Kykkos (Kykkou) Monastery

Kykkos Monastery is the richest and most lavish of the monasteries of Cyprus. It sits near a mountain peak, at 1,318 meters in the northwest Troodos Mountains. The monastery was founded sometime at the end of the 11th century. The original monastery has burned, as have subsequent buildings. The icon of Theotokos (Virgin Mary) was a "gift" to the Cypriot hermit Isaiah who miraculous cured the daughter of emperor Alexios 1 Komnenos (1081-1118 AD). According to legend, Isaiah requested the icon and funds to pay for construction of a monastery fitting the honours of housing this sacred relic. The icon is not to be gazed up under penalty of blindness and is covered in elaborated draping. A very small portion of the icon is visible through the draping and is displayed in the "dripping with gold" sanctuary, where we encountered many making a pilgrimage. Photography is not permitted in the sanctuary, but it was AMAZING! Main entrance with beautiful and brillant mosaics.

View of the 3-Bells tower just up the hill.

View of courtyard just to our right, galleries line the walkways on both levels.

Closer view of the inner passageway, this leads to the sanctuary and the icon. Note the Cypriot flag flying by the bell tower.

Christine models the bright purple robes women & men (scott included) are required to wear, as neither knees nor shoulders are acceptable. Christine wore a full abaya and sheyla to gain entrance to The Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi (also out of respect for religious culture). It wasn't a big deal for either of us, just a bit uncomfortable in the heat.

Dream sequence mural on wall of upper gallery.

Other side of same doorway's mural features the icon of Virgin Mary being venerated.

Vaulted ceiling were also covered with elaborate murals featuring Bible stories. Scott thought the ship in full sail was pretty interesting, note one at other end of the corridor as well.

Stunning Mural of an Angel (?). All the writing throughout was in Greek, saved us time, but was often confused and educationally challenged.

Believe this is St. Luke, who was known to have visited Cyprus and been a major influence on Christianity's spread throughout the island.

Mosaic, perhaps a plague of locusts being let loose?

Noah's Arch Mosaic with rabbit & raven on rock.

This was one of Christine's favorites, the colors were stunning!

Burning Bush mosaic, note the small white cross on mountain top (left side.) These last four mosaics were side by side on a gallery walkway and are indicative of many, many more!

The monestary is in the Troodos Mountains. You can see the road snaking about half way down in this photo. Our drive was 1 1/2 hours of twisting and narrow mountain roads up and back down the mountain. It was exhausting for Scott navigating a left-hand manual transmission and driving on the wrong side of the road all the way up, not to mention Christine's gasps of fright at sheer drop offs, hair-pin turns and on-coming traffic. While visiting several shops after our tour, Scott noticed cold Keo Beer for sale. We shared one and it was so calming and refreshing, that Scott purchased another to share on the way back down. The 1 1/2 hour drive back down, when this photo was taken, was much, much easier on both our nerves. Normally I'm not much on mixing beer and driving, but we got down the mountain and were still talking to each other!

Credit for our making the effort to experience Kykkos Monastery must be given to Christine's previous boss Linda Jackson at Ozzie, Ltd in Corydon. She often spoke of this fabulous site and Keo beer. Thank you Linda; here's to you. Cheers!

Love to you all,

Christine and Scott