kyrenia

28.02.26

We left our Kyrenia apartment of four nights and drove to a mountain village, which was described as pretty. Pretty dead! A closed church. No open cafe, but a supermarket. Didn’t buy 70cl of Gordons as have sufficient, but tempting at €11.

*Spotted these, I would have liked to add to my bone collection*

The whole of the north and east coasts are being ruined. Mass tasteless construction. Huge hotel / spa / casino /golf courses. High rises and ‘community lifestyle’ holiday villages. Apparently, the Russians and folk from the Middle East are invading / investing. Could hardly spot the rugged coastline. Once the flat land is full, they will start on the foothills.

The economy is closely linked to Turkey and bouyed up by Ankara. When we in Turkey last summer / Autumn, we knew the economy had got significantly weaker. Inflation ’25 was 30% in Turkey. In TRNC (Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus), inflation was 40%. To put that into perspective, the next closest high inflation was Romania at 8%. By absolute contrast, the Republic of Cyprus was the lowest of the Europe tables at 0.1%. I wonder how the construction companies are budgeting! Let alone families.

We enjoyed Salamis … dates back well before the Romans -C11 BC. But most of what you can see is Roman. It was shifting sands and in 1878 the British decided to forest the area … but the huge site was discovered. Several major excavations since, but we felt there is a lot more to reveal.

*Huge site, so it became a 4.7km walk with interesting way points*

*Amphitheatre: J refused to test the acoustics …*

*Basilica of Campanopetra C5 and a major pilgrimage site. At 152m, it is the longest religious complex in Cyprus*

We checked into our modern hotel in Famagusta … 9th floor . After J’s nanny nap we drove the 3.5km to Famagusta Walled City. The main road was all newish bars, cafes and tech shops.

The C15-16 Venetian walls (built over C13 ones) enclose Gothic, Venetian and Ottoman buildings. Sadly, all but the Lala Mustapha Pasha mosque, formerly the gothic St Nicholas Cathedral, is the only one with a roof. In fact, it is the only one that isn’t a complete ruin. You can see how splendid the structures must have been. But it is sad so little of them is still standing. Little information on the boards either. And the lanes housed tat shops, eateries and some houses… all concrete construction and somewhat shabby. Perhaps had the sun been shining, it would have looked better.

*The Venetian Palac*e: *little remains of the walls behind and it now houses a carpark*

*The Lala Mustapha Pasha mosque. Really is Christian gothic architecture with a minaret stuck on*

*Othello Tower, so named as Shakespeare based his play here. Spotted a Desdemona restaurant.*

*Not a huge choice of non fast food eateries open, so we ate Turkish. Nice to finally have sumac on onions, as didn’t get it once on our 3 month ’25 trip*

27.02.26

The Turkish name is Girne. Planned to be a slow day with lunch. A bit slower than expected. Kyrenia is pretty with some narrow streets and the harbour. A great castle with museums. But nowt else there.
It was blowing a hooley too.

*The chapel was accessed through a long tunnel*

*Thought J, who weighs the same as a leaf, was going to be blown off the rampar*ts

The castle museums were dusty and very old fashioned … a few Crusader costumes and finds from a Bronze age village. But a 2300 year old shipwreck was truly fascinating. Only discovered and raised in mid 1960’s. It had sailed from Kos and Rhodes, before sinking near Kyrenia with its cargo of amphora, almonds, fishing weights etc

*Unusual construction: the outside was then internally braced*

*A late Bronze age anchor that had been repurposed from a Syrian stone with hierglyph*s *of a hymn*

Lunch at Nima was very good other than a trout pout lady who talked loudly on her phone … constantly. Good value at £102 with the tip, but only 1 glass of wine for J.