Hike through College Forest Nature Trails, Troodos... with your dog

Sage on one of the College Forest Nature Trails

While driving back from Kalopanayiotis towards Prodromos, some visitors of ours wanted to see a bit more of Cyprus' wildlife, and stretch their legs after a long day in the car, so we stopped at the first Nature Trail signpost we saw.

This part of the Troodos mountains is under the administration of the Cyprus Forestry College, which is based in Prodromos village, Limassol. It provides training in various aspects of forestry to students of the College, and includes various nature trails for all visitors, with information plaques to identify the different species of plants.

http://www.moa.gov.cy/moa/fd/fd.nsf/9977a096e421fe9fc2256f2c003876c4/B58765C45CA89A56C2257A2A00341BC1/$file/Nature%20Trails%20within%20theCollege%20Forest.pdf

I'm sure we started the linear walk suggested on the Department of Forestry website, that starts by the Childrens' Playground by Prodromos Square, and ends on the Pedhoulas-Kakopetria road.

We didn't do much of this walk, honestly, and I'm not sure exactly where it would have ended up. It was lovely and shady, with gigantic trees (black pines) creating a really dense woodland.

We spent most of our time trying to identify various plants, such as the rock rose (labdanum), that grows in Crete and Cyprus and is used as an essential oil for perfumes: http://www.perfumebynature.com.au/labdanum.htm 

And Sage managed to fit at least 3 pine cones in her mouth at once (a record!), so I consider it was a success.

This was the same day that we visited the UNESCO protected monastery of Agios Ioannis Lampadistis, and had lunch at the Old Cinema Taverna, in the lovely village of Kalopanayiotis. The College Forest nature trails are close by, and turned out to be a great place for Sage (and all of us) to let off steam after a day of car travel, monuments and tavernas: http://travelcypruswithyourdog.blogspot.gr/2013/07/have-lunch-at-old-cinema-tavern.html

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