The Shipwreck

When Akrotiri was an island and the salt lake a strait of shallow sea, the coastline ran from the Curium to Asomatos. In places you shall see the old cliff line. Then the Kouris and the Yermasoyia Rivers deposited white chalk and dark speckled volcanic stones into the sea and the waves shifted them southwards forming narrow pebble spits. These eventually cut off the lagoon to make the Salt Lake and the marsh. Your New Year’s constitutional takes you along the western shingle beach.

For a change, in this low-lying area, we look up at the rest of the island. The views are expansive, out over the Slat Lake to chalk cuestas backed by the great mount of Troodos. Further east you can see the serrated ridges of Papoutsa and Madari above Agros, while seawards the bold headlands of Curium make the edges of Episkopi Bay. For much of the circuit the shipwreck is tantalizingly in view, and you will find it hard to resist its siren call. With luck, towers of cumulus will dramatize the scene without producing the threatened downpour. The sea, dark blue on the horizon will lash the rusting hulk of the ship with restless surf. Shore birds will screech and arrow low along the beach, startled by your approach.

Drive out of Limassol from the New Port lights, passing through the tunnel of trees to Asomatos. At the Phassouri Plantations turn left through the Cypress and eucalyptus woods of the former marsh. Leaving the woods, the Salt Lake is on your left, the futuristic outlines of the radar station on your right. Take the first right onto a stony road after the pylons. There is ample room here for parking.

You will see the wreck, peering over the skyline, but your route takes you left to the squat outline of Ayios Georgios. Not the most prepossessing of buildings it is nevertheless worth a look inside. Little remains of the old paintings on the walls, but the projecting wooden beams have been carved into the shapes of serpents and used for hanging lamps.

From the Church continue as indicated on the map. A gentle incline takes you up onto the former island of Akrotiri. Ancient oyster beds show the marine origin of the rocks in this area. To your left the Salt Lake, a shimmering mirage in the summer, will certainly contain water at this time of year. Follow the second right, a weak track through low juniper scrubland with scattered small pine trees. There is a hut and some goat pens. Perhaps a friendly goatherd will invite you to photograph his flock – or even pose him self.
There is a cross roads, soon after which you pass into more continuous pines, inhabited by pied crows. For a short distance you follow the fence line of the Akrotiri Base, before striking right onto a gentle incline, where a beautiful umbrella tree invites you to take a break.

Now you are on high ridge of calcareous sandstone. Immediately in front of you is a moonscape of old gravel pits. Though the elevation is not very great the sea and mountain views are stunning.
Skirt left around the edge of the now defunct diggings and you will reach a narrow ridge overlooking a wide sandy bay, backed by a mini Sahara of dunes. The old ship is still quite distant along the shore, and out in the bay, the tip of another wreck can be seen, almost ready to submit to the persistent waves. The route now follows the pebble beach for about half a kilometer, with loose going underfoot. Cusps mark the limit of the most recent storms and the easiest walking is where the waves have wet and compacted a fringe of dark sand. The wreck has come to rest in an area where slabs of eroded conglomerate form the shoreline. Its middle is gone and the surf sprays its rusting corpse, slowly sapping its remaining plates.

From the ship a right angle turn tales you through the gravel workings, where you will pass the remains of buildings and machinery now long defunct. Just beyond the quarry is the church of Ayios Georgios. If the weather is wet the diggings may become a morass of even a small lake. In such an event an alternative route is indicated along the crest of the ridge, or you may prefer to continue further along the beach from the wreck and pick up one of the rough pebbled tracks that pass through the quarry.

Other walks:
Limassol
Tripimenes Petres
Mathikoloni
St Mary of the Golden Caves
Korphyi
Vasa's Amazing Cliff Top View
Lophos
By the Windy Ridge to the Village of Goats
Ayii Sarandi
The Cliffs of Trachonas
On the Heights of Drousha
Akourdalia
Papoutsa
Troodos High Level Routes
Kilani-Perpedhi
Archimandrita
Kellaki and Prastio
Cape Greco