Where is Aphrodite's Rock in Cyprus? Aphrodite stone

Aphrodite's Stone in Cyprus, or otherwise Aphrodite's Bay, or locally Petra tou Romiou, is usually the first place on the list of excursion tours around the island of Cyprus. It is a kind of business card. After all, according to legend, Cyprus is the island of Aphrodite. Why?

Aphrodite's Stone on the map

Aphrodite's Bay in Cyprus is located between the cities of Paphos and Limassol (see details on the map below). To get here you need to either, which will include a visit to this attraction, or rent a car and drive yourself. Every excursion bus that travels along the road between Paphos and Limassol will not take you past this picturesque bay. The distance that will need to be covered to visit Petra tou Romiou is large enough to devote a whole day to the trip. So you need to stock up on drinking water and sandwiches. There is a store within the bay, but the prices there are such that it is more economical to stock up at the supermarket near your hotel. You will also need comfortable shoes, a hat, a swimsuit and a camera.

Legends and reality

The island of Cyprus is the birthplace of Aphrodite. Several beautiful legends are associated with Aphrodite Bay, as with any attraction all over the world. According to the ancient Greek myth, the earth goddess Gaia, tired of the endless betrayals of the husband of the sky god Uranus, persuaded her son Kronos to deprive his father of his male power. Kronos fulfilled his mother's request and threw the remnants of his father's masculine nature into the sea in this beautiful bay. And the power of the god Uranus was such that sea foam was formed from the remains, which gave birth to the goddess of love and beauty (according to legend, Aphrodite emerged from the sea foam). It was in this bay, coming ashore from the sea, that she was born and here is the birthplace of Aphrodite in Cyprus. The island of Cyprus is also named in her honor, since one of her names is Cypris.

There is a large stone here - the so-called “Aphrodite’s rock” in the water, which is also associated with a legend. This is a kind of Aphrodite island in Cyprus. The mighty Byzantine warrior Digenis Akritus guarded Cyprus from enemy invasion. And when the enemy fleet approached the shore in the bay, he grabbed this stone, threw it into the water and sank the enemy ship. The guides tell you that you definitely need to swim to the stone and touch it (or better yet, climb on it) if you want eternal youth. Actually, the main belief for which tourists willingly swim here, despite the dangers, is connected precisely with being in the water. Having visited the place of her birth, a tourist should swim in it, or at least wet his hands and feet if he wants to look younger. The guides half-seriously joke that it is not recommended to stay in the water for a very long time, otherwise you can look so much younger that the discrepancy with your passport data will be an obstacle at customs.

Aphrodite Bay itself is so picturesque that tourists willingly come here from all over Cyprus to take many photographs and videos. The curve of the bay, the stone rock and smaller stones in the water add charm to the landscape. The waves crash crashing against the protruding rocks. The color of the water is amazingly azure, the sky is endlessly blue, and the air is so transparent, clean and fresh that all the hardships on this amazing shore are forgotten.

If you happen to visit the island of Cyprus, a visit to the bay should be included in the mandatory excursion program.

The small sea cliff of Petra tou Romiou, also known as Aphrodite's Rock or Greek Rock, is located just off the coast of Cyprus near Paphos. This beautiful and picturesque bay is considered the legendary birthplace of the goddess of love Aphrodite, and therefore is very popular among many tourists.

Location: , .
Geographic coordinates: 34°39′49″ N. latitude, 32°37′37″ e. d.

The ancient Greek legend with which this place is associated says that one day Gaia (goddess of the earth) asked one of her sons Kronos to castrate her husband Uranus (god of the sky). Kronos cut off his father's manhood and threw him into the sea - from the seed, flesh and blood of castrated Uranus, snow-white foam was formed, in which the “foam-born” Aphrodite was born. The goddess of love was born near the Greek island of Cythera, but the wind carried her to the island of Cyprus, where she, emerging from the sea waves, was met by the goddesses of the seasons - Ora.

The goddess Aphrodite became the central deity in Cyprus for many centuries, and numerous temples and sanctuaries were built in her honor. After the Romans captured the island, they adapted Greek mythology to their liking and continued to worship the same goddess under the name of Venus.

Aphrodite's Rock on the map

Another name of the rock Petra tou Romiou is translated as “the rock of the Romans (Greeks)” and comes from the legendary Byzantine hero Digenis Akritos, who, defending the island of Cyprus from a Saracen raid, threw one rock towards the enemy. That is why another rock located next to Petra tou Romiou is called Saracen.

Nowadays, tourism infrastructure is actively developing near this popular attraction - a restaurant, a recreation pavilion and the Aphrodite Hills resort have been built.

Interesting Facts:

• The sea in the vicinity of Aphrodite's Rock is very stormy and dangerous, so swimming is officially prohibited. However, there is a belief that any person who swims around the rock will receive a blessing from the goddess for eternal beauty.
• Next to the rock is another mythological landmark - Akhni Beach, where the Achaeans landed in Cyprus upon returning from Troy.

Somehow, this time, just a week-long trip, it takes me a long time to describe. But there is very little left. It remains to talk about three more days in Cyprus. In my opinion, the most “bright” (not counting the wedding of Lida and Roma) of the day.
On the morning of October 5, we said goodbye to Mazotos - whatever you say, it was a good place: quiet, you couldn’t see or hear people, however, from time to time there was a smell of goats, but as I said, goats, or rather the smell accompanying them, is an inevitable Cypriot evil and their smell envelops the island.
In the remaining days, we wanted to explore the western and slightly central part of the island, so we went to Paphos.

The path lay past churches of all kinds

Having passed Limassol, we turned off the highway and began to make our way along goat paths, teeming with cars with red license plates (as you remember, in Cyprus, red license plates are hung on rental cars so that tourists can be distinguished), to a place called Petra tou Romiou.
According to legend, the beloved child of Cyprus, the goddess Aphrodite, was born from the foam of the sea in this very place. A little short of reaching the rocks marking her birthplace, we stopped at a small observation deck located above a cliff and a very beautiful shore.

pebbles sticking out far into the sea behind my right shoulder are the very birthplace of Aphrodite

here they are, close up

in my opinion, not the most impressive stones, if I were Aphrodite, I would have been born near much nicer stones located under the platform on which we stood

And on this site there was such a “chapel” (such little ones are scattered in abundance throughout Cyprus)

Roma, having walked around and examined the “building” from all sides, opened the door and found pieces of incense and matches, and of course he immediately “smoked” the incense.

taking another look at this blue and white shore

and waving his hand at the airplane flying to Russia

we dropped into a small “tourist center”, in the toilet of which we found such an advertisement addressed to tourists who imagined themselves to be Aphrodites.

After chewing some ice cream we headed to Paphos. This time the guiding machine did not let us down and took us to the “old city”. But we didn’t go straight to see the antiquities, but walked along an endless string of all kinds of cafes, looking for the one that we liked and where we would be fed deliciously. Naturally, such a place was found away from the mass gathering of tourists. And so, Roma thinks “what else to eat” from the assortment of “sea reptiles”.

Having had our fill, we set off to explore the city. We started with the embankment and the fort. A cat greeted us on the embankment

Then, we appreciated the marine fauna laid out on the window of another cafe

And as a logical conclusion to the animal theme, we met a pink pelican! The pelican proudly walked along the embankment, very willingly posed for the crowd with cameras, and then dined on sea bass, which some guy from a cafe fed him (we decided that the pelican acquired its color due to regular eating of red groupers)

The embankment is like an embankment - a bunch of moored boats

among which there were very original specimens

photographing all sorts of things

got to the fort

The harbor fort was built by the Lusignans to protect the city from attacks from the sea. However, at one time, the Turks managed to take Paphos without much difficulty and subsequently turned the fort into a prison.

Having wandered around near the fort, we went to look at the ruins of the old city dating back to the 3rd century AD.
The entrance to the national park, according to Cypriot tradition, was guarded by a cat

a lighthouse peeked through the trees

the ruins themselves are completely unremarkable; there are much nicer ones in the world

and the bathhouse, in general, looks like a remake

but the lighthouse was pleasing to the eye

and people tried to take pictures against his background

and there were also perfectly preserved mosaics dating back to the 3rd century AD.

at the beginning of our era, these symbols coexisted quite peacefully

and finally, a panorama of the excavations

and again the lighthouse

I also encouraged people to go and inspect the object called the “tombs of the kings,” but my companions did not succumb to my evil insinuations and we went to look for shelter for the remaining nights. Finding shelter didn’t take much time, just a few circles around the “hotel area”, and there were places in the second hotel we went to, but walking around this area turned out to be much easier than driving, due to the lack of opportunity to turn around.
Throwing things in this building

tried to solve another problem: the gas tank was howling from hunger, and where we stopped there was not even a hint of a gas station. The vague explanations of the local residents also did not give results, the gas stations were not indicated in the telephone message, we had to lift the computer with its program where the gas stations were, the computer was difficult to lift, then even more difficult, with the remaining drops of gasoline, we made our way along goat paths to the only one in the area refueling Finally, having filled the insides of the machine, we went to the hotel and fell into the pool.

Apparently the swim replenished the strength we had previously expended, and as it got dark and cold, Lida and I went for a walk around the neighborhood.
First we met him:

then along the path, in the cat-colored darkness, they came to the embankment and stomped along it until they got tired of it. We're tired of some tatty hotel with such a portico on the roof.

Having passed through the territory of these “five stars”, we appreciated the local swimming pool with a bar counter

and went to bed.

Petra Tou Romiou Beach (also known as Aphrodite Beach) is considered one of the most beautiful and romantic natural attractions in all of Cyprus and has many legends and beliefs associated with it. The most famous legend says that it was on this beach in 1200 BC. The beautiful Aphrodite, the goddess of beauty, love, fertility, eternal spring and life, emerged from the sea foam and acquired a human body. Aphrodite Cypris was included among the twelve great Olympian gods, and not only people, but also the gods of the ancient world obeyed her love power. According to legends, one of the rocks on the beach - the Aphrodite stone - has magical powers, and if you perform a simple ritual near it, you can meet true love and find youth.

View of the beach from Aphrodite's stone

As is typical for beliefs, they often differ in definitions: according to one version, the largest rock on the beach of Petra tou Romiou is called Aphrodite’s stone, according to another version, a small dark stone to the left of it; There are also many versions of the rituals themselves - swimming around Aphrodite’s stone three times counterclockwise, finding a heart-shaped pebble among the pebbles of the beach (they really are found here) or swimming in the sea at midnight.

Columbia Beach Resort 5* (9,000 meters east →)
(20,000 meters west ←)

Petra Tu Romiou Photos

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Pebbles in the shape of a heart

Swimming around the rock

Petra tou Romiu, swimming around the rock

Swimming around another rock

Petra Tu Romiou beach, west side

One of the legends is also associated with the rock “Petra tou Romiou” (Petra tou Romiou or “stone of the Greeks”) - Digenis Akritus, a legendary giant warrior with incredible strength, threw this stone into the sea, thereby sinking a fleet of Saracen warships who wanted capture Cyprus. But that legend also has several versions.

Aphrodite Beach (Petra Tou Romiou), even if you don’t believe the legends, is itself a very beautiful place with a magnificent and peaceful landscape, a cozy and harmonious atmosphere. Frequent guests of the beach are not only tourists who come here on excursions, but also newlyweds from around the world, for whom a trip to Aphrodite Beach has already become a good tradition, as well as photographers and artists.

The natural beauty of the beach, untouched since ancient times, inspires artists to create many wonderful paintings and photographs. Tall light limestone cliffs protruding from the water, undermined by the sea at their base, look especially impressive at sunset, when the sun descends towards the sea

Description of Petra Tu Romiou beach

Aphrodite Beach and its seabed are covered with fairly large pebbles, in some places there are large underwater rocks, and the bottom quickly gains depth. There are often waves in the beach area, and due to underwater currents the water here is quite cool. Aphrodite Beach will not be the best choice for swimming for children, but even adults should be careful when swimming in the sea. In summer, at the height of the holiday season, there are often many visitors to the beach, but not all of them swim in the sea.

Mostly people come here for easy walks along the shore, to relax and listen to legends that took place on this very beach. The beach also serves as an excellent place for amateur and professional photo shoots.

In the tourist area near the beach, just above the highway, there is a spacious parking lot where all the transport of tourists coming here stops, and for the safety of pedestrians, so that they do not have to cross the highway, under the roadway there is an atmospheric pedestrian tunnel, decorated in the style of ancient architecture, leading from the parking lot to the coast.

Arriving at Aphrodite Beach, you will find all the necessary amenities at the parking lot. There is a spacious cafe here, where visitors will be fed with the simplest dishes from Cypriot cuisine, but very well prepared. Also on the territory of the cafe, visitors can use the amenities. There is also a gift shop near the parking lot where you can purchase themed memorabilia and gifts.

Aphrodite Beach (Petra Tou Romiou) on the shore itself does not have any infrastructure and is classified as undeveloped. But due to the great popularity of the beach among tourists, beach cleanups are regularly carried out here, and the entire tourist area is kept clean. Tourists for relaxing on the shore simply sit on their towels in any place they like.

How to get to Petra Tou Romiou beach?

Aphrodite Beach (Petra Tou Romiou) is located on the south-eastern coast of the island between (about 15 kilometers east of the city) and, and can be reached by driving along the B6 highway. To prevent tourists from driving past the beach, signs are installed along the road - “Petra tou Romiou”. Also, in those neighboring the beach, you can easily purchase a ticket for organized bus excursions to the beach.

Hotels near Petra Tou Romiou beach:
Columbia Beach Resort 5* (9,000 meters east →)
Constantinou Bros Asimina Suites Hotel 5* (20,000 meters west ←)

Beach of Aphrodite or Petra tou Romiou on video

Author of the video:

Why are these two names always mentioned together? It’s just that Cypriots sometimes know how to make their attractions twice as interesting. This truly unique place is shrouded in a veil of two beautiful legends. Petra tou Romiou roughly translated means , well and Aphrodite's birthplace does not need translation.

Let's take a look at it for starters. But the question immediately arises: from what point does this business card of Cyprus look better? Still, I don’t want to lose face. Let's start with an angle from which you can photograph it only on the distant approaches.

Among the two legends, we will open the story from the earlier one - about the birthplace of Aphrodite.

Birthplace of Aphrodite

Lived once Uranus And Gaia. In ancient Greek mythology, Uranus personified sky, and Gaia - land. Every evening the sky descended to the earth, which is why Gaia gave birth to almost two dozen children, whom Uranus for some reason hated. In the end, tired Gaia persuaded her youngest son Kronos to calm down his father. In other words, he castrated him, which is what Kronos eventually did with the help of a sickle. This is where, apparently, the common phrase came to our people: “with a sickle for...”. An ancient Greek nightmare in general.

A painting on this theme can be found in the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence (Italy).

Uranus had enormous reproductive power, so even parts of his body that had left their usual place, falling into the water, were finally able to give birth to another new life. The water around them began to bubble with foam, and so the Aphrodite. "Afro" ( αφρός ) means "foam" in Greek. That is, the name Aphrodite is translated as “foam-born.” According to legend, this happened not far from the Greek island of Kythira. But either Aphrodite didn’t really like it there, or the wind simply carried the shell with the goddess sitting in it to the side - it’s not known for sure. The main thing for us is that Aphrodite first set foot on the shore on the island of Cyprus. Later, the Cypriots determined the most suitable place on the island for her first appearance, which can only be here, on the picturesque shore near a huge stone, later named Aphrodite's Rock, where we are now.

This place is truly very attractive, even if Aphrodite did not come ashore here. Now let's retell the second legend.

The legend of the origin of the name Petra tou Romiou

Every nation has its own hero-hero. For example, we have Ilya Muromets. In the Greek epic, which dates back to the 10th-12th centuries, a giant hero is described Digenis Akritus(Διγενής Ακρίτας). The first part of the name "di" means two. The second part “geniz” is reminiscent of the modern word “genetics”. The epic poem tells us that this hero was born from the daughter of a Romian general, who was kidnapped by the Syrian emir, who later, thanks to her, converted to Christianity. In general, the blood of two peoples flowed in Digenis - the Romians (then Romans, count the Greeks) and the Arabs.

In the Greek epic, Digenis was, of course, on the side of the “Europeans.” Once, during another Arab raid on Cyprus, which regularly occurred in the 7th-10th centuries, Digenis showed his heroic power. Leaning with one hand on the Kerynia ridge, with the other he grabbed a huge stone and threw it towards the southern shore, where the Saracen ships moored.

Let's take a little break from Digenis and look at a couple more photos of this place against the backdrop of the setting sun.

Until now, “British scientists” are arguing about which of the stones Digenis brought here, and which have already been lying here since the time of Aphrodite. It seems like it’s inappropriate for Aphrodite to go out onto the empty flat shore, and what then should we call Aphrodite’s Rock? So far they have come to some consensus, deciding that Digenis threw the stones a little to the left of where Aphrodite exited the bay, a little closer to the future Limassol. They are visible in the foreground of the first of the two previous photographs. Let's look at these stones from a different angle.

Sometimes they are also called Saracen Rocks, named after the Saracen robbers who attacked Cyprus, at whom Digenis was aiming.

But we remember that according to the Greek epic, the hero threw a stone from the Keryne Mountains. By the way, after he rested his hand on the ridge, his fingerprints remained on it. Now this place in the mountains is called Pentadactylos(Πενταδάκτυλος), which is translated from Greek as “five fingers.” So, only on the northern coast are there dark stones, one of which lies just in Petra tou Romiou Bay, differing in color from the neighboring blocks. It is more logical to assume that it is precisely this that should be called the Greek Stone. Let's take a look at it.

In fact, there are still many picturesque rocks in the sea. We'll show them a little later, but for now let's change the topic a little.

Aphrodite's Birthplace as a Bathing Place

In the summer, many tourists, even those coming from Ayia Napa and Protaras, where the most “fashionable” beaches are located, try to swim here. Legend has it that swimming in this place will definitely bring rejuvenation to your body. More “advanced” options suggest swimming around the Aphrodite Stone several times, while making a wish, which will certainly come true later. But at the same time, they do not tell you exactly which of the stones should be “cut” in circles. Let's try to understand this issue.

Well, it's kind of stupid to swim around a rock that's mostly on dry land. In photographs taken from afar, it seems that the rock is located directly in the sea. But once you go beyond it, a completely different view opens up. And it seems to us that from this angle Aphrodite’s Rock looks especially photogenic, especially in evening light.

Everything is clear with Aphrodite’s Rock, but it’s worth paying attention to the huge stones to the right of it. They are the main contenders for "rejuvenation circles". The largest one somewhat resembles a lamb's head. Maybe because we associate Cyprus not only with Aphrodite, but also with kleftiko?

In general, there is a choice here. Those who do not want to swim far - and this is also quite dangerous due to the large waves that often cover this shore - can look for stones closer. You just need to swim around them more times to achieve the desired effect.

Now let's talk a little about safety precautions. The entrance to the water is quite rocky, so it is comfortable to swim here in special slippers. In front of Aphrodite's Rock it is flatter, but immediately behind it the depth quickly increases, so the waves here can sometimes be quite large, so be careful!

We personally like the coastline behind the rock much better, so we drag everyone we know there. Let's take a look at this place from the other side of the rock.

Aphrodite as the goddess of love

Not all people who come here need rejuvenation. We remember from the myths of ancient Greece that Aphrodite was the goddess of love. In fact, she had many “areas of responsibility,” but now let’s talk about the main one.

A widespread belief is that this place helps people find their soulmate. And if you have already found it, it will help seal the union with an additional bond. And if your age only allows you to dream about it, here you can find a pebble shaped like a heart or draw one yourself from stones... and grow up faster.

In general, this is the “recipe”. If you want to find a mate, then look for a “heart” stone here. If you come together, then for future inseparability, swim around one of the stones together. And if you decide to get married in Cyprus, then you should definitely do a photo shoot in Petra tou Romiou, which has long been chosen by local “getting married” people.

A little about geology

Let us introduce the chapter with the words of geologists.

The Petra tou Romio lineament is the youngest (emphasized by modern seismicity) and has a strike-slip component. This shear kinematics of the Petra tou Romiou fault is caused by the modern oblique thrust of the African lithospheric plate under the Cyprus island arc.

Everything is clear, right? If not, then we’ll try to explain it popularly. Petra tou Romiou is a truly special place in Cyprus, noted by scientists. It is believed that the island itself began to form some 90 million years ago. Then the first sections of its land appeared from the waters of the Tethys Ocean. These were the future Troodos mountain range and two mountain ranges that are now located in the region of Kerynia (Pentadaktylos) and the Karpasia peninsula. Originally there were two islands. The further emergence of land to the surface connected them. Today's Mesaoria valley lies between the mountain ranges. This happened not so long ago - 1-2 million years ago.

A fault runs through Petra tou Romiou, where tectonic plates continued to “push and shift.” This in particular explains the heterogeneity of rocks in this area. If you drive along the highway past Petra tou Romiou, you can see the rock of Aphrodite in the alignment of the fault. True, this angle quickly “flickers” along the way, but we will show it to you.

First, in general terms...

and now on a larger one.

Walk, walk like that

Petra tou Romiu is not only a valuable beach, but also a good walking place, as it turned out. Looking at nature and looking around, we saw that there was a gazebo installed on the top of the hill. For what purposes, I wonder? If you wish, you can see it in this photo.

We drove off from the beach parking area a little towards Limassol, turned left and climbed a little higher. Here we left the car and went to conquer the surroundings of Petra tou Romiou on foot, looking back at new interesting angles of the birthplace of Aphrodite.

As the walk progressed, we climbed the path higher and higher, and the stones moved further and further away, until the gazebo we wanted to come to appeared before our eyes.

All that was left was to figure out how to get to it - the slope seemed too steep. It was too late to retreat, so we climbed as best we could. One of the types of happiness is the moment of achieving a goal. It is he who is captured on the face of the participant in the “ascent”. But an even greater discovery was that we were almost close to the highway, or rather to its section above the fault, photos from which we recently showed.

Instead of an epilogue

Let's consolidate what we've learned. Petra tou Romiou is a truly unique place in Cyprus. If possible, you should definitely go here. For some reason I remembered that we are often asked the question: “Is it possible to swim in Cyprus in...?” And then there is a list of almost all the months of the year. Well, maybe people ask less often about July and August. We always answer - it’s possible! I mean, no one is prohibiting it. And the rest depends on the desire to do it and so that the weather doesn’t let us down. For example, this photo, which we already showed in the story about the weather of Cyprus, was taken on January 6th, the day when Epiphany is celebrated in Cyprus.

None of the participants in the “photo shoot” were injured.