The most unusual church in Cyprus has to be Ayioi Saranta, hidden away in a cave in the Famagusta and Protaras area — tucked into rough ground not far from the church of Profitis Elias. So while hundreds of locals and visitors climb to Profitis Elias standing proud on its hill, a little further down, hidden in the wild, sits Ayioi Saranta.
The name comes from the Greek: Agioi, saints, and Saranta, forty — the Forty Martyrs of Sebaste.
Finding it
Inside
The door is always unlocked so that people can go in to visit or pray — it was put there to protect the cave itself and preserve the church as far as possible.
The interior is not the usual arrangement of iconostasis, icons and candlelight. It is a cave, whitewashed in places so that icons and a sort of iconostasis could be added. The only man-made elements are the floor, the white paint and the dome above. Everything else is the work of nature.
More sightseeing around Protaras
Church of Profitis Elias
A small church on a rock above Protaras, reached by a long flight of steps — and worth the climb for the view back over the bay.
Agioi Anargyroi Church, Cavo Greco
A white chapel built on the cliff edge at Cavo Greco in the 1950s, with steps down to the sea cave below where the saints are said to have kept vigil.
Cape Greco
A national forest park of sea caves, cliff jumps and trails between Ayia Napa and Protaras.
Kamara tou Koraka
A limestone sea arch in the Cape Greco forest park, cut by the sea over millennia and reached on foot from the coastal path.