Pyrgos tis Rigainas is found in Pervolia, in Larnaka. I do not know why it is called like that, since there is another one with the same name in the Pafos district and a few other ones in different places in Cyprus.
It is dated during the Venetian occupation of the island. The marks of that period’s occupying power are imprinted on the tower. Their coats of arms, Saint Mark’s lion, still protects the tower.
The stonebuilt tower, even if it is under protection of the department of Antiquities, has been left to the mercy of time. The division responsible for it, fenced it all around, and their job and obligations around it, versus the history of this place stopped there.
The surrounding area has been classified as livestock. Cowsheds and every other kinds of sheds surround the tower. It is a beautiful, small monument which is directly connected to Cyprus and should be exploited adequately. The Pervolia community as well as the neighbouring community, Kiti, are not in condition to exploit it touristically, not even the tower itself. Normally in this post you would see pictures from both villages that are now joined. The condition I faced made me change process. For one and a half hours, I was trying to get access to the beach but I was always ending up in a dead end. It seems like in both villages, the laws and regulations concerning planning and housing, are not valid. Great constructors got big pieces of land, fenced them, and placed a bar at the only central entrance of the complex. Accesses to the beach… none.
Entering the area of the two villages, what I faced, looked like nothing I have ever seen in the world. In no other third world or paleolithic town or village I have ever been to, did I see such a mess, promiscuity and dirt. Everything is in disorder. Cars and trucks are parked everywhere. Streets are full of rubbish, dust and stones. A chaotic construction, created roads-labyrinths. You do not know where to go. You get lost in the excavated streets. Roads you thought would probably take you out of this mess, finally drove you to nowhere. I have pictures for what I am saying. I will not post them, because it is an insult for Cyprus. It is an insult for those community councils that keep their communities clean with a lot of hard work and labour.
