The village of Ora, in the mountainous area of Larnaca is found a few kilometres after Lageia or Lagia. Just like all the villages of the mountain areas, Ora was “hit” by urbanism.
Today, it is a community with about 200 residents. It has two churches. The big one is found in the centre of the village and it is dedicated to Agia Marina, because in the olden days, residents of another village arrived in the area where the village is found today, “chased” by an infectious disease. They built their houses and their church there, and dedicated it to Agia Marina that is considered as the protector from contagious diseases.
The smaller one, dedicated to Apostle Andreas, is found at the entrance of the village, a few metres before the cemetery.
At a small distance from the church of Apostle Andreas, two statues are found. The first one you will see upon entering Ora, is in the honour of a certain commando that died while defending Cyprus in 1974. Unfortunately we found no one to tell us more about it, nor a sign giving us more information about this hero. At a distance of about fifty metres, there is a statue in the honour of a hero of EOKA, Petrakis Kyprianou. This hero was from Sotira of Famagusta. He was 17 years old when the English bullets killed Petrakis’ body. The reasons why an EOKA fighter had personal weapons, a double-barreled gun and 70 cartridges, remain unknown.
In Ora, you will also find the Cultural Centre “Petrakis”.
The village is built among dozens of high mountain peaks, resulting in giving you the chance to have a panoramic view and to admire its beauty no matter where you are coming from to go to it. Thus, the ancient verb «ορώ» (“to climb) gave the name “Ora” to the village.
It is indeed a very beautiful village, where all the houses are built based on the same architectural style. High walls with a street door that guides you to an internal yard. All the houses have upper floors that are accessible by an internal staircase that guides you to a balcony.
