I didn’t know too much about this island before coming to Cyprus. My plan was to spend one year in Ukraine, and for this purpose I bought in January 2016 a good pair of hiking shoes, waterproof and warm. Just some days after I have been contacted from “Hope For Children” CRC Policy Center for a Skype interview, I have been selected, I loved the project so I didn’t accept the offer from Ukraine and after some weeks I was in Cyprus, of course with my new shoes, not very useful in the city of Nicosia.
I have never been a fan of hiking but one day, while I was looking around at the Tourism Information Office, I saw an advertisement to join a hiking group the Cyprus Strollers (https://cyprus-strollers.org/) and I am not exaggerating telling that I found a lot more than a hiking group there. Every week many interesting people, with so many stories to tell, meet and spend some hours together walking around this beautiful island and sharing meals.
Finding this group allowed me to discover beautiful places where I would not have been by myself, especially because some spot is impossible to reach with public transportation and only locals know some more hidden trails.
I have not been always lucky, during my first hike last February we ran into a storm, we hid inside a very small shelter where we were waiting altogether the end of the strongest rain and we had to stop our walk and go back to the restaurant completely wet!
Among the several hikes I made, I can mention my favourite one. That hike we did in April was in the North West of Mahairas monastery, a beautiful Monastery in which you can still smell spirituality, where visitors can enter only if fully covered.
For reaching the Monastery we had a strenuous up and down in the hills, watching beautiful scenic views, and we pass through a small and tiny village named Lazanias which traces its name to the Lusignans (or Francs). It is said that from here the typical meal from my Italy, lasagna, is named!
Coming back, we also had a nice visit on our road from a viper!
Cyprus does not mean nice beaches and sea, and this small island can offer a lot to the most curious and adventurous people!
