(Long!) Trip Report - Northern Cyprus

It took quite a bit of soul-searching before we finally decided to visit
Northern Cyprus. As regular visitors to Greece, the current political
situation made us feel as though it would somehow be disloyal to our Greek
friends to go there. However, we finally decided to put aside our
prejudices and principles and go there before over-development turns it into
a carbon copy of the southern part of the island. I think we only just made
it in time!



Getting there is a trial in itself since neither the TRNC nor its main
airport at Ercan are officially recognised under international law. This
means that direct flights are only possible from Turkey and our plane had to
land in Antalya for an hour or so, before taking off again for the remaining
40 minute "domestic" flight. For some reason (possibly prevailing winds)
the flight home takes about an hour longer than the outbound flight and this
made for a total return journey time of around 10 hours from Kyrenia to our
home near Manchester Airport, so it's not exactly a short hop!



We spent a week in Kyrenia (or Girne in Turkish), from 24 December 2005. It
is a fairly large town and with masses of villa developments springing up
everywhere it can only get bigger. The harbour is very picturesque, with
plenty of bars and restaurants and a walk around the castle is an
interesting way to spend a morning. There didn't seem to be any decent
beaches at all in the area, unless they were all situated in the grounds of
the big hotel complexes on the outskirts of town, which we didn't visit.

Shopping seems to consist of either general souvenire-type shops or ones
selling designer knock-offs. The prices of these seemed fairly reasonable
for things like jeans and tops, but very inflated for watches (£25+) and
handbags (£40+) compared to what you see in Asia, although the quality may
have been slightly better.

On the whole, I'd say that Kyrenia is a good place to visit off-season as an
alternative to a city break and it makes a good base for exploring the rest
of Northern Cyprus. But the lack of beaches and proliferation of "holiday
village" developments mean that I personally wouldn't go there for a summer
holiday since I like to relax on a quiet beach during the day and enjoy
local bars and restaurants in the evenings and I think that it would be
necessary to have a car and do a fair bit of driving around for the whole
holiday in order to do both, so not exactly a "vegging out" holiday. I
enjoyed our week there and am glad we went, but having "been there, done
that", I wouldn't be in any hurry to return. I'd certainly recommend it for
a one-off visit, but go there soon before the developers completely take
over.



The Dome Hotel:-

We stayed at the Dome Hotel and our sea-view room was on the first floor
and had a decent sized terrace which would probably be quite pleasant for
sitting out on in warmer weather. But the rooms on the floor above us had
smaller terraces which, being north-facing, would get very little sun even
in summer and many were directly above the hotel bar and restaurant, which
meant that you looked down onto the green-felted roofs, complete with aircon
units, so not exactly a marvellous vista.

The room itself was fairly small and the facilities pretty basic for what is
described as a 4-star hotel. I'd personally put it at around 2-3 stars.
There was a TV and a small minibar, but no tea and coffee tray (which I
suspect is common to most hotels in N Cyprus) and the complimentary
toiletries were limited to shampoo and soap - not even a box of tissues in
the bathroom. It was clean enough, but somehow looked tired, especially the
bathroom with its 80's style yellowy-peach suite and discoloured grouting
between the wall tiles. One of the light fittings wasn't working on our
arrival and we pointed this out to the porter, but nothing was done about
it. We tried swapping the bulbs around and found it was just a dead bulb and
so left it out on the dressing table for 2 days. The first day the maid just
put it back again and the second day she removed it from the room, but
didn't bother bringing a new one!

Hotel staff were friendly, but the service was somewhat haphazard. They were
keen to re-fill your wine glasses at dinner, but not so keen to serve tea
and coffee at breakfast and we mostly had to get our own from the urns
provided. We also spent a good 10 minutes in the hotel bar one afternoon
without getting served - despite the fact that there were only two other
people in there - and we eventually got up and went to a bar across the
road.


Breakfast is the usual hotel buffet style and there was a good choice with a
few hot dishes plus plenty of cold cuts, fruit, cereal and breads. We had
paid for B & B, but our tour operator, Green Island Holidays threw in free
half board during the winter months, so we ate in the hotel restaurant on a
few evenings. Again the food was served buffet-style and was plentiful, but
it was pretty bland and uninspiring and I certainly wouldn't pay extra for
half board if I stayed there in summer - there are far better
reasonably-priced choices at the local restaurants. Our favourite was Niazi
's, just over the road from the hotel, where the house speciality, The Full
Kebab, is an experience not to be missed.

The Dome Hotel is Cyprus's longest established hotel and I have to say that
in some respects it looks like it. It is situated on the seafront a minute
or two's walk from the harbour and only slightly further from the main
shopping area, so overall I'd say the Dome is a good base for exploring
Kyrenia and N Cyprus, but just don't expect it to live up to its rating.



Getting around:


We hired a car from Sun RentaCar and were very impressed, since it was a
virtually new Fiat Panda with only about 11,000km on the clock. The driving
is reasonably easy, with most of the roads well signposted and tarmacced,
but it can get a little hairy up in the mountains with the hairpin bends and
the odd development work where the road seems to be being widened and the
tarmac suddenly disappears. We managed to get lost a couple of times - once
near the village of Degirmenlik where we missed a right turn and ended up at
the gates of a military establishment, with two armed soldiers guarding the
entrance. They seemed quite friendly though and directed us back to the
correct road! The other time was when what appeared to be a road on the map
suddenly turned into what seemed to be an army tank track and concerns for
the underside of our car and its tyres persuaded us to turn around and try
another way. Maybe if we'd hired a 4x4 we may have been a bit more
adventurous!



Kyrenia (Girne) Castle:


The castle dominates the eastern end of Kyrenia harbour and possibly dates
back to the 7th century BC, although no definitive date has yet been
determined for its original construction. It was captured by Richard the
Lionheart during the Crusades and has been enlarged and extended several
times throughout history and details of these changes are well illustrated
within the Castle's introductory room. The structure is well-preserved and
it offers wonderful views of Kyrenia harbour and the surrounding district
from the upper walls. If you visit the Castle, do look out for the lovely
beige one-eyed cat, which seems to befriend each new visitor as they enter
the castle grounds. It took a distinct liking to my husband's jacket when
he put it down on the wall and quite a bit of gentle persuasion was needed
to stop it using it as a bed!

Inside the castle is the Shipwreck Museum which contains the remains of the
oldest shipwreck ever discovered, dating back to 300 BC. There are several
other displays within the castle, including the rather gruesome torture
chamber and a model of a Bronze Age tomb discovered near to Kyrenia, along
with artefacts which were recovered from inside it (following a raid on a
local tomb-raider's home!) There is also an exhibition hall containing
pictures donated by William Dreghorn, but unfortunately this was closed
during our visit.



Bellapais Abbey and Village


A short drive southeast of Kyrenia, the Abbey dates back to around 1200 AD
and was given to the Greek Orthodox church following the Ottoman conquest.
It contains one of the few Orthodox churches which has been preserved in
Northern Cyprus since 1974 and the icons, architecture and furniture are
well worth seeing.

The original village of Bellapais, immediately surrounding the monastery is
still very pretty and the Tree of Idleness Restaurant makes a pleasant stop
for a coffee following a visit to the abbey. In front of the restaurant is
an old tree which, it is claimed, is the "tree of idleness" referred to by
Lawrence Durrell in his book Bitter Lemons of Cyprus. The village, however,
has been much extended since Durrell's time and away from the Abbey it has
the same sprawling modern villas as can be seen in much of the Kyrenia
district. We were totally gobsmacked as we sat in the idyllic, peaceful
setting of the village centre when some tourists approached the restaurant
and the lead male was heard to say to his wife in a very loud middle-class
British accent "Have you asked how much the coffee is here? I'm certainly
not paying more than a pound for a cup of coffee". Just goes to prove the
old saying that some people know the price of everything and the value of
nothing!



St Hilarion Castle


Another short drive from Kyrenia in a southwesterly direction took us to St
Hilarion Castle. This is the main castle of Northern Cyprus and its
fairytale appearance is said to be the inspiration behind Disney's Sleeping
Beauty castle. It is situated on one of the highest peaks of the Kyrenia
mountain range and can be seen for miles around. This means that the drive
up to it is quite scarey - partly because of the steep winding road and
partly because the majority of the road is controlled by the Turkish
military - so there's no stopping and no photography allowed until you get
to the Castle car park. The mountainside appears to be an army training camp
and is guarded by gun-toting soldiers as you pull off the main road to start
the climb.

Once you've braved the hairpin bends and the armed guards, the Castle itself
is on 3 levels and involves a lot of steep climbing to see all of them, so
it's not for anyone with walking difficulties and I should imagine it's
quite strenuous in the mid-summer heat. However, if you can manage it, both
the Castle itself and the breath-taking views over Kyrenia and the
surrounding coast are well worth it.



East of Kyrenia:


As you leave the main town area, the road is some distance from the shore
and for several miles all you see is villa developments, the majority of
which were either unfinished or uninhabited at the time we visited. It gives
the impression that virtually every patch of spare land is being built on
and it seems a shame that the developers appear to be determined to
transform the main reason for most people visiting Northern Cyprus (i.e. its
rugged, unspoilt beauty) into just another Mediterranean sprawl.

However, carry on a little further and about 30km from Kyrenia, around the
village of Esentepe, the building sites have disappeared (for now) and there
are some spectacular views of the coast and the surrounding mountains. There
is a small natural harbour here which, although totally undeveloped, is used
as a mooring by the local fishermen and goats wander freely across the
cliffs and down to the beach.

The road from here on is pretty much undeveloped, apart from a few small
hamlets and the odd restaurant which were all closed when we visited in
December, until you reach the small village of Kaplica. At the moment this
village is still a pretty little, mostly undeveloped, harbour with the
unspoilt main village of Kaplica a kilometre or so up the hill. I understand
that there are plans for its further development which are supposed to
retain the original character of the village and I hope that this will be
the case. From here we carried on up the hill towards the village of
Kantara and its castle.



Kantara Castle is situated about 55km east of Kyrenia. It dates back to the
10th century, but the majority of the remaining parts belong to the reign of
James 1 of Cyprus who re-fortified the castle during his reign from
1382-1398. Much of the castle is now in ruins, but the outer walls still
stand and, as it's 600m above sea level, a visit there is worthwhile for the
spectacular views of the northern coast.



West of Kyrenia:


Once again, the drive out of Kyrenia heading west offers many more villa
developments and I'm really not sure how they expect to sell all of these.
Northern Cyprus currently only receives around half a million visitors a
year, the majority of whom come from Turkey and it seems unlikely that
Turkish people would want to buy holiday homes so close to their own homes.

Anyway, the development mostly runs out by the time you reach the villages
of Alsancak and Lapta and more wonderful coastline views can be seen. The
road starts to get a little rougher from Kayaler onwards and, rather than
continue on to the cape at Korucam we turned off at Sadrazamkoy and followed
the road south east along the other side of the Kyrenia mountains. The
contrast on this side of the mountains is amazing, with rugged mountain
views turning to lush green plains and at times we found it difficult to
remember that we were still in a Mediterranean country - the landscapes were
more reminiscent of the British countryside, until we caught sight of a
small olive grove or citrus fruit orchard, which reminded us where we were!



South to Salamis and Gazimagusa (Famagusta):


10km north of Gazimagusa, the ancient city of Salamis is said to have been
founded by the Greek hero Teucer, following the Trojan war. The Romans and
Byzantines extended it further and many of its remains can be seen with
archeological work still ongoing to discover further remains. Don't be
fooled by the marble columns in the Gymnasium, which were actually erected
during restoration work in the 1950's!

A short drive south from Salamis takes you to the walled city of Gazimagusa.
Unfortunately, due to limited daylight hours in December, we were only able
to spend a short time here, but I think it certainly warrants a longer visit
and the ancient churches and city walls were very impressive - particularly
the quirky Lala Mustafa Pasa mosque, which was originally a Latin cathedral,
but which was coverted to a mosque by the addition of a single minaret some
400-odd years ago.



Photos:


Some of our holiday snaps can be seen in an album at
http://tinyurl.com/83tk7



Elaine

Apologies for the big spaces between some of the paragraphs. I cut and
pasted from Word and these seem to have been added somehow in the posted
report.

Elaine

Thanks, really interesting and a refreshing change.

"Elaine" a écrit dans le message
de news: ...
It took quite a bit of soul-searching before we finally decided to visit
Northern Cyprus. As regular visitors to Greece, the current political
situation made us feel as though it would somehow be disloyal to our Greek
friends to go there. However, we finally decided to put aside our
prejudices and principles and go there before over-development turns it
into
a carbon copy of the southern part of the island. I think we only just
made
it in time!



Getting there is a trial in itself since neither the TRNC nor its main
airport at Ercan are officially recognised under international law. This
means that direct flights are only possible from Turkey and our plane had
to
land in Antalya for an hour or so, before taking off again for the
remaining
40 minute "domestic" flight. For some reason (possibly prevailing winds)
the flight home takes about an hour longer than the outbound flight and
this
made for a total return journey time of around 10 hours from Kyrenia to
our
home near Manchester Airport, so it's not exactly a short hop!



We spent a week in Kyrenia (or Girne in Turkish), from 24 December 2005.
It
is a fairly large town and with masses of villa developments springing up
everywhere it can only get bigger. The harbour is very picturesque, with
plenty of bars and restaurants and a walk around the castle is an
interesting way to spend a morning. There didn't seem to be any decent
beaches at all in the area, unless they were all situated in the grounds
of
the big hotel complexes on the outskirts of town, which we didn't visit.

Shopping seems to consist of either general souvenire-type shops or ones
selling designer knock-offs. The prices of these seemed fairly reasonable
for things like jeans and tops, but very inflated for watches (£25+) and
handbags (£40+) compared to what you see in Asia, although the quality may
have been slightly better.

On the whole, I'd say that Kyrenia is a good place to visit off-season as
an
alternative to a city break and it makes a good base for exploring the
rest
of Northern Cyprus. But the lack of beaches and proliferation of "holiday
village" developments mean that I personally wouldn't go there for a
summer
holiday since I like to relax on a quiet beach during the day and enjoy
local bars and restaurants in the evenings and I think that it would be
necessary to have a car and do a fair bit of driving around for the whole
holiday in order to do both, so not exactly a "vegging out" holiday. I
enjoyed our week there and am glad we went, but having "been there, done
that", I wouldn't be in any hurry to return. I'd certainly recommend it
for
a one-off visit, but go there soon before the developers completely take
over.



The Dome Hotel:-

We stayed at the Dome Hotel and our sea-view room was on the first floor
and had a decent sized terrace which would probably be quite pleasant for
sitting out on in warmer weather. But the rooms on the floor above us had
smaller terraces which, being north-facing, would get very little sun even
in summer and many were directly above the hotel bar and restaurant, which
meant that you looked down onto the green-felted roofs, complete with
aircon
units, so not exactly a marvellous vista.

The room itself was fairly small and the facilities pretty basic for what
is
described as a 4-star hotel. I'd personally put it at around 2-3 stars.
There was a TV and a small minibar, but no tea and coffee tray (which I
suspect is common to most hotels in N Cyprus) and the complimentary
toiletries were limited to shampoo and soap - not even a box of tissues in
the bathroom. It was clean enough, but somehow looked tired, especially
the
bathroom with its 80's style yellowy-peach suite and discoloured grouting
between the wall tiles. One of the light fittings wasn't working on our
arrival and we pointed this out to the porter, but nothing was done about
it. We tried swapping the bulbs around and found it was just a dead bulb
and
so left it out on the dressing table for 2 days. The first day the maid
just
put it back again and the second day she removed it from the room, but
didn't bother bringing a new one!

Hotel staff were friendly, but the service was somewhat haphazard. They
were
keen to re-fill your wine glasses at dinner, but not so keen to serve tea
and coffee at breakfast and we mostly had to get our own from the urns
provided. We also spent a good 10 minutes in the hotel bar one afternoon
without getting served - despite the fact that there were only two other
people in there - and we eventually got up and went to a bar across the
road.


Breakfast is the usual hotel buffet style and there was a good choice with
a
few hot dishes plus plenty of cold cuts, fruit, cereal and breads. We had
paid for B & B, but our tour operator, Green Island Holidays threw in free
half board during the winter months, so we ate in the hotel restaurant on
a
few evenings. Again the food was served buffet-style and was plentiful,
but
it was pretty bland and uninspiring and I certainly wouldn't pay extra for
half board if I stayed there in summer - there are far better
reasonably-priced choices at the local restaurants. Our favourite was
Niazi
's, just over the road from the hotel, where the house speciality, The
Full
Kebab, is an experience not to be missed.

The Dome Hotel is Cyprus's longest established hotel and I have to say
that
in some respects it looks like it. It is situated on the seafront a minute
or two's walk from the harbour and only slightly further from the main
shopping area, so overall I'd say the Dome is a good base for exploring
Kyrenia and N Cyprus, but just don't expect it to live up to its rating.



Getting around:


We hired a car from Sun RentaCar and were very impressed, since it was a
virtually new Fiat Panda with only about 11,000km on the clock. The
driving
is reasonably easy, with most of the roads well signposted and tarmacced,
but it can get a little hairy up in the mountains with the hairpin bends
and
the odd development work where the road seems to be being widened and the
tarmac suddenly disappears. We managed to get lost a couple of times -
once
near the village of Degirmenlik where we missed a right turn and ended up
at
the gates of a military establishment, with two armed soldiers guarding
the
entrance. They seemed quite friendly though and directed us back to the
correct road! The other time was when what appeared to be a road on the
map
suddenly turned into what seemed to be an army tank track and concerns for
the underside of our car and its tyres persuaded us to turn around and try
another way. Maybe if we'd hired a 4x4 we may have been a bit more
adventurous!



Kyrenia (Girne) Castle:


The castle dominates the eastern end of Kyrenia harbour and possibly dates
back to the 7th century BC, although no definitive date has yet been
determined for its original construction. It was captured by Richard the
Lionheart during the Crusades and has been enlarged and extended several
times throughout history and details of these changes are well illustrated
within the Castle's introductory room. The structure is well-preserved and
it offers wonderful views of Kyrenia harbour and the surrounding district
from the upper walls. If you visit the Castle, do look out for the lovely
beige one-eyed cat, which seems to befriend each new visitor as they enter
the castle grounds. It took a distinct liking to my husband's jacket
when
he put it down on the wall and quite a bit of gentle persuasion was needed
to stop it using it as a bed!

Inside the castle is the Shipwreck Museum which contains the remains of
the
oldest shipwreck ever discovered, dating back to 300 BC. There are several
other displays within the castle, including the rather gruesome torture
chamber and a model of a Bronze Age tomb discovered near to Kyrenia, along
with artefacts which were recovered from inside it (following a raid on a
local tomb-raider's home!) There is also an exhibition hall containing
pictures donated by William Dreghorn, but unfortunately this was closed
during our visit.



Bellapais Abbey and Village


A short drive southeast of Kyrenia, the Abbey dates back to around 1200 AD
and was given to the Greek Orthodox church following the Ottoman conquest.
It contains one of the few Orthodox churches which has been preserved in
Northern Cyprus since 1974 and the icons, architecture and furniture are
well worth seeing.

The original village of Bellapais, immediately surrounding the monastery
is
still very pretty and the Tree of Idleness Restaurant makes a pleasant
stop
for a coffee following a visit to the abbey. In front of the restaurant is
an old tree which, it is claimed, is the "tree of idleness" referred to by
Lawrence Durrell in his book Bitter Lemons of Cyprus. The village,
however,
has been much extended since Durrell's time and away from the Abbey it has
the same sprawling modern villas as can be seen in much of the Kyrenia
district. We were totally gobsmacked as we sat in the idyllic, peaceful
setting of the village centre when some tourists approached the restaurant
and the lead male was heard to say to his wife in a very loud middle-class
British accent "Have you asked how much the coffee is here? I'm certainly
not paying more than a pound for a cup of coffee". Just goes to prove the
old saying that some people know the price of everything and the value of
nothing!



St Hilarion Castle


Another short drive from Kyrenia in a southwesterly direction took us to
St
Hilarion Castle. This is the main castle of Northern Cyprus and its
fairytale appearance is said to be the inspiration behind Disney's
Sleeping
Beauty castle. It is situated on one of the highest peaks of the Kyrenia
mountain range and can be seen for miles around. This means that the drive
up to it is quite scarey - partly because of the steep winding road and
partly because the majority of the road is controlled by the Turkish
military - so there's no stopping and no photography allowed until you get
to the Castle car park. The mountainside appears to be an army training
camp
and is guarded by gun-toting soldiers as you pull off the main road to
start
the climb.

Once you've braved the hairpin bends and the armed guards, the Castle
itself
is on 3 levels and involves a lot of steep climbing to see all of them, so
it's not for anyone with walking difficulties and I should imagine it's
quite strenuous in the mid-summer heat. However, if you can manage it,
both
the Castle itself and the breath-taking views over Kyrenia and the
surrounding coast are well worth it.



East of Kyrenia:


As you leave the main town area, the road is some distance from the shore
and for several miles all you see is villa developments, the majority of
which were either unfinished or uninhabited at the time we visited. It
gives
the impression that virtually every patch of spare land is being built on
and it seems a shame that the developers appear to be determined to
transform the main reason for most people visiting Northern Cyprus (i.e.
its
rugged, unspoilt beauty) into just another Mediterranean sprawl.

However, carry on a little further and about 30km from Kyrenia, around the
village of Esentepe, the building sites have disappeared (for now) and
there
are some spectacular views of the coast and the surrounding mountains.
There
is a small natural harbour here which, although totally undeveloped, is
used
as a mooring by the local fishermen and goats wander freely across the
cliffs and down to the beach.

The road from here on is pretty much undeveloped, apart from a few small
hamlets and the odd restaurant which were all closed when we visited in
December, until you reach the small village of Kaplica. At the moment this
village is still a pretty little, mostly undeveloped, harbour with the
unspoilt main village of Kaplica a kilometre or so up the hill. I
understand
that there are plans for its further development which are supposed to
retain the original character of the village and I hope that this will be
the case. From here we carried on up the hill towards the village of
Kantara and its castle.



Kantara Castle is situated about 55km east of Kyrenia. It dates back to
the
10th century, but the majority of the remaining parts belong to the reign
of
James 1 of Cyprus who re-fortified the castle during his reign from
1382-1398. Much of the castle is now in ruins, but the outer walls still
stand and, as it's 600m above sea level, a visit there is worthwhile for
the
spectacular views of the northern coast.



West of Kyrenia:


Once again, the drive out of Kyrenia heading west offers many more villa
developments and I'm really not sure how they expect to sell all of these.
Northern Cyprus currently only receives around half a million visitors a
year, the majority of whom come from Turkey and it seems unlikely that
Turkish people would want to buy holiday homes so close to their own
homes.

Anyway, the development mostly runs out by the time you reach the villages
of Alsancak and Lapta and more wonderful coastline views can be seen. The
road starts to get a little rougher from Kayaler onwards and, rather than
continue on to the cape at Korucam we turned off at Sadrazamkoy and
followed
the road south east along the other side of the Kyrenia mountains. The
contrast on this side of the mountains is amazing, with rugged mountain
views turning to lush green plains and at times we found it difficult to
remember that we were still in a Mediterranean country - the landscapes
were
more reminiscent of the British countryside, until we caught sight of a
small olive grove or citrus fruit orchard, which reminded us where we
were!



South to Salamis and Gazimagusa (Famagusta):


10km north of Gazimagusa, the ancient city of Salamis is said to have been
founded by the Greek hero Teucer, following the Trojan war. The Romans and
Byzantines extended it further and many of its remains can be seen with
archeological work still ongoing to discover further remains. Don't be
fooled by the marble columns in the Gymnasium, which were actually erected
during restoration work in the 1950's!

A short drive south from Salamis takes you to the walled city of
Gazimagusa.
Unfortunately, due to limited daylight hours in December, we were only
able
to spend a short time here, but I think it certainly warrants a longer
visit
and the ancient churches and city walls were very impressive -
particularly
the quirky Lala Mustafa Pasa mosque, which was originally a Latin
cathedral,
but which was coverted to a mosque by the addition of a single minaret
some
400-odd years ago.



Photos:


Some of our holiday snaps can be seen in an album at
http://tinyurl.com/83tk7



Elaine

Good description.

How much of that trip would have been doable by public transport?
Are there frequent minibuses as there would be in Turkey?

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"Jack Campin - bogus address" wrote in message
...
Good description.

How much of that trip would have been doable by public transport?
Are there frequent minibuses as there would be in Turkey?

Well, according to northcyprusonline.com -

"There are frequent bus services between the major towns of North Cyprus
during the day. Public transport becomes less scarce after 7pm and at
weekends the services are less regular.
Each bus route is leased privately from the Northern Cyprus government. The
vehicles are different shapes and sizes but most commonly white mini buses.
The destination is shown in the front windscreen. They are locally called
dolmus.
Either stand at a bus stop or simply flag the vehicle down anywhere along
the road. There are no timetables but the buses are very frequent. This type
of transport runs between the main towns and villages of Norhern Cyprus,
however the buses do not go to many of the main tourist attractions."

I don't know what the public transport's like in summer, but whilst we were
there we only saw the occasional dolmus parked up in the main square in
Kyrenia, not looking as if it was ready to go anywhere and the only other
buses we saw were tour buses, which were also very few and far between. So,
certainly in winter, I don't think you could rely on public transport. But
at around £15 a day, car hire is extremely cheap and the driving's not too
difficult - provided you do drive of course.

Elaine