From Limassol we drove to the Sovereign Base Areas of Akrotiri and Dhekelia (aka Akrotiri Peninsula), before we drove on to Troodos. Even though you’re essentially leaving the country when you drive into the area, you don’t actually notice this. There is not border, no check point. You just continue driving and you’re there. This is one of the conditions set aside in the rules.

The rules that the British have to abide by as per the 1960 treaty with Cyprus is:

• Not to develop the Sovereign Base Areas for other than military purposes.
• Not to set up and administer “colonies”.
• Not to create customs posts or other frontier barriers between the Sovereign Base Areas and the Republic.
• Not to set up or permit the establishment of civilian commercial or industrial enterprises except insofar as these are connected with military requirements, and not otherwise to impair the economic commercial or industrial unity and life of the Island.
• Not to establish commercial or civilian seaports or airports.
• Not to allow new settlement of people in the Sovereign Base Areas other than for temporary purposes.
• Not to expropriate private property within the Sovereign Base Areas except for military purposes on payment of fair compensation
• The ancient monuments and antiquity (in particular the site and remains of Curium, Sanctuary of Apollo Hylates near Curium,the Stadium of Curium and the Church and remains of the Monastery of St. Nicholas of the Cats) will be administered and maintained by the Republic of Cyprus.

This last point is important for my blog post. I visited two of the three sights mentioned in the last rule which continues to be administered and maintained by Cyprus.

The below picture will give you a flavour of what it looks like to drive on the peninsula. It’s sandy roads all around. It can get quite bumpy, but there’s no need for a 4×4.

The Monastery of Saint Nicholas of the Cats

It’s not very easy to find the monastery, because all that you have to go on are the dirt roads as pictured above and no signs, but somehow I accidentally ended up in the right place. Even though when you drive in you cannot tell straightaway; but when you see the cats lounging on the patio you know you’ve arrived at your destination.

This monastery has been linked to cats for almost 2,000 years, because the original building was built in 327, back then it was by Saint Helena, the mother of Constantine the Great. When a terrible drought affected Cypus, and the entire island was overrun with poisonous snakes, Saint Helena came up with a solution to avoid people leaving the island – she ordered 1,000 cats to be shipped in from Egypt and Palestine to fight the reptiles.

In the following years, the cats did their duty, hunting and killing most of the snakes in the Akrotiri Peninsula, which soon came to be known as the “Cat Peninsula”. Pilgrims from all around Europe traveled to the Holy Monastery of Saint Nicholas to see its guardians, and stories describe the cats as scarred, missing various body parts, some completely blind as a result of their relentless battle against the snakes.

After the monastery was rebuilt and abandoned several times (most notably during the Turkish invasion), the most recent history of the Monastery of Saint Nicholas of Cats began in 1983, when it was assigned to a group of nuns. When these nuns arrived, there were no cats due to the fact there was no food at the premises for a long time. However, the place was yet again overrun by snakes. So the nuns did the same as what Saint Helena did all those years ago – they brought in a couple of cats. Their numbers grew, over the years, and there are now six nuns at the monastery and over 70 felines.

Kourion (aka Curium)

The area around Kourion has been inhabited from the Neolithic period (4500-3800 BC). Since the 1800s the acropolis at Kourion has been discovered and excavations have been conducted by various countries and institutions, for example the British Museum. The majority of excavated remains within the archaeological site on the acropolis date to the Hellenistic through the Late Roman period, which is my favourite era. In the below pictures you can see why.

Let me first show you the location. The sight is perched high on a hill top and therefore you have a beautiful view over the ocean (we were lucky it wasn’t raining that day).

There are a few slightly boring sights (sorry to say but I’m honest!), which is the amphitheater. It did host gladiator games back in the day, and the view from the seats it’s gorgeous. It’s quite a small arena though and nothing compared to the Colosseum and the amphitheater in Verona. When we were there a group of elderly Germans broke out in song. Lucky us, to get a show at the arena…

Another slightly boring sight were the excavations of the forum and the baths. Not much to see there, so it’s kind of like visiting Roman excavations anywhere else in the world.

More interesting because it’s more spread out and you can still see the lone pillars standing around, are the excavations in the below pictures. Now please don’t ask me what this is because I don’t know (it could be the Episcopal Precinct of Kourion), instead just enjoy the pictures.  The first picture could’ve been so beautiful if I would’ve already had my DSLR, the camera on the phone didn’t capture the clouds against the excavations as beautifully as I would’ve liked.

My absolute favourite sight in Kourion were the mosaics. I don’t think I’ve ever seen original mosaics before! At least not like this (little did I know that more fabulous mosaics were waiting for me in Paphos!).

Conclusion

When you drive from Limassol to the west coast or to the mountains, it’s worth making a detour through Akrotiri Peninsula. Cat’s monastery might not be an incredibly sight, but it’s nice to visit the monastery and to see all the cats lounging in the sun. Kourion really is worth a visit! If you don’t have your own car you could try booking a tour through Get Your Guide, one of my favourite tour companies.

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