Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of love and beauty (known to the Romans as Venus), according to Greek mythology, was born on the Mediterranean island of Cyprus. Myths recount a scene that the artist Boticelli made as immortal as the goddess herself in his painting The Birth of Venus.
According to mythology, the goddess rose full-born from the sea and sailed ashore in a shell (which accounts for the irreverent nickname for Boticelli’s masterpiece: Venus on the Halfshell). But travelers to the island can easily believe this legendary event after spending a few days in the enchanting landscapes where mythology and natural history meet and blend.
Aphrodite’s Birthplace
They can stand on the cliffs of Petra Toy Romiou, at the very spot where the goddess of love and beauty came ashore on her shell. The nearby Sanctuary of Aphrodite at Koulia was, until the 3rd century, among the most celebrated pilgrimage sites in the ancient Greek world.
Like Aphrodite, the island itself sprang from the sea, rising during a series of violent volcanic eruptions. As the molten lava cooled in the sea, it formed a shoreline of beaches and dramatic sea cliffs, some almost pure white, others carved into strange and convoluted shapes, and riddled with caves. In some places the shore rises sharply to mountains, or to craggy slopes of olive and pine. Spectacular walking trails hang above a green sea so clear you can see every rock in the bottom.
Baths of Aphrodite
One of these paths leads along the clifftop to the Baths of Aphrodite, near Polis. Her favorite bathing spot, according to legend, and the place where she first saw Adonis, is in an atmospheric mountain spring overhung by vines and shaded by forest. The coastal trail from there is breathtaking, through a sloping meadow with views down (way down) into a brilliant blue sea.
Not all the cliffs and dramatic rock formations overlook the sea. Another trail leads along a tiny stream through the bottom of Aradas Gorge, hundreds of feet deep. It’s hard to believe that the soaring canyon was carved by this mere trickle of a river. Far above, goats scamper along narrow shelves in its towering vertical walls of rock the color of Cyprus honey.
Akamas Peninsula
The bees that brew Cyprus’s honey – itself the stuff of legends – feast on the blossoming orange groves whose intoxicating fragrance perfumes the island, and on the infinite variety of wildflowers. These wildflowers are the most profuse on the Akamas Peninsula, a relatively undeveloped landscape largely protected as a nature reserve. Its pine forests, mountainsides and miles of dramatic coastal cliffs and coves are beautiful all year, but prettiest in the spring, when the pale chalky soil is painted with wild blossoms. Endemic species -- plants native only here -- number 135, and other flowers native to the island bring the total over 1000.
Brilliant red poppies splash the fields and roadsides with color and gardens are everywhere. Florescent pink bougainvillea falls from balconies and red geraniums ramble in unruly profusion from pots on every doorstep.
No wonder Aphrodite, goddess of beauty, chose this beautiful land as home.
Barbara Rogers - Traveler, writer and guidebook author with a passion for those lands that border the Mediterranean Sea and the neighboring Atlantic ...
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