From near Limassol’s harbour, the good E602 road signed towards Asomatos and Fassouri runs west to the Crusader castle of Kolossi and beyond to the stunningly sited ancient city of Kourion. The route is scarcely longer, and far less dangerous, than either of the inland highways, the steep, winding B6 and the high-speed A6. It’s also the most scenic: giant cypresses , planted long ago as windbreaks, have grown to form lofty tunnels over the road; eucalyptus clumps drained the swamps here and allowed extensive orange provesto flourish, most of them originally planted by jewish settlers at the end of the nineteenth century. About a dozen families stayed on after independence and now live in Nicosia. At roadside stalls near the Red Seal Phassouri Plantation, you can buy giant sacks of the fruit, the cheapest in the South. One particular, old-fashioned variety to look out for are sweet sherkerika or sugaroranges, the name derived (say some) from T serkezi (T serkezoi) village en route, but equally likely from the Turkish shekerli.
Long before citrus arrived, sugar cane and grapes were cultivated in this area: the castle of Kolossi (dailyJune-Aug 8am-7.30pm; Sept-May 9am-5pm; euro1.70.) just south of the eponymous village, still stands evocatively amid the vineyards that helped make it famous Frequent 16 or 17 buses run here from Limassol’s central market (Mon-Sat only; journey time 20 min).
The story of Kolossi is inextricably linked with the Knights Hospitaller, whose commanderie it was- the name later accrued to the rich dessert wine, Commandaria, still made from vines in the Limassol foothills. The Knights werefirst granted land here in 1210 by the Lusignans, and the local castle became their headquarters after the Crusaders’ final loss of the Holy land. Even after the order shifted to Rhodes exactly a century later, the Knights kept Kolossi as the headquarters of their local fiefs, which included dozens of foothill villages. Mameluke raids of the fifteenth century virtually levelled the original castle, later rebuilt on a smaller scale; in 1488 the Venetians appropriated it, along with the order’s other holdings. The Ottomans allowed the place to slowly deteriorate until a British restoration of 1933.
Today’s three-storey keep-structure stands among the ruins of a much larger castle; from the coat of arms of Grand Master Louis de Magnac, set into the east wall, a date approximately 1450 has been deduced for the earlier restoration. Modern stairs have replaced a retractable defensive ramp up to the door; the ground level with its vital well, a three-chambered storage basement,originally had no entrance from outside. In the left-hand, vaulted room of the middle storey, probably the kitchen, are the first of several huge fireplaces, more appropriate to northern European chateaux and not equalled on the island since .By the spiral stairway in the other room, a glass plate protects a damaged fresco to the Crusifixion.
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Tags: ancient city of kourion, asomatos, castle of kolossi, fassouri, kollossi, limassol, limassol city, limassol cyprus, limassol foothills, limassol history, limassol holidays, limassol hotels, limassol tourism, limassol travel, limassol's central market, limassol's harbour, the road of kolossi