Holy Monastery of St Nicholas of the Cats

A wonderful and bizarre story lies behind the name of this place. The monastery and its original little church were founded in AD 327 by the first Byzantine governor of Cyprus, Kalokeros, and patronised by St Helena, mother of Constantine the Great. At the time, the Akrotiri Peninsula and indeed the whole of Cyprus was in the grip of a severe drought and was overrun with poisonous snakes, so building a monastery was fraught with practical difficulties.

A large shipment of cats was therefore brought in from Egypt and Palestine to combat the reptilian threat. A bell would call the cats to meals, and the furry warriors would then be dispatched to fight the snakes. A Venetian monk visiting the monastery described them all as maimed, one missing a nose, another an ear, and some were completely blind as a result of their selfless battles. The peninsula was in fact known for a time as 'Cat Peninsula' before reverting to plain 'Peninsula'. There is a little renovated church that dates from the 13th century and a sprawling monastery building that received a much-needed refurbishment in 1983. The many cats that you'll find snoozing in the shade of the monastery colonnades far outnumber the four solitary sisters who now look after the monastery.