The village Potamiou is another village found on the so-called “road of wine” and it is built among the wind producing villages, Malia, Kissousa, Vasa and Omodos, at 39 kilometres from the town of Limassol
It is a beautiful, picturesque village, with stone built houses and paved streets and you can see it “climb” on the west shore of the river Ha-Potami. It as 36 permanent residents who make sure the community is clean. In every neighbourhood there are garbage bins with the emblema of the community council of Potamiou.
A small park, next to the church of Agia Marina, is the gathering place for most of the elder residents.
There are many taps in the narrow streets of the community, out of which the settlers supplied their homes with water. One of them is built by the Republic of Cyprus, something that has not been done in any other village of the area. In general the public taps with potable water were built by the English in the 1950’s.
Potamiou gave birth and raised the writer Neophytos Rodinos, who is quite known. Agios Mnasonas lived in Potamiou during the first years of Christianity, and from there he travelled to the areas of Paphos and Limassol, where he preached Christianity.
Later on the settlers of the village built a church in the place where the Saint lived. During the years of Turkish domination, they used labyrinth catacombs to escape from the Turkish raids. Many of their galleries still remain unexplored. In one of them, a part of the holy relics of the Saint are found, but this place is kept secret. The entrance of the catacomb is found in the Church itself.
At the central entrance of the big church of Agia Marina, there is a monument dedicated to the hero of the village, who lost his life during the Turkish invasion in 1974. His name is Charalampos Panagi Evagorou, and he was 34 years old.
On the south of the village there is a small Venetian bridge that is worth being visited. In the same area there are also paths of observation of nature. A nature that our creator gave generously to Potamiou. Upon observing the environment you will see a great variety of colours from the local fruit and bushes being joined to the gold-green colours of the vines.
Great areas of the slopes of the mountains are “sown” with vines. Until 1990, vine cultivation was the main occupation of the settlers. After the famous decision of the government at the time for the derooting of the vines, the residents started moving to nearby towns or to bigger villages, resulting to the village being abandoned and the vines being reduced to the areas we see today.
Upon our visit, we saw many houses being restored, a fact that shows that many of those who abandoned it for 2 decades are coming back.
The village got its name from the river Ha-Potami.
