The day trip to Kritou Terra wasn’t so much about the destination, it was more about the calamitous journey. In my previous post I told you guys that I went to Lara Beach in the summer of 2015. That same day we were supposed to drive to the small village and the next day the plan was to go to the Blue Lagoon, also in the Akamas Peninsula. This unfortunately never happened.

Journey to Kritou Terra

We did reach the intended village but we managed to do it in an unintended manner. It certainly wasn’t as easy as we had imagined. You need a 4×4 to drive around the Akamas Peninsula, because those cars are the only ones that can cross the rough terrain. We had rented a Suzuki Vitara for the occasion. My friend who was driving, already noticed an issue with the car on the highway to Lara Beach. When we made our way into the hills, it kind of turned into a race against the inclines, trying hard not to have the car stall and slide back down. It didn’t matter which gear we tried; neither the four wheel drive nor the normal way of driving was getting us smoothly to the top of the hills.

Instead we had to resort to slowly climbing up the hills. It was clear that this car would not get us to and through the terrain in the Akamas Peninsula. All downs have an up and in this case the positive side was that I managed to see a lot of the gorgeous landscape, basically in slow-motion.

Ineia

Ineia village would be the closest village from Lara Beach, so we slowly slowly made our way up there.

In Ineia my friend called a mechanic who told us he would come pick the car up in Kritou Terra, which meant that we had to continue up the hills.

While this call was taking place, I explored the tiny village.

Attack of the Cicada

The Suzuki Vitara had an open roof, which is great for fresh air. It’s not so great for the huge bugs that inhabit Cyprus. One particular type of bug “attacked”/accidentally collided and died on me three times in a row, the cicada. Once it didn’t just collide with me it also got stuck on my back. I, of course, jumped out the car (elegantly) and jumped up and down in an effort to get him off. In the village I found a few cocoons that these beasties climb out of, so that you get an idea what they look like and what you should avoid when you travel to Cyprus. They won’t do you any harm, but they’re huge and they make a lot of noise.

Also at night, when the lamps are on outside, they bask in the warmth of the light. I had to pass them by, the manner in which I accomplished this I will not describe any further and I’ll leave it up to your imagination.

Kritou Terra

Apart from the non-performance of the car and the massive insects, the roads around the villages in Cyprus are quiet. Don’t get me wrong, there are quite a few trucks racing around the bends, but we managed to reach Kritou Terra safely in the rickety Suzuki. We arrived at the golden hour, which meant I could shoot nice pictures of this gorgeous picturesque village. I am obsessed with colourful and faded doors (see my posts about Heybeliada if you share in my obsession) and this village has an abundance of them.

We waited in the village until the tow truck arrived, which was around 8pm. The truck drove us to Paphos which arrived at around 8:30pm. We picked up a car and we arrived back in the village at 9pm. Needless to say, all that was left to do was sleep and to decide what to do for the next day because our plan to go to the beautiful Blue Lagoon had broken down together with the car.

Conclusion

As I said, the trip to Kritou Terra wasn’t so much about the destination. It’s a gorgeous village with beautifully faded colourful doors and windows, but the adventure was all in the journey to reach the destination.

The next day we changed out plans from going to the Akamas Peninsula (since we didn’t have a 4×4 anymore) to exploring the Pomos region. This region will be the topic of my next blog post.

When you leave Kritou Terra you pass by a beautiful church. Well, the beauty wasn’t exactly in the church, because it didn’t really have the Greek Orthodox style I love, but more about the remote setting of the church. I don’t think I would ever get enough from driving around Cyprus.