Palaichori, a village cut in two by its river

Palaichori brings together, within a few streets, three things that rarely coincide, a UNESCO church, a museum of religious art and a key site of Cyprus’s recent history. What I tell you comes from the ANETroodos notes on the Pitsilia villages and from the CYSTAT census.

A village on the Serrachis

Palaichori sits at 930 metres on the hillside, and the Serrachis river cuts it in two. That’s why the 2021 census counts two communities, Palaichori Morfou, with 708 residents, and Palaichori Oreinis, with 419, both in Nicosia district. The company describes a sea of green, with vineyards and fruit trees, and stone houses roofed in tiles dotted over the hill, and suggests staying in one of its traditional houses.

It also tells of a charming custom. The village distils its own zivania, and on name days it’s usual to share it with friends in the church courtyard.

The UNESCO church and St George’s

The village’s great church is the Metamorfosis tou Sotiros, built in the 16th century and protected by UNESCO as a painted church. It only opens on Tuesday and Wednesday mornings. The village also has a 17th-century church of Agios Georgios.

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The Byzantine museum

A restored traditional house holds the Palaichori Byzantine museum, with religious art from the Frankish period onwards, icons, woodcarvings, silverwork, weaving and prints recovered from the village’s churches and chapels. One company page lists it as open on weekday mornings, Tuesday to Friday, from ten until one, and another only gives a phone number, +357 22 643 012, so I’d call first.

Afxentiou’s hideout

In the EOKA years, between 1955 and 1959, Grigoris Afxentiou used a hideout in the heart of the village, in the basement of the house of Andreas and Maritsa Karaolis, built to his instructions in the summer of 1956. There were two, one in a traditional oven and another under a stone staircase, and the second sheltered him after he was wounded at the battle of Zoopigi in 1957. The oven was pulled down on his orders, but the one under the stairs survives intact. The Historical Remembrance Council of EOKA restored it in 1977, and today you can visit it alongside the struggle museum. The company gives the numbers +357 22 643 012 and +357 22 642 772. To understand those years, see the history of Cyprus.

If you would rather have a local show you round, book a guided tour in Agros and choose by the reviews.

The reservoir and around

For anglers, the company mentions the Palaichori reservoir, one of six in the mountains where you can fish with a Department of Fisheries licence. From here the rest of Pitsilia is close, starting with the neighbouring hamlet of Askas, with Agros as the base for the night.

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Once your dates are set, check which hotels are still free in Agros before prices climb.