The village of Lagoudera is found on the outskirts of the mountain peak of Madari, in the area of Pitsilia, and on the west shore of the river Elia. The journey to the village that begins after the water dam of Xyliatos, will take you through the pine tree forest that covers the deep ravine created by the river.
During the whole journey you will see so many shades of green you will see nowhere else. All the slopes look like a painting palette. At many points you can park your car and enjoy the beautiful view.
The river will “accompany” you until your entrance to the village. There, it will divide into two and one part will follow its course on the east of the village and the other one on the west.
The village is built on the west shore of the river Elia, and it begins at the limits of the riverbet, thus ascending until the Holy Monastery of Panagia tou Arakos or Araka.
Its permanent residents are about 30 and they are all pensioners. However, at celebrations, each neighbourhood “resurrects”, since those who left the village to live in town, return.
The village got its name, “Lagoudera”, because of the great amount of hares that existed in the area. The rich vegetation that grows on the slopes of Madari, in combination with the numerous sources of water, as well as the ground’s morphology, favors the increase of the number of this animal.
Northwest of the village, you will find the Holy Monastery of Panagia tou Arakos which is there for over 800 years. Next to the monastery, you will find one of the greatest giants that exist on the island. An oak of huge dimensions is there from the time the Monastery was constructed.
A few hundred metres before the monastery, there is a monument dedicated to the Heroes of Lagoudera. It is a monument that hides the drama of a woman and a family. One of the three statues belongs to the son of Kyriakou Papacharalambous, or as everyone knows her “Kyriakou apo to Saranti”, a fighter and a heroine of the Unionist Struggle of Cyprus. We met her at the forecourt of the Monastery, trying to sell wild greens to the visitors of the Monastery, thus ensuring her food for the next day.
We sat with her and she talked to us. She told us so many things, from the first day when the first EOKA fighter entered the house which her Father planned to give her for dowry, until the day the English put explosives and in it and blew it up.
She talked to us and we wrote everything down. Her words, as whips, whipped the society and the government. The government whose foundation she fought for.
We fought for “enosis” (union with Greece), she added to all the things she told us, trying to hold back her tears. Everyone forgot about us. We never asked anything from them, but we believed that when we would reach this age, we would have some facilities. We would have the government to care about us and to take care of us. They threw us away, and they only remember us at memorial services. I wish I were blown up along with my house, she completed.
She told us about the tortures the English put her through to reveal where the fighters’ hideout was found. She told us how nice she felt when she cooked for the young men that fought for Enosis.
For a certain period of time, there were 30 fighters in my yard and along with my father, we managed to hide them from the English.
She talked to us about Charalampos Mpatarias and other co-fighters of hers. She told us about the effort for the reconstruction of the hideout of EOKA. She is fighting to accomplish it for the past ten years and no one is helping her. The government has divided the Fighters into categories.
