Sotira, the village of churches and taro

Sotira is the village I’d pick for a close look at the Byzantine churches of eastern Cyprus without leaving the district. It’s a few minutes from Ayia Napa, but it moves at a different pace. Here’s what to see and what to taste. The other red soil villages are covered in Kokkinochoria.

The village of the saviour

In 2021 the census put Sotira at 5,905 people. For the regional website Visit Famagusta, the village is now a municipal quarter of Ayia Napa, a 5 to 10-minute drive away, with a name taken from the Greek word for saviour, meaning Christ. It’s one of the farming villages of the red soil, known for watermelons, potatoes, pomegranates and, above all, taro.

The Byzantine churches

The old church of the Transfiguration of the Saviour stands, according to the region, on a 4th-century basilica, keeps parts of a mosaic floor, owes its present form to 16th-century rebuilding and holds 13th-century frescoes influenced by the art of Constantinople. Beside it, the new church was built between 1935 and 1939 and formally inaugurated in 1955, and celebrates the Transfiguration on 6 August and on Palm Sunday.

Agios Mamas is a small 16th-century chapel in the Franco-Cypriot style with a single dome, bearing its founder’s arms, a lion and a fish, on the north-west wall and three icons from 1754. Legend says two men who defaced its images were blinded on leaving, struck by a pomegranate branch. Outside the village lie Agios Georgios Chortakion, from the 12th century, with boats drawn in charcoal in its narthex, the ruins of Agios Theodoros, about 2 km west, and the Panagia Chordakiotissa, also 12th-century, the last remnant of a monastery, with two icons, one of them the Virgin known locally as the rainmaker.

In the centre, the chapel of Agios Georgios, rebuilt in 1899, is now a church museum, with icons, Gospel books, crosses and a 12th-century fresco of Saint Elpidophoros, according to the region.

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

Taro and the festival

Taro, kolokasi in Cyprus, is Sotira’s crop. According to Visit Famagusta, the village grows more than 85% of the island’s taro, has done since the early 20th century, and since 2016 Kolokasi Sotiras has held protected designation of origin and geographical indication status. Each September a festival lets you meet the growers and see the harvest. The same website says taro was served in 1191 at the wedding of Richard the Lionheart and Berengaria in Limassol, a claim I haven’t been able to check in another source.

The coast and the beer

On Sotira’s coast stands Agia Thekla, a seaside chapel built near the remains of an early Christian basilica, with a catacomb cut into the rock to the west. Next to it are Sirena and Poseidon beaches, which the region recommends for beach weddings, and Agia Thekla beach itself, covered in Ayia Napa beaches. Along this coast are the Thalassines villas, twelve six-person houses with private pools on the official register, which I cover in villas in Cyprus. And in the village, Octo microbrewery has worked with archaeologists to revive a Cypriot recipe from 3,800 years ago.

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

Getting there

OSEA route 710 links Deryneia, Sotira and Ayia Napa, route 709 comes from Frenaros, routes 701A and 714 run to Paralimni and Liopetri, and route 703 continues to Protaras and Konnos. Each daytime journey is €2. Just down the road are Liopetri and Frenaros.

A car frees you from timetables: search car hire in Ayia Napa on DiscoverCars and compare companies.

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