The Bronx keeps evolving while holding tight to its roots. It’s home to some of New York’s best green spaces, from the vast Bronx Zoo and Van Cortlandt Park to the New York Botanical Garden, where seasonal displays draw visitors year-round. The borough’s Little Italy on Arthur Avenue is a must for old-school bakeries and family-run trattorias, and Yankee Stadium remains a top stop whether you’re catching a game or taking a behind-the-scenes tour. Literature fans can visit the Edgar Allan Poe Cottage, where the author spent his final years, while the Bartow-Pell Mansion Museum offers a look at 19th-century life inside one of the city’s most elegant estates. For something more contemporary, explore the Bronx’s creative side through its growing street art scene and deep ties to hip-hop, which was born here in the 1970s and continues to shape its identity today.

Taking the loose surface road to the area of Agioi Saranta or one of the nature trails, one comes across the picturesque chapel of Agioi Saranta. Its existence is betrayed by the stone-built canopy on the wild rocks, as the chapel is set in an intact cave. The forty stalactites of the cave are what encouraged a devout Christian to turn it into a place of pilgrimage. Apart from the pilgrimage, visitors can enjoy the wonderful scenery that surrounds the chapel.

Paralimni is situated next to a seasonal lake which forms west of the community, between Paralimni and Sotira. This is actually a natural hollow which collects rainwater from all parts of Paralimni and the neighbouring hills during the winter season. The lake has been part of the NATURA 2000 network since 2009, as it forms the natural habitat of an abundant and important population of the protected grass snake, Natrix Natrix Cypriaca, and as a large number of migrating and nesting birds find shelter here.