Panagia tis Podythou & Panagia Theotokou (Arhangelou)

A less commonly visited Unesco-listed church (or rather duo of churches) is this rather charming pair, made up of Panagia tis Podythou and Panagia Theotokou (Arhangelou), a couple of kilometres north of Kakopetria (the signpost is easy to miss). The main church was established in 1502 by Dimitrios de Coron, a Greek military officer in the service of James II, the king of Cyprus at the time. Up to about the 1950s the building was occupied by monks.

The church itself is rectangular, with a semicircular apse at the eastern end. A portico, constructed at a later date, surrounds the church on three sides. Again, you'll see the characteristic pitched roof with flat tiles, and the floor inside is covered with baked terracotta tiles. The interior of the church was actually never completed, yet frescoes cover the pediments of both the east and west wall. Two 17th-century frescoes on the north and south wall depicting the Apostles Peter & Paul were never completed. The fresco style is of a Renaissance-influenced Italo-Byzantine painter, who used vivid colours and a three-dimensional treatment of the subject matter. The smaller and often overlooked Panagia Theotokou nearby is in fact more impressive, with vivid didactic-style panels, quite striking in their freshness even today. Dating from around 1514, the interior frescoes depict a rather fascinating panoply of images from the life of Christ. Seek out the caretaker of both churches at the kafeneio next to the Lambrou supermarket in Kakopetria. Bring a torch as neither of the churches has electric lighting.