Elia Bridge
Like its more famous neighbour, Elia Bridge spans the Diarizos River in the south western corner of Paphos Forest. Along with Roudia and Kelefos, it forms the Venetian Bridges Nature Trail, which is a lovely route, even if you do opt to drive, rather than hike it's distance. Let's take a quick peek...
From The Road
Elia Bridge isn't as well known as Kelefos, it's nearest neighbour. However, if you visit Kelefos, you may as well continue up the Kaminaria Road for a short while, as Elia isn't very far away. Bear in mind that when you get there, you won't have many places to park. So you may find it easiest to park in the layby directly before the modern bridge. Then cross over the bridge and look right.
Inspectors' Signatures
If you are puzzled by these funny scrawls, they are left by forestry workers who record the times they inspected the area, presumably to spray insecticides or something similar. A few years ago, there was a thin sheet of wood hanging from one of the trees here. From a distance it looked like some sort of prayer wheel. In fact, it just contained a load of these signatures. Originally, I thought they were tags left by urban explorers, but eventually, by asking in a blog, I found out their true purpose.
No Hump
Approaching the bridge, the first thing to notice is that there is no hump. Both Roudia and Kelefos Bridge have pronounced humps in their centre. Elia is more or less flat.
Downstream
From the top of the bridge is a fair drop to the river.
Upstream
It looks a bit more scenic that way.