Tzelefos Bridge

Tzelefos is one of several Venetian bridges in Cyprus, in the forest at Agios Nikolaos village. The location sits at around 440 metres, and you can reach it from Paphos, from the Troodos mountains or from Limassol.

It is the largest Venetian bridge built on the island and the best known of the four. The Diarizos river runs beneath it — water all year round, though the level changes with the season.

Looking closely

The bridge is a single stone arch, 30 metres long and 3.2 metres wide, standing 6 metres above the river; even uprooted trees carried down by the water pass under it without catching. It was built from stone taken out of the river and its banks. On the south side there is a small cross cut into one stone, only just visible. And there are waiting points on both sides — evidence that this was once a busy crossing.

There are fish in the river below — carp certainly, and in the past eels, which people from the surrounding villages caught by setting baskets in the water.

Why it was built

Tzelefos stood at the meeting point of a number of camel paths, and was the main connection through to Paphos — the bridge that kept the villages of the region supplied. In ancient times it was known as Vokaros, meaning “separating”; the name changed over the years, at one point to Kelefos.