Zakharia General View.
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Tera

This no longer an abandoned village because many properties have now been renovated and occasionally re-inhabited. But it is interesting in that it demonstrates what could have happened to other abandoned villages.

Getting there

From Paphos drive towards Polis but then after Stroumbi turn left towards Kathikas. Follow the bypass round Kathikas then proceed towards Polis on this road until you see the signpost to Tera on your right. At a fork in the road go left. You should pass a vrisi on the right then at the next fork keep to the right. After about 100 m take a sharp turn right, then up a rise until you are in the main street.

Looking around

As you drive down the main street you will see a few lavishly modernised houses. Most have the Delta sign (a triangle with a number) on their walls. The story is that people could take over these ex-Turkish Cypriot houses for a peppercorn rent. Having done that they could do what they liked with them, the proviso being that if the rightful owners ever returned the new tenants would have to hand back the properties, renovated or not. This practice seems to have stopped and apparently you can now rent an ex-Turkish property only if you are a bone fide refugee from the North. Fantasising: you could go to live in Northern Cyprus for a while then get yourself extradited. Would you then be classed as a refugee and thus entitled to rent an ex-Turkish property? Even if this cunning plan worked the administrative and bureaucratic delays involved would probably mean that you would be dead before you could move into your idyllic secluded dream house. Dreaming apart, you can walk down and up the main street to the renovated vrisi at the bottom after taking the left fork just past the mosque. The mosque is worth a visit, even if it is locked. It has no minaret but the friezed gallery where the womenfolk were confined and the outside steps leading up to it are in fairly good order. In front of the mosque is a square stone-built structure with a small window but no door?

There is an abandoned Turkish graveyard which can be difficult to find. But drive down from the mosque and keep to the right. At the bottom of the hill turn left. The graveyard is in a field on the left.

If you wish to see wild flowers, drive down the main street then up the slope past the renovated vrisi. Turn right at the top then proceed until you come to a water tower. Park here then follow a path above a valley. This path leads down to the stream and usually yields an abundance of wild flowers.

It is probably better to return to the main road by the route you came on unless you wish to visit inhabited Kritou Tera on the way.

Tera Graves.
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Tera Graves.
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Tera Mosque.
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Tera Mosque.
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