Episkopi is a small town that was rocked by an earthquake in 1953. The earthquake dislodged a huge chunk of the earth revealing a shear faced rock monolith, the largest in Cyprus. At 70 meters tall and 300 meters long this thing was huge. Before we headed to the monolith we stopped in the information center for an informative movie, a personalized guided tour of the interior of the center as well as an outside garden tour. Mary Beth, a US expat, took our 10 Euro entrance fee, sold us some swag, gave us the tour and showed us where to go next on the train map that was in the center. She was both knowledgeable and enthusiastic. We could have stayed and talked with her all day but we wanted to see the big rock as well as tour the river valley. After buying three bird pins for my birding hat, and a bird book (donation only), we went into the theater area for the movie. Unfortunately the room was unheated and in the 20 minutes we sat and watched we really cooled down. We warmed up a bit during the tour of the interior of the center but still felt chilled. As we left, we turned the heat up in the car, that will do it.
Be sure that your brakes are in good working order because a 9% grade is pretty steep
Down down down
The entrance to the center
A nice mural outside
The valley seen from the parking lot
Mixed messages! Enter ....don't enter
Off in the distance the old weathered part of the monolith
This river valley has a multitude of minerals that can be found on the surface
It was the source of all the different colors used in Cypriot mosaics. These were collected by hand and carried out in burlap sacks
There were numerous displays, this one was endemic plants
Samples of many different types of wood
Flowers
Dragonflies
Home made products
Orchids found on Cyprus
More interesting are the avian taxidermy
All of the birds that are found in the valley
From wood sandpipers
To snipes, yes a snipe is a real bird
The elusive black francolin
A woodcock
The scopes owl
Boneli eagle
A set of foxes
Long legged buzzard
Blue rock thrush
Masked shrike
Nightjar
One bird I had hoped to see, the Cyprus Warbler
This is the map of the trail down at river level. We were given very detailed directions. Good thing as we probably would have thought we were lost
Mary Ann explained that this garden is trying to display all the habitats that are fond down by the river
A nice path the walk along
Frogs in the water
A great view out towards the valley
The center was made in an old elementary school
A chiffchaff
We can see the monolith
Two orchid blooms
Another orchis in bloom
Mary Beth giving us a salute
Plus some fresh rosemary and bay leaves. A fine parting gift
