Vretsia natural trail: Remnants of the past with a rare beauty

Description

The Vretsia natural trail is small and an easy to moderate hike. The scenery, especially at the Roudias bridge is absolutely stunning. The Venetian bridge, the cool shade of the tall trees and the ever-flowing Xeros River, nurturing lush green vegetation, offer a scene that would please even the most discerning eye.

It is located in the Vretsia village, which belongs to the Paphos district. It is a linear trail with a total distance of ~7-8 km including the return back. The trailhead is located in the abandoned village of Vretsia and goes through a beautiful path up until the “Roudias” Venetian bridge. There is also the option to make the trail circular, which is what I am going to describe in this article.

The Vretsia trail is part of the Venetian bridge’s natural trail, which goes up to Treis Elies village.

Viewpoints

Vretsia is a Turkish Cypriot village, which was abandoned after the Turkish invasion in 1974. Before the war the population was around 300-400 people. The latest inventories before the war occurred in 1946 and 1960 with the residents accounting for 393 and 386 respectively. After the war between the years 1982-1992 the residents were between 3-5. The last inventory occurred in 2001 with no residents.

The sight of the abandoned village gives the hiker a weird feeling. It’s like an open museum of a thriving community depicting the results of the rapid evacuation due to the war.

Following the trail path, almost half way there to the Venetian bridge, another historical monument appears. The hiker will come across Vretsia’s watermill. What is left actually. After doing some online research it seems that a few years ago another hiker took a photo and the watermill was still standing. Now it is collapsed and ruined.

The most beautiful area of the hike is the Roudias bridge. The whole area is worth seeing since the Xeros/Kseros river creates a small oasis with dense vegetation, offering a satisfying experience.

Starting points

Both of the ends of the trail are accessible by car. Therefore the hiker has the option to start the trail:

either from the Vretsia village center
or go to the Roudias Venetian bridge. The road to the Roudias Venetian bridge is a gravel road, which may be best driven with an SUV car.

For more information about the GPS location check out the Natural trail’s information table.

Personal comments

First of all, the road that takes you to the Vretsia trail or to Roudias Venetian bridge is a bit narrow and it may feel that you are going in the wrong direction. But do not hesitate, just keep going! When arriving at the Vretsia village you have several options on how to do the hike. All of them are described below:

The first option is to do it one way from Vretsia village to the Roudias Venetian bridge, which will be a total of 3.5km. That requires two cars, leaving one at the Venetian bridge and the other one at the village. The trail can also be done the other way around (from Roudias bridge to Vretsia).
Leave the car in one of the options and do it as linear with the return back. That will increase the total distance up to ~7 km.
The other option is to make the route circular. That can be done by starting from the Vretsia village and following the gravel road for the first 4.5 – 5 km until the beautiful Roudias venetian bridge. Then take the way back through the actual trail that goes through the bridge and follows a slight uphill from time to time. The total distance will be 8.5-9 km. This is what I did and what I am describing in the natural trails information table.

The name of the Venetian bridge originated from Roudi bush, which was present in the specific area. That bush was very important during the Venetian period since it was used for various purposes like medicine and culinary.

Vretsia natural trail information table

Description
Starting points	34.89224, 32.65837 (link)
Ending point	34.89037, 32.68522 (link)
Distance	10.28 km
Difficulty (1 – easy, 2 – moderate, 3 – difficult)	2
Trail type (Linear, Circular)	Circular (but can be done as linear too)
ETA finish time	3 hours
Elevation Gain/Loss	311 meters
Maximum Altitude	581 meters