North Cyprus, March 2012

This is a quick recap of our recent trip to North Cyprus in early March. Though not a popular destination yet, North Cyprus combines very good climate, beautiful nature, relatively little tourism, and extremely friendly, unobtrusive people. It may look not so well groomed at times, but I really enjoyed the authenticity of local life and the warmth of the people.





We booked an inexpensive package tour, with a hotel right on the shore of the Mediterranean Sea in Lapta (Lapithos) near Girne (Kyrenia). We just wanted to escape the almost unending cold and grey of the Dutch winter and enjoy some sun, good food, nature, culture and walking. I got myself this great little book from the library: Walk and Eat in North Cyprus, and we went on a beautiful mountain walk virtually every day of our 8-day holiday.

Spring is probably the best time to visit Cyprus. There is lots of vegetation and many wild flowers, including wild orchids! There are also many oranges and lemons everywhere. The weather is supposed to be very nice, although we had one day of rain and 4 or 5 days of sun.   It is also a good time for walking, which is our favourite holiday pastime.

The local food is really delicious, consisting usually of meze's (several small side dishes), chicken or lamb kebab, salads, lavash bread, local halloumi cheese, and ayran (local yoghurt drink). My mouth wets as I think back about those meals!

The locals are mostly of Turkish descent, mostly quiet, modest, warm, simple people. I managed to talk to a few of them, even though they hardly speak English. They seem not to have much, but seem to enjoy their simple life and community with others. I was fascinated by Sabo, the seemingly poor owner of a small cafe near the main square in Guzelyurt, who refused our pay for the coffee, showed me photo's of his family, gave a little toy to our daughter, and arranged for us to visit the local museum free of charge. Another old man related to me a story of his youth, how he served in the British army, and how his son died one year ago leaving two baby twins, he showed me his photographs. I was very deeply touched.

This is just a brief summary to remember what we did and saw:

Day 1: Arrival and settling in the hotel. Our hotel room was rather Spartan and needed some repairs, but it was quite big, clean and had a great view over the mountains and the sea.
Day 2: Rain, picking up our rental car, driving to Girne and then on to visit the medieval Bellapais Abbey, trying local oranges and mandarins (we ended up buying and eating oranges every day!), eating adana kebab with lavash, exploring Lapta.

Day 3: Driving westwards along the coast, visiting Guzelyurt and the ancient remains of the Vouni palace, an 8 km walk in the hills around the Gecitkoy lake. There was quite a lot of mud on the road after yesterday's rain, so we were lucky to get back just in time before the dark. Anne Sophie enjoyed the walk, spending more than half of the time in her backpack carrier on my back :) We saw some interesting green stones and small heaps of  many small caterpillars. The food at the restaurant in the center of the small village of Gecitkoy was really good and inexpensive.
Day 4: Driving westwards along the coast, a 7 km walk and climb to the medieval Kantara castle, proceeding to the rough and wild Karpass peninsula, watching sunset and eating virtually alone in the harbour of the ancient city of Karpasia, next to the remains of a beautiful 10th century basilica.
Day 5: Two lovely and quite strenuous walks near Ilgaz and Karaman. At the end of the second walk we sat down to rest on the picturesque church square of Karaman and were surrounded by 9 cats of all colors, a real treat for Anne Sophie! Then on to to the magnificent St. Hillarion Castle and then a beautiful 20km ride right on top of the Kyrenia mountain ridge towards Kozan and back to Lapta.
Day 6: Visiting the medieval fortress and port city of Famagusta. There was some kind of folk festival there, and we enjoyed some local sweets. Then on to the ancient Cyprus capital city of Salamis, playing on the beach, eating a delicious meal in Ozankoy.
Day 7: A 9km walk in the mountains of Besparmak with lavish vegetation, many wild flowers, beautiful observation points and in the end a quite recently abandoned, mysterious Armenian monastery. Then a 1-hour climb to the majestic Buffavento Castle, with Anne Sophie walking most of the way! The meal at the Buffavento restaurant was probably the most delicious we had in North Cyprus!
Day 8: Visiting the capital Lefkosa (Nicosia), taking a city walk and crossing the guarded border into the Greek part, with some Occupy the Border protesters in the no man's buffer zone. Then back to Kyrenia, enjoying a walk along the sea front, and then back to hour hotel to catch the bus to the airport.

All in all, we had a very enjoyable time in North Cyprus, and I hope we shall come back there again!