Regency Car Rentals

Pedoulas village is a popular summer resort with a fascinating past. It is situated on the north flanks of the Troodos range, 1100 meters above sea level.

The history of Pedoulas dates back to Byzantine times and during the Frankish and Venetian periods it was a royal estate. Education in the village began officially in 1853 and private schools functioned as early as 1700 A.D. Most Pedoulians were educated at the local primary and secondary village schools.

Agriculture was the mainstay of the economy from the beginning and Pedoulas was ideal for growing cherry, apple and other fruit trees. But agriculture alone did not generate enough income, so even during difficult periods of its history, tourism, commerce and cottage industries were promoted as supplementary sources of income. Weaving was the exclusive engagement of women during winter days. Most households owned looms from which cotton and woolen cloth, carpets and blankets were made. The experience, however, of many tanneries in the village allowed the Pedoulians until recently, to process hides from which shoes and boots were made.

Before the end of the Second World War and in the years after, the village economy boomed. There is still evidence of the prosperity of those earlier generations. The schools,, churches, public buildings, hotels, water supply systems and tanneries remain to this day. Pedoulas was a pioneer centre for tourism and the production of cherries and at that time, the cultural and commercial centre of the fourteen villages of Marathasa.

Soon after the war, however, the village economy started fading. European manufacturers started producing and exporting high quality goods at low prices. The Pedoulas cottage industries could not compete and eventually collapsed. As a result many people left the village and the few who remained were unable to sustain it.
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