Cypriots are laid back about the spelling, and why not?

[Poppy]

Thanks for posting this Dominic it reminds me of my most scary drive in Cyprus when we drove from Kefalos( as we call it) to Vretsia( although we did not know we would end up in Vretsia!!) - that was the icing on the cake for our two photographers! I was the driver in our Honda HRV, the river at Kefalos was about a foot deep but the others assured me that I could cross it no problem so with trepidation I managed it. We were looking for the other venetian bridge but missed it and got stuck on the very narrow and sheer drop tracks where you could not turn round and go back so just had to keep going and eventually we arrived in Vretsia . This was about 7 years ago and my husband won an award with his photographs of the derelict houses, many of which you could enter then but which many are now boarded up. I remember one house still had items on the table and clothes draped over a chair and it looked as though they had left in a hurry. Very sad. I was later told that the Cyprus Rally goes on those old camel tracks - so glad I did not meet them that day!

[Dominic]

I blogged about Vretsia a few months ago:

https://www.paphoslife.com/blog/vretsia

There were items left on tables when we last visited too, though they are more modern than 1974. For instance, the tins of chocolate had sell by dates of 2010.

Some of the houses are still occasionally used by hunters, I think, as crash pads. So the houses aren't boarded up, just locked to keep out nosey photographers (I am referring to me here, rather than your husband).

The tavern burned down last summer, but, as I showed a few weeks ago in another blog, they are resurrecting it. I remember the first time I found it had burned down I noticed that the huge pile of firewood next to it was still intact. I did wonder if salvaging some of the firewood would be considered bad form, so I left it there. I was gutted when we next visited the place, to find that the whole pile had been set alight, and the ashes were still smouldering.

There is one house that still looks fully occupied, and I have seen a farmer down there a couple of times, so it may well be his property. It is fenced off so I have naturally stayed away from it.

The route you took that was hair-raising is probably the route we used to take that now has the ranch on it (but in reverse). It is a shame it is now blocked off as it was more fun than the current route. But I agree, it was more hair-raising too! I am not surprised you missed Roudia Bridge, but you will have driven right past it. When we finally found it we couldn't believe where it was.

[Poppy]

Have you been to the Verengaria/Berengaria Hotel in Prodomos? Very interesting history and photogenic albeit dangerous in places - could make a good blog?

[Steve Matthews]

There are about a dozen or so of these fascinating and beautiful bridges dotted around the forests/mountains. A few years ago I spent a very happy winter exploring the region and finding them all. They're not all listed on every map and I could only find some by chatting to people in nearby villages and farms.
Great blog, thanks for sharing.

[Dominic]

There are about a dozen or so of these fascinating and beautiful bridges dotted around the forests/mountains. A few years ago I spent a very happy winter exploring the region and finding them all. They're not all listed on every map and I could only find some by chatting to people in nearby villages and farms.
Great blog, thanks for sharing.

There are more than a dozen, and you get them further afield than the forests too. Somebody sent me a link to a list of about 24 of them. There is one in Limassol, and they recently found one in the Geroskipou end of the Ezousa Valley, though they have reburied it until they decide how best to preserve it.

Eventually I hope to feature them all, but I am not going anywhere, and there is plenty of time. If it takes a year or five years, I'm not fussed.

[Dominic]

Have you been to the Verengaria/Berengaria Hotel in Prodomos? Very interesting history and photogenic albeit dangerous in places - could make a good blog?

Yes, and we will go back one day when it isn't completely tipping it down. Unfortunately when we visited there was a bit of a monsoon going on. You are right, it will make a great blog, with an interesting history.

[Steve Matthews]

Wow.. I didn't realise there were so many bridges. I was thrilled at having found a dozen. Any chance of forwarding the list of bridges? I'll dust off the Brownie, polish my boots and get back out there ☺

[Ams]

Hi
Here's the list of bridges. I think I've found 12 so far.

Medieval bridge list (1).jpg (119.16 KiB) Viewed 7573 times