Prastio Traxypedoulas

Prastio Traxypedoulas is a small village in the province of Paphos and it is situated 32 kilometers east of the homonymous city, 60 kilometers northwest of Limassol and 108 kilometers southwest of Nicosia.

Built at an altitude of 300 meters, Prastio Traxypedoulas is a small settlement with few inhabitants, near the Diarizos river and on the route leading to the Troodos Mountains.

The Diarizos valley, where the community is situated, is included in Natura 2000 as a protected area and many local and foreign scientists (geologists, entomologists, ornithologists, botanists and many others) visit it for their research. The valley includes areas of exceptional natural beauty with enormous historical and cultural significance. As a matter of fact, there are also many mountaineers who arrive here in order to climb the huge rocks that moved from Africa 70 million years ago.

Before the visitor arrives in the village and coming from the road of Agios Georgios Paphou, he meets on his way a large café-restaurant that serves food and coffee with beautiful and unobstructed views of the valley. Just outside the community there is also the beautiful stone-built chapel of Archangel Gabriel and Michael, as well as the abandoned Monastery of Saint Savvas Karonos, about 2 kilometers northeast of the village.

Near the Prastio Traxypedoulas and more specifically at 2 km, the famous Hasaboulia Rocks or “Kourtelorotsos” meet, an impressive natural landscape with massive stones of recrystallized limestone of coral origin, dominating the landscape almost in the middle of the road. A living legend that survives to this day and was a source of fear for the inhabitants and the passers-by during the British occupation, Hasaboulia was a family of Turkish Cypriots who came from the village Episkopi of Limassol and during the British occupation they moved to neighboring Mamonia. The Rocks of Hasaboulia, is the point where the three brothers hid and attacked passers-by. Today it is a popular location for climbing enthusiasts and it is found on the route leading to Prastio Traxypedoulas and shortly after Kouklia, on the old road that connects Mamonia with Agios Georgios Paphou, Traxypedoula and Kidasi.

One of the most important sights in the wider region, and more specifically 13.5 km northwest of the community, is the church of Panagia Sindi, one of the most original examples of monastic architecture in Cyprus, which belongs to the UNESCO Protection List. The Panagia of Sindi today constitutes an open museum and an archaeological site of great historical and archaeological value.