Choletria

Choletria is a village in the province of Paphos, situated 23 km southeast of the homonymous city, 61 km northwest of Limassol and 143 km southwest of Nicosia.

Built at an altitude of 200 meters, on two small hills and on the ridge of two rivers, Asprokremos (or Xeros) and Diarizos, Choletria with the approximately 300 inhabitants, is one of the ampelochoria (vine-cultivating villages of Cyprus) of the region and enjoys a unique view of the Troodos Mountains, as well as a fertile and rich soil in which vines of the winemaking varieties, grain crops, olives, carob, few legumes and citrus are cultivated. The livestock sector has been also developed, as here are livestock farms for the production of fresh milk and of the traditional and original haloumi (local type of cheese), and two ostrich farms.

The name of the village comes from the site that it was built – being at the foot of two mountains and on the banks of the river, it looks like a great “choletra” (big trench). Another version regarding the origins of the name says it is due to the existence of an old aqueduct, probably dating back to medieval times.

Historically, Choletria has existed since the Middle Ages and was a feud of the Knights of the Order of Saint John, although according to the excavations of 1994 and their findings at the “Ortos” site, remains of habitation have been found that date back to prehistoric times (5,600 BC).

In the most recent history, the settlement was located in Agia Irini, very close to today’s village (there is still a ruined chapel, the ruins of some houses and an olive mill at the old location), but due to its location, on a hill opposite the sea, it was easily located and became the target of the Saracens. The residents were forced to move to the “old village” in the valley of Xiros, protected by the surrounding mountains. The great earthquake that struck Paphos in 1953 and the frequent landslides of the 1960s led residents to a new location 1 km east of the old, with families settling in the new village in 1974-75.

The central church at Choletria, located at the highest point of the village, was built in 1984 and is dedicated to Saint Panteleimon. The other church, in the old settlement that collapsed in the 1970s, was reconstructed and operated as well, by the priest of the community.

There is also a kindergarten and elementary school in the village, and there is a monument dedicated to the heroes who died in the EOKA liberation struggle in 1955-59, the intercommunal riots of 1963-64 and the Turkish invasion of 1974 (Theodoros Christofides, Dimosthenis Pericles, Galatia Zenonos, Kyriakos and Sotiris Papalazarou, Phidias Stokkou, Aristodemos Charalambous).

Choletria is connected by road to the west with the villages of Nata and Anarita and farther out with Paphos, to the south with Nikokleia and Timi, while to the north it is connected with the villages of Stavrokonou and Kelokedara.