HISTORY ETHNOGRAPHY NATURE WINE-MAKING SITE MAP
Selected and rare materials, excerpts and observations from ancient, medieval and contemporary authors, travelers and researchers about Cyprus.
 
 
 
 
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SIR SAMUEL WHITE BAKER
CYPRUS AS I SAW IT IN 1879
page 325

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forms the river in the ravine below, " There is the* monastery of Trooditissa ! " exclaimed our guide! About 2CO feet above our level, snugly nested among! splendid walnut-trees in the dark angle of the moun-Ç tains, were the grey and brown gables, half concealed? by the rich foliage of plane-trees, walnuts, mulberry, and other varieties. About half a mile from this point of view the mule! scrambled up one of the worst portions of the route! and w e arrived at a clear and cold spring issuing sudi denly from the rocks through a stone spout, protectee by an arch of masonry : this was received in a rude wooden trough formed from the trunk of a hollowed] pine, and overflowed across the path to water some terraced gardens immediately below. A walnut and) a fig-tree intermingled their branches above the arce and formed an agreeable shade to shelter weary trM vellers, who might sit by the welcome spring after toiling up the rough mountain side. About eighty yards beyond, by a level path, we reached the widest* spreading walnut-tree that I have ever seen ; the nevii foliage was soft and uninjured by the wind, producing] a dense shade over an area sufficient for numerous tents. This magnificent specimen of vegetation grevW upon the edge of an abrupt descent, perpendicular m a series of gardens, all terraced out to a depth of about 150 feet, to the bottom of a narrow gorge; thus one-half of the branches overhung the steep, while the other half shaded a portion of the monastery courtyard. W e halted and dismounted beneath this grand old! tree, where the picturesque but not clean old monk,! with some of his ecclesiastics, were ready to meet • with a courteous welcome.

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