ATTRACTIONS OF NORTH CYPRUSKyreniaSights to visit (West-East)No.6 ST HILARION CASTLE The castle is known as St. Hilarion, a monk who lived and died on a cave in the mountain. Later in the tenth century the Byzantines built a church and monastery here. St. Hilarion Castle was originally built to give a watch tower to give warning of approaching Arab pirates from the seventh to tenth centuries. When the Venetians captured Cyprus in 1489, St. Hilarion was neglected and fell into oblivion. No. 7 PEACE AND FREEDOM MONUMENT This cement-monument is situated near the road of the coastline where Turkish troops went to shore, in order to solve the Cyprus- conflict, in July 1974. In a small park-area, located only a few metres to the west, there is another monument and an exhibition of military vehicles of the time. No.8 KYRENIA CASTLE The origins of Kyrenia Castle are thought to go back to the seventh century and it was probably built to defend the town without Arab raids. The first historical reference to it is 1191 when King Richard the Lionheart of England captured it from the Byzantines on the way to the Third Crusade. The shipwreck displayed in Kyrenia Castle is regarded as the most ancient of its kind to have been recovered until now, dating back to a time where the Mediterranean World was ruled by Alexander the Great. No. 13 SHIPWRECK MUSEUM The shipwreck displayed in Kyrenia castle is regarded as the most ancient of its kind to have been recovered until now, dating back to the time when the Levant was ruled by Alexander the Great's successors. It was noticed in 1965 by a local sponge diver lying in about 18m of water less than one and a half kilometres off the coast of Kyrenia and recovered by the University of Pennsylvania. The carbon 14 analysis applied to the almonds found on the board has been given the date of 288BC, plus or minus 62 years. Its timber was dated to about 389BC which means that it was built about 80 years before it sank, an old age for the time it was used. The ship's hull was about 15m and made from Aleppo Pine. It was sheathed in lead probably to protect it against the Mediterranean sea-worm. Together with its hull a cargo of 400 amphora's, most of them picked up from the Island of Rhodes, including ten with distinctive shapes belonging to Samos, and 29 basalt grain mills from Cos were recovered. The scholars tend to think that it had sailed along the coast of the Mediterranean collecting various goods before crossing to Cyprus. The utensils, four wooden spoons, four oil jugs, four salt dishes and four drinking cups discovered in the ship indicate that its crew was four people during its last voyage. The suprising amounts of almonds- altogether with some 9000 pieces - recovered in jars gives the impression that this was the main food of the small crew. The 300 lead net weights left in the bow show that the crew fished as well. Also, the facts that no skeletons were found made the archaeologists think that the crew probably swam to shore when the ship sank. The ship's single sail must have been taken down during the storm which brought its end because more than 100 lead rigging rings from a large square sail were found stored in the stern. No. 16 BELLAPAIS ABBEY
The present day is the corrupt form of the Abbeye de la Paix or the Abbey of Peace. The building is regarded as a masterpiece of gothic art in the Near East. The first monks who were known to have settled here were the Augustians who had to flee from Jerusalem when the city flew to Saladin in 1187. It is known that the original construction was built between 1198-1205, and a large part of the present day complex was constructed during the rule of the French King Hugh 111 (1267-1284). The cloisters and the refectory were built during the reign of Hugh IV (1324-1359). Following the Ottoman conquest the monks were turned out and the building was given to the Greek Orthodox Church.
Moslems regard this small mausoleum as a place of pilgrimage. It houses the graves of an officer named Omer in the army of Muawiya and his six friends who fell here during the Arab raids in the seventh century. After the Ottoman conquest a shrine and mosque were erected over the graves.
Buffavento castle was built, along with St.Hilarion and Kantara, as part of the defensive chain against the Arab raids. It is the highest of the three castles, its summit being some 950m above sea level. Like the other two it guarded an important pass through the mountains and it had signal connections with the opther two strongholds. When Richard the Lionheart conquered Cyprus in 1191, the Byzanine despot king of the island Isaak Komnenos is said to have fled here. During the Lusignan rule it was used as a prison and called 'Chateau du Lion'. In its later history, the Venetians having relied on the coastal fortresses such as Kyrenia or Famagusta for the defence of the island. Buffavento fell into
obliviation. The Armenian Monastery of Soup Magar, or the Virgin Mary, was first established in about AD 1000 as a Coptic museum, and was dedicated to the Egyptian hermit St. Makarios of Alexandria (AD 309-404) whose Coptic (Egyptian Christian) monastery still exists in Egypt. Its location being at the edge of a cliff and at the beginning of a deep ravine is very picturesque. The Armenian community in Nicosia also uses it as a summer resort. It passed to the American church in the early fifteenth century and became a favourite pilgrimage spot for Armenians on their way to and from the Holy Land until 1974. The present-day ruins date from the nineteenth century. Outside a wall on the East Side, a pillar with an inscription in the Armenian language dated 1933 stands. No. 20 HALA SULTAN TEKKESI (AUNT SULTANS DERVISH LODGE)
Hala Sultan Tekkesi, Aunt Sultan's Dervish Lodge, is one of the most famous holy Arabic sites in Cyprus. It is located in the south of the town of Larnaca, near Alyki and
Memlaha. The first Arab incursions started in 647 or 649 A.C. , ant the tombs and mausoleums here belong to Ummu Haram (Aunt Sultan). Legends say that Ummy Haram is the sister of Ummu
Suleym, the mother of the prophet who is said to have died by breaking his neck by falling of a mule. This lodge is the third most important historical site after the Kaaba and the tomb of the holy Hz. Mohammed.
High perched on the peaks of the Besparmak mountains, in between wide pine-forests, hides the former British forest station;
Alevkaya. It is unique, as it contains the only public herbarium of Northern Cyprus. In this room, one can find scientific listings of all flowers in Cyprus, a picture documentation of local orchids, information on native trees and on other biological themes. Furthermore, Alevkaya is popular during the hot period, as it offers ideal venues for cool and breezy Summer picnics, as well as it is the starting point of many hiking tracks. The Antiphonitis Church was the centre of a monastery. It dates from the end of the 12th Century and was built by a monk from Asia Minor. The dome of the edifice rests on eight stone columns, which form an octagon, The two columns in the east are detached from the walls and mark the division of the altar. This architecture is very unusual for Cyrpus. Its barrel vaulted narthex and arcade, which was once rooted, were added in the fifteenth century. The stone balustrades between the arches and wood and clay roof of its arcade have not survived. The name Antiphonitis when loosely translated means "Christ who responds". Some of its surviving paintings are original. No.24 FIG CAVE (CINARLI)
Approximately 2km south east of Cinarli, lays the largest enterable cave of Northern Cyprus. It was named after the hefty fig tree covering its entrance. It can be entered on a mostly even path, leading up to 200 metres inside, where one can admire cauliflower-type cave formations. The cave was opened for public visits in 1995, after being secured and equipped with lighting. |