Kykkos Monastery

The richest and most famous monastery on Cyprus, riding a forested ridge high in the western Troodos at over 1,300 metres. Founded under the Byzantine emperor Alexios Komnenos at the end of the 11th century, Kykkos guards a gilded icon of the Virgin said to have been painted by Luke the Evangelist himself — so holy it is kept permanently veiled. The complex has burned and been rebuilt many times, so what dazzles today is newer than it looks: every wall, arch and ceiling is smothered in glittering gold mosaic and fresco. A kilometre up the road, at Throni, is the hilltop tomb of Archbishop Makarios, the island's first president.