Rent Villa PAPHOS Accommodation in Villa Lemonia near Paphos

Discovering rural Cyprus is fun and the great news is that if you are staying in Paphos, its district covers beautiful countryside and includes some of the prettiest villages on the island. There are several interesting villages close to the town including Yeroskipou with its distinctive five-domed church of Ayia Paraskeni (one of only two in Cyprus) and delicious smell of freshly made Loukoumia (Cyprus Delights) which are made in several little workshops. On the other side of the town is the village of Lemba with its art college and little pottery and beyond, Kissonerga with its banana groves.

There are monasteries to visit including the one dedicated to one of the island’s best-loved saints, Ayios Neophytos near Tala and the monastery of Chrysorroyiatissa (meaning ‘Our Lady of the golden pomegranate’) which is in Panayia and said to have inspired the young Makarios to become a monk.
It is an attractive monastery offering visitors stunning views down towards the Paphos coast. The monastery church houses the icon of Our Lady which was covered in gold and silver in 1761 to protect it. The icon is credited with special healing powers. There are several other icons on display including a new one of Abraham, painted by the monastery’s Abbot, who can often be found hard at work in his studio restoring old icons. There is a museum of ecclesiastical treasury at the monastery and – incomplete contrast- since 1978 the monks have been making wine from their vineyards. The wine is sold commercially and has won several notable wine awards.

And talking of wine (not that we advocate drinking and driving) the Paphos District has a number of wine-making villages with wineries that are open to the public. These include Kathikas which nestles amongst the vineyards on the Laona Plateau. This village has several wineries to visit including one where the wine bottles are stored in caves at just the right temperature!

For those who enjoy driving and want to ‘get off the beaten track’ the Akamas beckons. This peninsula lies north-west of Paphos and is a rugged and relatively unspoilt wilderness, with wide sandy beaches and small rocky coves. The place for the energetic is the Avakas Gorge which lies on the edge of the Akamas and is a hidden world of unusual geological features. The main highlight for those exploring the Akamas is the beaches at Lara which is where the seasonal turtle hatchery is situated and gives visitors a fascinating insight into the lives of the two species of marine turtle that come ashore each summer to breed on the beaches - the Green turtle (Chelonia mydas) and the Loggerhead (Caretta caretta) and how their future ‘is in the balance’. For those who enjoy geology, a stroll on the Lara headland or on one of the trails described in the CTO booklet ‘Nature Trails of the Akamas’ reveals such interesting features as a ‘limestone pavement’. There are many species of insects and reptiles to see including lizards and skinks and wild herbs and flowers flourish including the rare cream-coloured sand lily (Krinos tou yialou). There are migratory birds that visit the Akamas including hawks and falcons and occasionally a Griffon vulture (Gyps fulvus) can be seen soaring high above. Chukars (Alectoris chukar) and Black Francolins (Francolinus francolinus) often scurry out from under the gorse.

Another great day out from Paphos is to take the road from Paphos and Polis Chrysochous on the island’s north coast and it is a fun drive as citrus groves line much of the route. There are many villages to explore too such as Miliou where the finishing touches are being put to the new spa resort which has naturally sulphurous waters, Inia with its basket museum in the old church hall and Steni with its fascinating new village museum and the pretty Evretou Dam close by and Skoulli with its reptile exhibition.

Rent Villa Paphos

You may well decide to drive eastwards from Polis and discover a really undeveloped part of Cyprus. There is a string of little coastal villages and endless empty beaches. Pomos is a fishing village with a great fish taverna perched above it! Pakhyammos translated means ‘broad sands’ and the beach at this point certainly has this! Just outside Pakhyammos stands the new church of Ayios Raphaelos which is credited with healing powers and is a popular place of pilgrimage. After a while the road swings inland in a 20 kilometres detour around the Turkish -controlled Kokkina enclave. The journey is through wooded hillsides but is frustratingly long, and the little taverna at Mansoura at the end of the enclave is perfect for a drink and swim stop! Kato Pyrgos is the last village before the Green Line that stands amongst peach orchards and is pleasantly low-key. Having travelled this far, drive inland and uphill to the hamlet of Pano Pyrgos and one of life’s memorable moments! Here you will see the villagers sitting, encircled by mounds of freshly-made charcoal, stitching bags of the coals closed ready for transport to shops all over Cyprus. You can see the mounds of wood, carefully assembled and ready to light to produce this necessary fuel for the popular Cypriot barbecue!