Cyprus Village of Goats for Holidays in Paphos and Cyprus

I’m not saying that Androulikou is inhabited only by goats. No, there are large sheep too, the odd cow an even a scrawny cockerel that struts about as if he owns the place. There are signs of human habitation as well.

Washing flutters outside an outlying house, and the phone box, once favored perching place for the animals, has now been restored, (and probably works too). But goats still seem to hold sway there and the place has a strange enchanted atmosphere.

There are various ways of getting there. The following descriptions are of a long walk, and an even longer one. Both start from Neokhorio. Drive up ti Neokhorio from Latchi. Go through the village past the church to the end of the sealed road.

A short distance beyond the end of the concrete, parking may be found near the first fork in the road. The long walk starts on the left fork and the longer one follows the track straight ahead through a pleasant flat farmland. This road leads past a restored church near a spring and on to a pine-shaded picnic spot at Smiyies, where there are also some ruins.

From here the road climbs into a col between two fine craggy hills clothed in pines and maquis. At the to a signpost indicates Pyrgos 5km. along the forested northern spine of the Akamas, Lara 14km. and Koudonas 6 km. westward.

Another signpost about 100 meters further on bears proof that you have in fact covered another kilometer from Neokhorio, and this, together with the fine views east to Khrysokhou Bay and Polis, will make you feel much better.

Follow the road signposted Lara through ancient lava country with scattered pines onto a switchback leading S.S.E Various turn-offs beckon, but ignore them all, following the main road down into a valley flanked by rock outcrops on the left. After about three kilometers you will reach a fork in the road. The left branch is the ‘escape route’ back to Neokhorio. The right leads onto the Windy Ridge, running southwards in the direction of Drousha.

But what is it like this windy ridge? When this walk was surveyed the day was deceptively calm, but the trees in the crest of the ridge clearly show the force and direction of the winds. Walk a little way north from Smiyies along the road signposted Pyrgos and you will find the lean pines of the forest bent permanently away from the prevailing westerly winds. Far down below you will see the surf breaking on the Akamas headlands and bays.

That is for another day though. Here we are continuing south into a terrain that evokes so many remembered places, yet which has a character all of its own. The wooded glen you start to climb along is not quite Scottish: too dry, and there are tall canes alongside the trickle of water that could never have cut this deep valley.

The climb onto the bare hills and the summit tors are not quite Dartmoor; the rocks are not granite, and besides, where in Devon do you find the neon yellow lichen that patches these rocks? And when you get up onto the almost level track over the steep scarp slopes looking east,, is it not almost like a ridge walk in the Downs? Almost, but nowhere in the Downs will you find wild orchids growing in such profusion.

Once you are on the spine of the ridge there are tremendous vistas of both coasts. Far below to the west you will see Lara’s twin bays, and to the east Polis and beyond. The partly deserted village of Phasli comes into view some distance before the turn-off to it.

The adventurous, (or lazy) might like to try a little short cut here. It doesn’t look too difficult to make one’s way across country and then descend the track as mapped. Whichever way you go the descent to Anrolikou is a pleasant, meandering stroll on a red road, taking you into the Village of Goats past the quarry, which evidently supplied the road surfacing.

From Androlikou the trail continues northwestwards, crossing a series of deep valleys with rocky outcrops disintegrating into large blocks that conceal caves. From the watersheds you can see the church of Neokhorio a pleasant hours walk away, and to the west the Windy Ridge has taken on the aspect of, well, a sort of sun drenched Yorkshire Moors.

These are long walks. Remember; the map straightens out the meanderings of the roads. Allow at least four hours for the shorter route and five to six for the longer.