In the morning we do a lot of planning on what to do and see while making our breakfast. We want to see at least a few of the Unesco churches, we want to hike on Mt Olympus but we also want to do an Adventure Lab today and the closest one seems to be in Kakopetria on the way to the first church we intend to visit. So Kakopetria it is.
We know nothing of Kakopetria except that it was considered worthwhile to have an Adventure Lab. Given the previous day we are not that surprised of the narrow streets and given that we can’t find parking close to the start of the adventure lab we follow the parking signs and follow an official parking that is even free. Then it is time to walk down following the adventure lab indications.
The majority of the lab is in the old downtown and we despair that we are going to find the right way but we do and soon are at the first point of the tour, the local waterfall which seems to be quite an attraction given the number of people visiting it.
And then crossing the creek we start climbing into the old town. Here we pass next to another attraction, the Couple’s Stone. Supposedly the majority of the weddings will take here and if they sit on the stone the marriage will be very happy.
In the beginning not all houses are renovated and it is interesting to imagine the reason they are in such disrepair. They are also an interesting contrast versus the well maintained houses further up the walk.
The old town is on an island between two channels of the river and we descend on the other side to the mill from where a trail starts along the river. We do not have time for it though so back up we go to the main road and old town.
One of the attractions in the old town is the old church. Again it is not as tall as the churches we are used to and the side entrance seems to be to a town hall and not into a church.
Inside however it is clearly a church with pew benches and an ornate altar and crosses. You can see it is both old and recently repainted and renovated.
The more exciting parts of our walk is whenever we try to eschew the main street and get lost on the even more narrow side streets. Luckily the old town is small otherwise we likely would have gotten lost for real during our exploration as the narrow alleys curve around and climb and descend.
The views towards the new town are quite good and we stop in the few places that allow for views and just take in the expansive views.
The main street itself looks like being ripped off from a medieval fantasy and we are really happy that we followed the adventure lab into this less visited village in the Troodos mountains. In fact we think it should be advertised more as we weren’t aware at all about it.
The one constant thing that is true of all Cypriot cities, towns and villages is that they need to have cats. Free range cats, the more the better. We follow a few through the streets which is quite fun for us, not sure about them.
Funnily we even see a few kittens sitting on a window sill seemingly for sale. They are not for sale as far as we can tell especially as the mother sits just behind them with the eyes throwing daggers as us.
You can also get to the other side of the island and we catch glimpses of the mountains and forests in this area. There are also some interesting buildings that we have no idea how they are perched and surviving on the mountain side.
Returning we see a big group of people, something quite unusual in this small town. We discover it is actually a tour bus, so maybe the area is not as forgotten by tourists as we thoughts. And then it is time to move on as we spent way more time here than we expected, but it was worthwhile.
