Aphrodite Baths

The “first Athenian” also writes about the Baths of Aphrodite, who saves the myth that “Aphrodite bathed in its waters after lying on the side with her husband, Hephaestus”. He even notes that a plant called “lamp” blooms in them.

An idyllic landscape of unique beauty emerges in the east square. At the point where the narrow plain of Chrysochous ends and the cliffs of the peninsula begin. In other words, Loutra overlooks about four kilometers northeast of Neos Chorio. In the Baths of Aphrodite, as their name suggests, the “most important goddess of the ancient Cypriots”, the goddess of Eros, Aphrodite, bathed.

A paved path leads to a vertical rock, through the crevices of which cool and clear water flows. Through a ditch the water of the lake is poured into the sea. The rock that covers the lake forms a cave covered with dense vegetation, which makes the spring and the lake “permanently shady”. More clearly, “wild plane trees, olives, locusts, thyme thorns grow all around plane trees”. During the spring months, the landscape becomes even more enchanting with the uniquely beautiful wildflowers, such as cyclamen, lazarus, anemones, scorpions and asparagus.

It is indeed a wonderful spectacle, a masterpiece of nature dressed in its most beautiful colors. The gushing of the clear water creates planetary melodies, like when “the light rain falls on a lake”. It is no coincidence that the ancient Greeks chose this landscape for the Baths of the most beautiful goddess.

The “wild grandeur” of the landscape attracts the flattering comments of a number of travelers, already from the 4th century. Claudius, a poet of antiquity, describes the landscape as the “kingdom of Aphrodite”. He cites two sources, “one of which mixes its water with honey and the other with medicine.” And he continues, writing that from these Eros arms his arrows, which is why his shots are sometimes bitter and sometimes sweet. Claudian knits the legend of his lyrics inspired by the beautiful landscape, which has certainly undergone several changes.

Without a doubt, the Baths of Aphrodite are one of the most seductive landscapes on the whole island. Many visitors enjoy the unique landscape every day and bathe in the cool waters of the adorable “Paphia” goddess.

Sources:
Great Cypriot Encyclopedia, vols. 3 and 10