On a warm, sunny Tuesday afternoon about a month ago, the sisters and I are in the car, singing along to one of our many favourites, on our way to the mountains.
I haven’t been to Kalopanayiotis in years, I could barely remember anything about it and I couldn’t for the life of me recall the ‘Bridge of Love’ my sister kept mentioning.
I looked forward to it since my sister promised to take us. After a short, 40 minute drive from Nicosia, here we are. So beautiful. Even the drive there was gorgeous. The closer we got, the cooler and cleaner the air was. We turned the air-con off, opened the windows and took a deep breath. Ah, pure bliss.
We started off from the top of the village and walked our way down towards the stream and the infamous bridge. We could see a couple posing for their wedding photos. How far off you are my darling, I thought to myself and smiled.
I first thought this was the bridge of love, apparently it wasn’t.
On our way to the actual bridge, we passed by St. Ioannis monastery, which was closed for visitors unfortunately at that time of the day. I was gutted. I always wanted to see it in real life, ever since I watched a Cypriot drama TV series about 10 years ago, Μίλα μου (Talk to me). I still remember this scene.
The protagonist Anna, sad and troubled helplessly witnessing her life falling apart, visits a family friend and Abbess, Sister Mariam, at a Cypriot monastery, St Ioannis, situated in the most picturesque location I’ve ever seen. They sit on a bench, next to a stream, you can hear the water in the background. So peaceful.
After wandering around, admiring the scenery, we stumbled across a healing spring.
And of course we had lots and lots of laughs. Here’s the little sister welcoming my insta followers at the village.
And here’s the infamous Bridge of Love where we stopped for some snaps (and I made a wish. Not sure if it’s customary, but it felt like a ‘make a wish’ moment).
It was getting dark by the time we reached the bridge, so we started walking back… and upwards.
When we reached the top of this path, there was the lift option, but none of us wanted to. It looked terrifying.
Needless to say hunger struck soon enough, and Stella heard about a posh cafe/ restaurant/hotel/spa nearby, last time she was there, Casale Panayiotis. It was the closest to where we were so we thought we’d give it a go. If we feel uncomfortable we walk out.
I’ve written about it at my Cyprus food blog so I will let the pictures do the talking. Only thing I’d say is wow.
On our way back to the car we stopped for a minute to admire the views for one last time.
This is just a tiny flavour of Cyprus nature, mountains, traditional villages (and you thought Lefkara was nice). There’s more, so much more. I can’t wait to show you around another beautiful place next time.
Eleni
Lessons I learned after I turned 30 