A breath of fresh air
Take the road less travelled by hiring a 4×4 vehicle and heading to Cedar Valley
For this day trip you need to hire a good 4×4 vehicle. The terrain we traveled, during what turned out to be one of the wettest weekends on record, really needed the ability to lock all four wheels to get better traction off road on long stretches of deep, muddy, and often flooded, tracks.
Mind you, even if this trip is ventured during the summer months, it’s still one that benefits enormously from using a 4×4 as many of these tracks rarely get sight of the sun so you may still get stuck in the back of beyond and, no, as we found out, your mobile phone does not receive a signal for most of the journey.
Although a bit of a white-knuckle ride, this trip was also great fun, even taking into account the magnificent sheer drop down mountain sides, which were always clearly visible from the side of the vehicle. Speed though was not of the essence; a big part of the drive has to be taken very slowly and although it’s a relatively low mileage, this is a trip that has to be taken with care.
We left Paphos at 9:30am, traveling up the Polis road and turning off just before entering the town at the clearly marked signpost to Stavros tis Psokas, and then moved on through lovely, rolling countryside passing the very attractive villages and narrow winding streets of Steni, Peristerona, and Lysos.
The main road winds through mainly rocky hills and deep gorges filled with pine trees – this is the relaxing part, at least for the driver, but for passengers it’s constant a twisty ride and the effect may render some a bit car sick.
It took till about 11am to descend to the old, colonial-style forestry station and rest house at Stavros tis Psokas. The name comes from a monastery that once stood there, and, politely translated, was called ‘The Cross of the Measles’ but actually means ‘The Cross of the Mange.’ In the old days, before pesticides and drugs, this monastery must have been a Godsend for people affected by scabies and all sorts of other skin conditions, who would have travelled to the monastery in search of a miraculous cure. Nowadays, lurgy-free tourists can enjoy a snack at the small caf?, there’s also a campsite plus basic but clean and comfortable hostel accommodation. Here is also the place to spot some wild moufflon. Resident forestry staff will happily show you an enclosure where a few of these very shy beasts are now kept. Moufflon also roam wild in this area but the chances of ever spotting one running free while driving through the valley are exceedingly rare, so this is a perfect opportunity to see them in their natural habitat.
Although the signpost says the distance from here to Panayia is only 27km, what it doesn’t say is that for every single one of them you travel at a maximum speed of 20kph so the journey takes a bit more than an hour. Certainly this is one road less travelled by your average tourist but it is worth the odd adrenalin rush, because, when you stop and walk a bit down the path ahead, the silence experienced is almost deafening and any botanist would be ecstatic to see such a myriad of unfamiliar plants and trees, with thousands of the aromatic cedar indigenous to Cyprus, Cedrus brevifolia, scenting the air.
After one hour of careful cornering and blowing of the horn to alert any oncoming ‘speed freaks,’ we reached a signpost indicating that we were not ‘lost’ as we had feared but a mere 7km from Panagia. Such was our relief at seeing signs of human habitation as the odd house started to dot the landscape, we broke into a loud cheer – we had made it. The relief was tremendous, as was our deep need for a strong coffee.
We refreshed ourselves with coffee and tasty, homemade orange cake at the Green Leaf Caf? and took a wander around to see the Archbishop Makarios museum. You could also chose to drive a couple of kilometres out of the village to see the Chrysorrogiatissa Monastery then return back down the hill before turning off at Kritou Marottou and driving up the steep hill to the sleepy village of Fyti to enjoy a hearty, home-cooked lunch at the Fyti Tavern, next to the church in the main square.
