Where Life Breaths
TEXT: ELENI XENOU / PHOTOS: SILVIO AUGUSTO RUSMIGO
Pyrgos Tyllirias is not just a getaway. it’s a return to authentic Cyprus, where natural beauty and the generosity of its people are all you need to feel truly complete.
The journey is enchanting: mountain and sea, the scent of pine and wild herbs, birdsong and the gentle splash of water, a clear sky and radiant light. Your eyes can’t take in enough beauty. You don’t even need music in the car. You listen to the birds, surrender to their rhythm, and realise that time flows slowly here, in harmony with nature. Or, to put it another way, in Pyrgos Tyllirias, life is never in a hurry – because it knows how to pause, to wander, to simply be.
SIMPLE, UNADORNED, AND TIMELESS
I drive along the one and only road that leads into the centre of Kato Pyrgos. I pass the secondary school, built almost on the water’s edge, its football pitch right beside the sea. I picture the children playing, their faces brushed by the salty air, and the image brings me to a quiet realisation; this corner of Cyprus, untouched by so-called progress, serves a hidden purpose – reminding you that even with the very least, a person can feel whole.
On either side of the road, there are simple houses with blooming geraniums in pots, their façades turned towards the horizon. There are one or two fish tavernas with tables set beneath vine-covered pergolas, a small shelter for fishing boats, a couple of cafés, a clothing shop, a few small grocers, a store with traditional products – and in the middle of the road, where the square unfolds, stands the pride of the community: a centuries-old oak. At 110 years old and rising 20 metres high, it seems to breathe ancient secrets into the air.
STRAW AND CAMPING
I meet the community leader, Mr Kleanthous, for a coffee and a chat. “Pyrgos has become quite fashionable lately,” he tells me, smiling with quiet satisfaction as he sees younger visitors arriving in the village and falling into sync with its slow, easy rhythms. The credit for this goes to two restaurant-beach bars that have opened in recent years on Kryoneri beach: Grapes by the Sea and Klimataria. Both exude a boho aesthetic, with wood and straw elements, and promise laid-back beach days, coffee, cocktails, fresh fish, wraps, pasta, burgers, and refreshing swims in crystal-clear waters as the sun sets.
Just beside it lies the Community Park, filled with eucalyptus and mango trees. It’s often used for free camping and has a unique appeal – Instagram-worthy for the younger crowd, and deeply nostalgic for older visitors. The Flevas river also runs through here. When the rains are heavy, it rushes wildly towards the sea, where it merges with it. “What is it that makes Pyrgos stand out?” I ask Mr Kleanthous, curious to hear where he himself locates its charm. “The quiet. The sense of peace and the genuine hospitality of its people,” he replies without hesitation. And I can’t help but agree.
HOME-COOKED DISHES AND CHARCOAL FIRES
My next stop is Τylos Beach Hotel, the first hotel ever built in the area. Waiting for me is its owner, Mrs Katina, who is renowned for her home-cooked dishes served in the hotel’s restaurant. She has won numerous awards for her cooking, which she attributes to the fresh, local ingredients she uses. We sit at a table overlooking the sea, and she begins to tell me how she and her husband started from nothing, building the first rental rooms in Kato Pyrgos.
Like many locals, she is full of stories, each one compelling enough to become a short tale in its own right. Her husband used to sell charcoal –the Tylliria region was once famous for its charcoal production– but today, only a handful of traditional charcoal makers remain. It wasn’t just a trade, but an art form rooted in knowledge of the land and great patience. It demanded care and constant attention, as the wood had to burn slowly for days, almost ritualistically. Mrs Katina tells me that when her husband sold his charcoal business, they bought this plot of land in Kato Pyrgos –around 1967– and built their first 10 rooms in 1971. At the time, they served only coffee. Gradually, through persistence, hard work, and growing demand, they expanded their hotel, which today boasts 70 renovated rooms. It has been a whole journey, like something out of a novel – one that is truly worth hearing in her own voice, with her uniquely captivating way of telling it.
CHEESE LIKE A PEBBLE
Across from Tylos Hotel, a road leads to Pigenia, a small mountain village with breathtaking views. Local tradition says that Saint Helen once walked here, and perhaps it is this belief –that their land has been blessed– that gives the residents their sense of calm and generosity.
I reach the edge of the village, to a house whose courtyard opens out onto sweeping mountain peaks and an endless blue horizon where sky and sea meet. This is where Mrs Elpida lives, and where she makes halitzi, a traditional soft, white local cheese with small holes and a slightly tangy flavour. It resembles a pebble –hence the name– and it is a signature product of the region. You’ll only find it in the Tillyria area, where it holds such importance that an annual festival is held in its honour every August: the Fig and Halitzi Festival, celebrated in the centre of Kato Pyrgos, a place renowned for both.
Mrs Elpida welcomes me with homemade lemonade and tells me that she has been making halitzi since the age of eight, learning by watching her mother and grandmother from such a young age. She worked for 40 years in the public sector – a resilient woman, strong and grounded, one of those people who quite literally helped shape this place with their own hands. In 2008, she opened her own small dairy to produce halitzi, and now people come from all over the island to buy it. I sit in her kitchen for a long while as she and her husband, Mr Andreas, share story after story – stories that feel like the herbs of this land: fragrant, healing, and deeply rooted. And that is, after all, what the whole region of Pyrgos Tyllirias is like – a place that soothes and restores both mind and soul.
