One of the most popular excursions organized by tourist companies from Limassol includes visiting the most significant object of all Cyprus - the Troodos mountain range. It is best to order it from a representative of your host tourist company. Or in any office of the largest in Cyprus tour operator "Biblobus". Find them easy. Representative offices are located in each Limassol Hotel, which has the corresponding flag of this company. The cost of the excursion ranges from 80 to 100 euros.
The route begins Dear Limassol - Platers, following which the band rises to the mountains of the Troodos Ridge to better familiarize themselves with its southern slopes that are more accessible from Limassol. Moving along this road past the picturesque Cypriot villages, you will reach the plates - the famous tourist center of the Middle East, raise the highest peak of the ridge - Mount Olympus and stroll through the picturesque paths to get acquainted with Flora and the geological history of this area. You will definitely conquer the view that opens from the vertices of Troodos. But first things first.
Leaving Limassol and starting climbing the north-western part of the Troodos mountain range, you pay attention to absolutely naked hills, creating an unusually fascinating picture. The first village, which will meet on the way, is called Alassa. This modern village is located on a hill north of an old village, on the site of which was built one of the largest dams of Cyprus on the river Kurris. This river originates from the vertices of Troodos, and her mouth is at the bishop bay. Continuing the path to the north, the guide will turn your attention to the hills with small villages scattered on them and the vineyards leaving for the horizon.
The next picturesque village is on your way - Lania. Here is the first stop on the route. Here you will receive a complete picture of the traditional Cypriot architecture during the walk. Narrow, paved street stone, houses with tiled roofs, yards planted with flowers, can not impress the guest.
Next, the route provides for a stop in the village of Trimiklini, which is just three kilometers north of Lania. This picturesque village is drowning in the greenery of fruit gardens. Here you will visit two churches dedicated to the Mother of God. One of them is modern, and the second is older, built in 1744. It has a flat wooden lid, and stores old icons. Inspect you and the famous trimiklini bridges. Built many centuries ago over the river Kurris, the old bridge with three asymmetric towers of 2.5 meters wide served to facilitate the transport message and is called the "Venetian Bridge". A little north of the Venetian bridge is a "double" bridge, which was built a little later. In this village, you are waiting for lunch in one of the restaurants of traditional Cypriot cuisine, as well as some free time to visit kiosks, where fresh fruits, roots and other exquisite Cypriot products are sold.
After trimiklin, 33 km away. From Limassol there is a small village of Saitas. It was built at an altitude of 600 meters in a very picturesque location, offering a magnificent panoramic view of the surroundings. Apparently, its name comes from the snake, which in Cyprus is called "Sathtaris". There is another version according to which the name is connected with the cult of the goddess Athena, called the Ancientness of Athena Saitis.
From Saitas road will go up. Here you will certainly notice that pines, poplar and other trees in the forest on both sides of the road are gradually becoming fatal. The landscape acquires the appearance of the idyllic. And here you will find the next stop - in the village of Platres. Dusto-planted with trees, with a burning spring water, this village is a fantastic corner of nature and is the most popular tourist center of Cyprus. Here are many hotels and rooms for rent in which the Cypriots themselves relax, and numerous guests of the island. Since a long time, famous people of the world preferred this place to relax. Therefore, the plates received the name of the Mediterranean Switzerland. Here you will visit the Mesa Potamos Monastery, built in the 12th century, as well as picturesque waterfalls of Caledonia, having a height of 12 meters. Water with noise drops down, forming a lake, and the splashes of falling flows surround it with a halo.
Climbing further, you will notice that the road becomes already and turns into a serpentine, which takes place under the tent of century trees: plain, pines, cypresses and fir trees. Finally, the top of the Troodos - Mount Olympus (or Hyunis) will open, from where, from the height of 1951 a meter opens an unforgettable look. Here you will open the panorama of the sea bay and the Morphos Valley. From here you can consider the chromium and copper deposits, as well as forests in which picturesque villages are hidden. In winter, the snow level often reaches 2 meters here and can be engaged in winter sports.
The next stop on the route is located nearby the Trooditis Monastery - one of the business cards of the island. According to legend, in 762, AD. (During the iconocrust), one monk fell into Cyprus, bringing with me the icon of the Virgin, and settled in the monastery of St. Nicholas to Akrotiri, not far from Limassol. After recovering icons in 787, AD. The Virgin originated in front of a monk in one of the visions and pointed out the place in which it was necessary to transfer the icon. The Light of the Virgin brought a monk in a cave, known as the Cave of Trooditis. The monastery was founded here, the construction of which was completed in 990. The initial simultaneous church, decorated with rich wall paintings, was looted and set fire to the Turks in the 16th century. At the beginning of the 19th century, a modern church was built in her place. Currently, it has a magnificent gold-plated iconostasis and an amvon, and the miraculous icon of the Virgin is covered with a salary of gold and silver of Cornaros. This object is completing your journey in this excursion, which will undoubtedly stay with bright fragments in your memory and you will surely want to return to these places more than once.