Travel Guide Choulou

In the verdant Ezousa valley, at an altitude of 340 meters, Choulou still bears the traces of a complicated past: a small, well-preserved mosque from 1961, but also the ruined houses of the Turkish Cypriot community, which represented 20% of the population here and was expelled in 1964. This episode marked the beginning of the decline of what had once been an important regional center. Founded by Christian refugees from Syria during the Crusades, Choulou was home to the summer palace of King Peter I of Cyprus (1328-1369), who had his mistress Jeanne l'Aleman move to the nearby village of Lemona. The sovereign's wife, Eleanor of Aragon, took umbrage. And the trio's stormy relations inspired the troubadours to writeArodafnousa, a ballad in decasyllables (fifteen-foot verses) well known to Cypriots. You can immerse yourself in this medieval ambience on a stroll through narrow streets, past mills, a ruined 8th-century church or the pretty 12th-century Agios Gerogios church. The town offers accommodation in beautifully renovated houses.