Evrychou, where the Cyprus railway ended

Evrychou has a surprise for anyone who thinks Cyprus was always an island of roads. A train used to end here. It’s a farming village in the Solea valley with an old station turned museum. I base it on what the Nicosia Tourism Board puts out, on the regional development company’s notes on Evrychou and on the CYSTAT census.

The valley’s farming centre

Evrychou sits on the east bank of the Karkotis river, at 440 metres, among greenery and streams running down the slopes. The company presents it as the farming centre of the Solea valley. Thanks to the rain and the river, apple, pear, plum, apricot, peach, almond and olive trees and vines thrive, and the village is known for the quality of its apples. In 2021 it had 859 residents.

The railway museum

The big curiosity is the Cyprus Railway Museum, opened in 2014 in the old Evrychou station. The Nicosia Tourism Board explains that the Cyprus Government Railway network ran between 1905 and 1951 and linked Ammochostos, that is Famagusta, in the east with Morphou in the west, with a station in Nicosia, and from Morphou it ran on to its southern terminus, Evrychou. The development company adds that the museum shows original documents, photographs, scale models and objects from the old railway.

Entry is free. Starting on 16 September and until 15 April it opens daily from 8:30 to 16:00, and between 16 April and 15 September, from 9:30 to 17:00.

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Churches and mills

In the village centre stands the church of Agia Marina, from 1872, and there’s a Gothic-style church of Agios Georgios. For rural architecture, the company recommends the old watermills, such as the Mill of Styllis.

Around it

Evrychou is a good starting point for the rest of the valley. Up the valley lie Galata and Kakopetria, with their painted churches, and to the north the company mentions villages such as Flasou, which the train also passed through, Korakou, Linou and Katydata, next to the Skouriotissa copper mine. The line itself, though, survives only in the museum.

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Katydata and the mine

Further north, Katydata, at 275 metres, owes its name, according to the company, to the Greek words kato, under, and ydor, water, after the water flowing underground. It sits next to the Skouriotissa copper mine and has a mining heritage museum in the centre, with tools, pictures of the mines and objects made from copper.

A stop on the way up

If you’re driving from Nicosia up to the Troodos, Evrychou is on the way. I’d stop for half an hour at the museum and carry on to Kakopetria for the night. It’s an especially good stop with children, because trains always go down well, and it costs nothing.

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