Cyprus Village in Drousha for Holiday in Paphos Cyrpus

Why not treat yourself to a couple of nights at the Drousha Heights Hotel? The panorama from the north facing rooms stretches from the Akamas eastward across the great sweep of Khrysokhou Bay to Stavros tis Psokas. At night the same views, silver in the moonlight, are illuminated by a galaxy of village lights dominated by the bright supernova of the distant Troodos installations.

This walk is a pleasant 3 to 4 hour stroll around the impressive sandstone tors of Drousha and along the windy ridge to Phasli and Pittokopos. The ridge walk beyond carries on into the Akamas and has been described in an earlier walk. This walk can be extended along this route, but there is no easy circular route for the return. From the hotel walk into the village.

Go right at the road junction where the habitués of the two kafenions glare suspiciously at each other from their multi-chaired bastions. Continue down past a small open-air auditorium and follow the concrete road down. Near where the concrete runs out a dirt lane bordered by almond trees and cypresses runs through vineyards and other agricultural land.

Some of the splendid tors of Drousha can be seen below to the right, and, after a short walk, you will come upon a spectacular outcrop set behind a vineyard. From here the views ar towards Pittokopos and to exposed moorland slopes leading to the central spine of Akamas. The apparently innocuous smoke traces curling up out of the valley indicate the location of a large tip, sadly an unavoidable eye (and nose) sore in your path.

The route curves back for a short distance, as if to return to the village, but after passing through a few vineyards, it joins a more defined road. Left here will in fact take you back to the village, to complete a pleasant evening stroll on arrival, but go right for the full circuit.

For a while you can enjoy views back to the rocks, and you may still find a patch of lank, purple orchids in a marshy flush where the ground water seeps out of the roadside. Here too we saw colourful bee-eaters making their upward swooping forays from the trees. Keep these pleasures in mind as you descend to the rubbish dump in the valley.

I suppose domestic rubbish has to be disposed of somewhere, but cannot help thinking that there must be a better solution than creating such an abomination in an area whose pique landscape is in such delectate balance. Let us not dwell on it. Soon the plastic bags and the litter, and the nauseous smoke are behind you. Within an hundred meters you join the dirt road form Inia to Pittokopos.

A pleasant gentle ascent will take you up to this ancient hamlet and the almost contiguous ruined village of Phasli. At the first fork in the road go right to reach these settlements, passing an amazing tree permanently bent away from the prevailing Akamas westerlies. On reaching Phasli a not too difficult scramble across country as indicated on the map will bring you back to the ridgeway, where green outcrops of serpentine line the roadside and massive tors glower down from the skyline of Lara.

Far below, the twin bays of the same name and the more distant cliffs and island of Yeronissos can be seen. Unless you fell inclined to explore the ridge go back along the road to the fork that led off to Pashli. Here a track leads up to the right through some small vineyards towards a great outcrop of sculptured rock. This track dies at the main tor, progress round which, is impeded by dense brambles.

An easy scramble up the left hand side of the rocks will take you into a vineyard at one end of which a shack in under construction using a rock outcrop for its back wall. From here a rough track leads back to the main dirt road to Lara. Ascend this to reach the summit, which has magnificent views in all directions.

The way down is a steep scramble on a rough, but clearly defined footpath. The bottom of this is the junction of a number of ways. Left is back to Pittokopos, right leads round the side of Lara, and ahead to the village of Inia. An undulating route leads back past the cemetery into this old village which has a tradition for embroidery which was commemorated on one of the older currency notes.

A tar-sealed road leads left through the village and a kilometer of easy walking will bring you back to Drousha.