Villages Of The Akamas Heights
The Akamas peninsula begins of a line joining Ayios Yeoryios and Peyia village. Named after a legendary lover of Aphrodite, this is the most desolate, and (expect for Tillyria) the most thinly populated portion of Cyprus. An inclined plane of sparsely vegedated chalk and reef limestone atop sharp volcanic peaks, it drops of sharply to the east and north but falls more gradually west towards the sea, furrowed by ravines hiding precious water. At its centre the land climbs to a spine of hills nearly 700m high, now supporting the bulk of permanent habitation in the area.
Several of the villages of the Akamas hights were partly or wholly Cypriot before 1974, and either the prior troubles or the subsequent exodus left them almost empty: their lands, however extensive, were generally too poor to attract refugees from the North, and silk-cocoon culture- the major traditional earner- had already withered away by the 1960s. Other, wholly Greek-Cypriot communities have shrunk as well-thanks to the usual emigration overseas or to Cypriot towns. Mostly the old remain , some wondering why the “miracle” of Agia Napa shouldn’t be repeated here.
Virtually the only organization to to suggest otherwise is the Laona Foundation (P.O.Box 50257, 3602 Limassol) which endeavours to protect the wildest part of the Akamas and to revive the dying villages by introducing “sustainable tourism”-specifically the restoration of selected old properties for use as visitors accommodation, and the involvement of tourist in the day-to-day village economy.
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