Gialia
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Gialia Γιαλιά Yayla |
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|---|---|
 Gialia
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| Coordinates: 35°5′45″N 32°31′54″E / 35.09583°N 32.53167°ECoordinates: 35°5′45″N 32°31′54″E / 35.09583°N 32.53167°E | |
| Country |
 Cyprus
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| District | Paphos District |
| Population (2001) | |
| • Total | 142 |
| Time zone | EET (UTC+2) |
| • Summer (DST) | EEST (UTC+3) |
| Postal code | 6364 |
Gialia (Greek: Γιαλιά, Turkish: Yayla) is a village in the Paphos District of Cyprus, located 11 km northeast of Polis Chrysochous. Prior to 1974, the village was inhabited by Turkish Cypriots.
Gialia is situated in between Argaka and Agia Marina and some of the village is actually within the Paphos Forest. In order to get to Gialia, take the main coastal road “Argaka to Agia marina”, there is an old bridge, take the right turning before the road, up into the hills and you will be in the centre of the village. The old bridge is the old road to Stavros Psokas. We met with Mr. Andreas Onoufriou, who is the secretary of the Council of the Village. He is known in the area as “Pakos” because when he was young he was a very good footballer, so his friends gave him the name of a good footballer From Cyprus.
The village has a river; it is called Gialias so the village got its name from this river. It passes through the village and it starts in the middle of the mountains behind all the way down to the beach and cuts the built up area of the village in half. The main road into the Village is to the left of the river. Gialia has approx. 120 Citizens, the majority of these being refugees who have settled here after the 1974 Turkish Invasion. 25 families or couples in the Village are Ex-Pats. Gialia has 50 houses used solely for holidays, either Nicosians coming down for the weekend or Holiday rentals. Before the invasion of 1974, the village was 100% Turkish Cypriot, whom were all either Sheppard’s or Farmers. Nowadays, most of the Villagers work in the Tourism Sector or work for the Government Forestry Department. In the village, there is the forest station of Gialia, one of the biggest in Paphos area.
Also in the old days they used to have a police station next door, today it is closed; there are holiday homes there now. This can be found on the coastal road to Agia Marina, on the beachside, just before you get to the turning for the centre of the village. The river supplies the villages of Gialia and Agia Marina with water for Agriculture. There is also a Mountain spring near to the village which is also used. These are the reasons for the Government building a reservoir in Agia Marina. Gialia village spans approx. 12km2 but the built up area of the village is only approx. 3km2. Years ago, the village used to have a school but it has now been closed. There are roughly 20 children of school age in the village, the younger children attend the school in Agia Marina and the older children attend the school in Polis Chrysochous. The old school of the village is nearly at the end of the village at the top of the mountains, and it has been renovated, it is now one big building with one part of school being used as Restaurant and the other part is used by the Muktar and council of village as a meeting room/office.
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Wikipedia