Cyprus: The Mystery of Androuliki


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Originally uploaded by JP1984.

We had a day exploring the Akamas peninsula today, winding our way out through the beautiful village of Neo Chorio and out on dirt roads, eventually dropping down to the other side to Lara bay, where a turtle conservation project is in place. Unfortunately there were no turtles to be seen (not even at the Turtle Station itself) but there was a lot of interesting information about the project, and the beach was a great spot for a picnic lunch and a spot of swimming (though the sea on this side was not as clear).

On our return journey, after taking in the views from a Forestry Lookout Post atop a hill (and working our way back down the hair-raising road) we decided to take a loop which bought us back round through the village of Androuliki. The map lied to us when it showed the dirt road as having no junctions or ambiguous forks, but we navigated ourselves there eventually. As we approached however we could see that the whole village looked deserted. It was – without a doubt – Androuliki, but far from being the picturesque settlement we had expected it was almost entirely abandoned. Most of the houses were dilapidated like the one in the photograph and overrun by goats, and the whole place was quite eerie. There were a couple of signs of life - including a goat herder and his family – and bizarrely most of the occupied houses contrasted completely with the wilderness around them. Along with their gardens they were well maintained, and had modern water tanks, solar panels and even Satellite TV dishes. I even saw at least one Mercedes parked on a driveway.

The biggest contrast which struck me, however, was that on the distant coast, and visible through some of the crumbling houses lay the Anassa hotel – famous for its opulence and for at least one of Elton John’s lavish parties.
I was fascinated, and intrigued, by Androuliki, but I was not sorry to move on and head the short distance back down to more civilised territory.

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