Kritou Terra - Part 1

Published 1st of November, 2022

Welcome To Kritou Terra

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Once you enter the village you will be presented with this notice board and assortment of signs. There are a number of these situated throughout the village and it make navigation easier. It is worthwhile finding a place to park here so you can have a look around.

Old Mill For Olives, Carobs and Flour

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There was a lot of information on the sign, so I shall repeat it over the next few images.

Towards The Centre

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We shall go that way once we have finished exploring here.


Kritou Terra

History Meets Natural Beauty

Built at an altitude of 570 metres and 29 kilometres from the city of Pafos, it is different from ay other village you have visited before, it invites you with its beauty and its character and attracts you to return. In contrast to its small size it has a big history, present at every step you tak in its narrow streets and the beautiful, lush green landscape, enclosed between three mountains and with a view from its northern part to the Gulf of Chrsysochous.

Go Down Here

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Across the road from the Olive Press there is a staircase going down...


The Kefalovryso at the village entrance, which was built in 1908 and was once the third biggest in water volume in the whole island, gives an immediate idea of Kritou Terra's dynamic personality, which is strengthened as you walk among its sites and monuments. The stone-built Kefalovryso, with its six carved faucets that are still flowing, supplied the area with clean water that irrigated the big orchards, powered four out of fifteen watermills and filled the troughs of the communal laundry, where the women washed their clothes and bathed.

The Kefalovryso

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These are the six faucets mentioned in the text. The area here from a distance looked in good repair, but if you go down the stairs you will see that nature is beginning to encroach upon it.


The exhibits in the small museum let you imagine what life was like in the village, the old habits and the deeply rooted customes and practices. The historic carved wooden door - gate of archbshop Damaskinos is also exhibited at the museum. A two-storey building not different from the others housed, from 1878 until 1909, the first casino of Cyprus. A two-leaved door opens to the room where the wealthy of the island and the nobles of the area, such as King Farouk of gypt, gathered and socialised between the frescoed walls while dancers from Smyrna danced on the wooden balcony. Beneath the balcony you can still read the patrons' debts written on the walls in pencil.

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