The trail offers beautiful views of the valley Marathasa. You can check out the fire guardhouse Kavallos the highest point of the route and the village of Hawk in the valley Marathasa, which is built on a hillside with trees. Then the trail goes south of the Tree Tops Hotel and follows descend to become circular main road Hawk - Kykkos for about 800m.
Really, do you know Gerakies?
history
In the village before the first Turkish occupation, about 700 years ago they lived priests expelled from Syria. They created the monastery of St. Nicholas at the location of today. The church was much greater and the surrounding houses inhabited by monks. Over their homes and over the church was a cross, o which exists to this day in one of the houses.
The village started from Agios Nikolaos and down, while none of the current homes that are now on the highwayexisted. Next to St. Nicholas, the village school was located, which in the words of the villagers was a very nice building with a large courtyard.
Each elder has a small house, that is how the village took its current name Gerakies according to tradition.
In the village there were other churches, the Holy Trinity, the Virgin Dikolitissa etc.
After years of the church was destroyed and in its place was built a smaller one. Inside the sanctuary of the church they were found some money and they built and Saint George. Then around 1900 the villagers raised the church of St. George, carrying stones.
The village school was located next to the St. Nicholas church. In the village there was the church of St. Sozomenos, who left the Karpas and came to our village.
The villagers were engaged in the production of tar from pine trees, the proof pisokamino village. They used tar for pissoma of jars. Moreover engaged in the production of wines, zivania, palouze. They cultivated vines, almond, fig, apple, walnut, pomegranate, pear and chimonapida. Not particularly engaged in farming, but each house had pigs so they made sausages, lountses and ofto. With fruit manufactured retselia. And if you lean your head and wonder what the heck is the retselia, learn that created by salted fruits placed in epsima. Moreover they made a rapid pulp from wheat ground that they put back into the epsima.
The life of residents
The villagers lived from the production of products and had left behind the letters. Furthermore we learned about playing games. Of course not played so often about it and usually when referring to their games, they mean Easter, Tuesday and Wednesday, mainly after the big Saturday. Played tourra, ie with a handkerchief that had a knot in the end, every child who kept trying to beat someone else, like the current chase.
The sparrow was a game that was played with closed eyes of one who was looking for the sparrow, that is another who change jobs not to find him. Played piponouthkia, ploumisto and ring. The ring resembles the familiar game "say 'tell' in the ring Search Search will not find" only that there was a rope on which the ring passed and they put their hands around the rope and so went from one hand in the other ring.
Tour of the village
Gerakies village located in the green valley of Marathasa at an altitude of about 1000 meters refraining about 65 km from Nicosia.
So driving from Nicosia to Kykkos Monastery and passing through the valley Marathasa reach the village of Kalopanagiotis. From there, make a right turn and leading to even three kilometers, we reach Anefani area where we see Gerakies village built on the hillside in a green background. The impressive Anefani name comes from the ancient verb emerge (occurs again, return to the village). Is possessive corruption of the ancient open-b anefanin liabilities.
Entering the village we see on our right the branch of the Cooperative Credit Company Marathasa and immediately after the stone church of St. George built in 1915 with an imposing bell tower. Just opposite is the traditional cafe Meteora that offers relaxation, quality food, pleasent drinks and homemade dishes.
Moving a little and turn right on a downhill street with traditional houses built of stone and bricks reach the stone chapel of St. Nicholas, which has been preserved and is under the auspices of the Department of Antiquities.
Continuing on downhill paved path we meet a very old stone fountain in the middle of a green landscape surrounded by vines and cherry trees. Is Lower Fountain, which, together with others, supplying water and quenched their thirst community in the old days.
Thence along a narrow dirt path can we reach lotions site where tradition says the villagers under the old tree to wash their clothes.
Going up a little and reaching the road that separates the village along we turn right and we reach the holy water of Saint George. Moving even a little washed-up reach the party location where a rest on the benches under the pines enjoying the beautiful view of the village.
Rested and all energy now move reactivate lengthwise the main road to Kykkos, spending the little bridge over the stream that descends from the crotch and arrive at the Cultural Center Hawk. At this place was the old elementary school of the village in which several of us spent their early school years. This building houses the offices of the Association of Expatriates, the Youth Centre of the Village Authority and the Community Clinic. The same building also houses the cafe Buzzard where we can find rest, quality food, pleasent drinks and homemade dishes. At the entrance of the Cultural Centre is a reference monument of our missing fellow villager Charalambos Antoniou whose missing sap those dark days of 1974.
Just outside the village we find the nature trail Ariadne. This path moves circularly in the upper part of the village with excellent views across the green forest, vineyards and plantations of fruit trees. Reaching the highest part of the trails are in the crotch region where we can admire the Kykkos Monastery, the throne of the Virgin and deep skyline provinces Paphos and Morphou. Here is also the forestry house which is manned during the summer months and is used for purposes pyroparakolouthisis and fire.
Farther to the right of the road there is the point that will be erected soon the chapel of St. Sozomenos patron Saint of our old community village located in Milia region and left the Holy Stone with miraculous thanks to children.
With the passage of time the village has managed to preserve and pass on from generation to generation ancestral occupations, despite the difficult living conditions, still keeps alive. The preparation soutzouki (palouze - kiofteria) zivania, rosewater roses and manufacture trachana have made the village known nationwide.
Gerakies with incomparable hospitality, the cool climate, fresh and tasty products, the little verdure landscape and the quiet and relaxing environment are a unique solution to escape from a daily routine and monotonous city life.
The name of the village 'Gerakies "
The name of the village 'Gerakies "has two versions. According to the first version of the inhabitants of the community engaged in taming falcons and falconer called. This version first etymology is not correct because the word Gerakies is complex; even falcons tamed birds not to be used for hunting, as claimed by those who believe this version.
A second embodiment, which is the better is it had many Priests (total 14). Around Gerakies village and mainly northwest were many settlements outside the settlements, St. George and St. Nicholas here in Gerakies there were settlements of Milia, Saint Sozomenos, the Trinity, the Dikolon, the Hartz, the tank and possibly others. Each community of the village had one or two priests and when these priests have the priesthood, or other meetings came here to Gerakies, because it was the community with the most residents.
The house of a priest named by the priests, holy house. The priests when they wanted to make their meetings coming in Gerakies and met. At the end signed as follows: And it shall ierais oikiais. Two words that resulted in the word Gerakies which is the name of the village.
The Gerakies belong to the group of Marathasa valley villages. It is a small picturesque amphitheatrically built village with about 120 residents, who remained from the wave of astyfylias plaguing the Cypriot countryside villages (in 1960 the population was 900 people). In the past inhabitants were employed in the mines in the surrounding area, as well as the cultivation of vineyards, wine production and the famous siousioukkou, which manufacture and market to date. The village grew and prospered until the surrounding mines Asbestos, Montenegro-Chromium and fucase ekleisasn, leading many residents to migrate abroad mainly in the United Kingdom, where there were around 600 expatriates and a lesser number in other countries such as USA, Greece, Australia, etc. . There are two versions about the name of the village.
The first says that the surrounding cliffs were the nests of many hawks, which at the time of fragkrokratias was sought after by feudal lords who were engaged in hunting as tamed and trained for hunting purposes. The other version says Gerakies got their name because of the many churches and priests like St. Sozomenos, the Trinity, St. Nicholas, St. George and others were destroyed which used the inhabitants as the Raiders protective shelters then season. Most of the trail is part of the old route used by the villagers to go to the vineyards and the neighboring villages of Marathasa and Kykkos Monastery.
Starting point: From the Tree Tops Hotel, shortly after the village Gerakies, to Kykkos
Path Length: 5 km
Considerable time: 2.5 hours
Degree of difficulty: 3
Form: round
ADDRESS: Gerakas