Pissouri, Cyprus - Prophet Elias Chapel

Rain was forecast for this afternoon so right after breakfast I messaged Kay that I was leaving, told her where I planned to walk and that I hoped to be back in about an hour.

There's a lot of twittering and tweeting going on around. Lots of nest building.

That tall stalk and yellow flower is a Fennel plant. I looked it up. You can't eat them.

I don't know how many times I have walked up and down this road and I don't know how I could have missed this road up to the chapel that I have been curious about for months. The gate was open but the chapel was locked.

The Panayia Akonopetra Chapel

 was built in 1996,

on land owned by the church,

with donations from the residents of Pissouri

and is dedicated to the Virgin Mary. But this was not the chapel I had set out to find.

I continued up through the village, seeing no-one and being passed by a few speeding cars, taking advantage of the lack of traffic. I don't think I had posted a photo yet of the completed bus shelters.

Past the school and up the track below the water reservoir and half way up the track there is a street sign!?

Now I knew where to look I could see the chapel on the hillside just below the goat farm.

Past the horses

One of the barns had beams with these perfect little Sparrow homes and there was a bird peaking out of each one.

Another sign. I spend too much time looking down at flowers, I miss these.

Down a steep road with a couple of hairpin bends

with banks covered in flowers because its on the sheltered side of the hill.

The Anemones are looking a bit the worse for wear.

You approach from above

turn a corner and there is the gate. No lock so I just opened the latch

but the chapel was locked.

This ornate tray, outside, enables the lighting of a votive.

The chapel was originally in a cavern, with murals on the walls and ceiling, however there was a cave in and only part remains. The chapel was built in 1960 and renovated in 2002.

Elijah (/ɪˈlaɪdʒə/ ih-LY-jə; Hebrew: אֵלִיָּהוּ, Eliyahu, meaning "My God is Yahweh^[1]/YHWH"^[2][3]) or latinized form Elias (/ɪˈlaɪəs/ ih-LY-əs)^[a] was, according to the Books of Kings in the Hebrew Bible, a prophet and a miracle worker who lived in the northern kingdom of Israel^[4] during the reign of King Ahab (9th century BC).
In Greece, chapels and monasteries dedicated to Prophet Elias (Προφήτης Ηλίας) are often found on mountaintops, which themselves are often named after him.  from Wikipedia

It is a lovely, peaceful spot

disturbed only by the chugging of the tractor down in the valley.

Back to looking at flowers.

Curious but shy.

I wasn't going to make it back within the hour and the chapel had relaxed me so I didn't rush on the way back as much as I had on the way.

Another ornamental tree, no idea what it is.

The walk ended up taking me about and hour and a half. It would have been a little less if I hadn't checked out that first chapel. I vowed however that I wouldn't rush my walks. I don't mind walking a bit faster, that will actually help with the exercise component of the walk, but rushing or worrying about what time it is defeats the mental health aspect of the walk. I spend very little time walking through the residential areas and actually on this walk I only saw one person on foot and he was just coming out of the goat farm and heading to his car.