Anogyra
Anogyra village is part of the Limassol district of Cyprus and is 38 km northwest of Limassol, 105 km west of Larnaca, 108 km southwest of Nicosia and 43 km east of Paphos.
A settlement at an altitude of 190 meters in a wild landscape with deep gorges and built on top of a hill, Anogyra is the only village that continues the tradition of preparing pastelli (sesame seed candy) and it is known as “teratsochori”, meaning the village of the main carob producers. The entirely stone-built village still maintains its traditional architecture with its narrow cobbled streets and magnificent stone houses joined with each other and made of limestone, with high walls and inner courtyards. The settlement is one of the few settlements in Cyprus that have joined the European regulatory program, an EU program that follows a precise plan for the construction or the repair works done in each community.
Historically, Anogyra has existed since the Neolithic period (8200 – 3900 BC) based on the findings of the excavations that continue to this day.
For the origin of the name of the village there are several versions. One version claims that it comes from the ano gyroi (Upper Gyroi in Greek), the top of the Gyroi village, as in ancient times the village was inhabited also to the south, in the region of Kato (Lower) Gyroi. The second version refers to the anagyris plant that grows in the village while a third says that the village took its name from the Ano Iera, (Upper Monastery), since at the site of its current location once stood the Iera.
Visitors to Anogyra will be impressed with the traditional residential core of the village, but there are also so much more to see. In the settlement there is the Anogyra Folk Art Museum opened in 2014, the Museum of Pasteli of Anogyra, the famous carob museum “Mavros Chrysos (Black Gold)” and the award-winning pastellopoieio (pastelli producing workshop) “Paradosiako”, where the visitor can see the traditional production of the sesame seeds candy. The community is also adorned by a winery, the traditional olive mill and the Oleastro Olive museum that produces the well- known organic olive oil and houses the Olive Park. A place of memory and honour is the Elisseou Papaelissaiou monument, who died during the Turkish invasion of 1974.
A stroll through the narrow streets is mandatory, from the village square with the old olive mill and the millstone to the drinking fountain of Apikrenis and it will transfer you to another time, as well as a visit to the restored temple of Archangel Michael of the 18th century in the village center with the ornate carved iconostasis and the two rare for Cyprus trees, the Moracea, growing in the courtyard of the temple.
The monastery of the Timios Stavros (Holy Cross) a little bit outside of the main core of the settlement is part of the Early Byzantine settlement with ruins of three temples. The current single-aisled domed church was built in the 14th century and inside are preserved the remains of frescoes from the 15th century. Around the church, to the ruins of the other three churches that pre-existed, the cells of the monks who used to live there, were added in much later times. The legend says that in the area of the monastery there is an underground tunnel where the monks guarded their treasures and that they are still there, waiting to be found. In the courtyard of the monastery is where the feast of the Holy Cross is held every August 1st.
In the village there are also taverns and restaurants (one with a pool and playground), while on the paved square in the center of the village there are two cafes. For those who want to stay overnight in Anogyra, there is a guesthouse-complex in a house three centuries old.
The approximately 250 residents occupy themselves with carob cultivation and the production of carob honey and pastelli (sesame seeds candy), almond trees and vines. Of the most famous festivals of Cyprus is the pastelli festival held every September which attracts large crowds and the Olive Day that is held every October.