Overview
Kakopetria is located in the valley of Solea in the southwest of the Nicosia district, on the outskirts of the Troodos mountain range. It is built at an altitude of 665 metres. It is hidden in the greenery between the banks of the rivers Karkoti and Garilli where they merge in the village and form the river Klarios. Regarding the name of Kakopetria, there are three versions. One says that there was a husband and wife who were newlywed and were walking in the old village of Kakopetria. At one point there was a big stone. It rolled over and crashed the couple. The inhabitants named it "Kakopetra" and thus the village took the name Kakopetria. The second version states that there was some lord of Marathasa who had three sons, Nikos, Panagiotis and Petris. Petris, the youngest, was very perky, naughty, bad tempred and so unbearable that his other brothers had had enough of him. So, the father had to send him to the other side of the mountain to live. Petris arrived in the area of the old village. He was the first occupant. From the name Petris and the word "bad" ("kakos"), the village took the name "Kakopetria". And a last one says that Kakopetria got this name (complex of words, bad and stone), because in earlier times its location was not only rocky, but also difficult to climb.