Ora

Ora is a mountainous village in the Larnaca district of Cyprus, situated 52 km west of Larnaca, 40 km south of Nicosia and 38 northeast of Limassol.

A small settlement, built at 530 meters above sea level and between towering mountain peaks, Ora is close to Agii Vavatsinia and has about 200 inhabitants. The houses are built with the same architecture, which is based on high walls with a front door leading to an inner courtyard. The village was founded by families of a neighboring village, who abandoned their place and moved here after an infectious disease hit their homes. In the new settlement they created, Ora, they built a church dedicated to Agia Marina, the protector against infectious diseases, which is located in the center of the village. Another church is dedicated to Apostle Andrew and is standing at the entrance of the village.

Just a short distance from the church of Apostolos Andreas there are two statues, one dedicated to a hero who fell during the Turkish invasion of 1974 and the other a statue of Petrakis Kyprianou, an EOKA hero, who also fought in the liberation struggle against the English in 1955-59.

Regarding the origins of the name of the area there are several versions. One of them refers to the line (oura in Greek) that was formed when its inhabitants escaped from the disease and arrived here, while another version claims that the village was named Ora because the community is surrounded by mountains and built in a way that the visitor can get a panoramic view from everywhere (from the verb “oro” = see).