Kyrenia, North Cyprus

This customary account of the latest Spencer trek is rather brief this
time round. Largely ‘cos many have probably already been to the
Turkish Republic of North Cyprus, and it wasn’t that unusual a venue
this time anyway (must be getting old!).
So this is just a precis but, as usual, any in our various history/
travel groups are more than welcome to come back at us for more
details on any aspect.
Taking advantage of the relaxed Green Line border procedures, we flew
into Larnaca and crossed the (non-existent) border with (non-existent)
visas into this (non-existent) newish nation. Saved a lot of mucking
about needing to fly into Turkey first, as in the past.
We deliberately based in Kyrenia, that good old ‘Brit Empire’ township
(complete with outdated colonial yellow Liz II letterboxes!), and
equally deliberately took a small hotel right on the old harbour
overlooking the Roman/Crusader/Lusignian/Venetian/Ottoman/British fort
(which amply describes the complex historical mix of this area!). Even
dear old Dickie 1 bashed it about a bit.
It proved a great choice, rather than using any of the tourist
complexes out of town.
And right above us, some 3,000 ft. straight up from the sea, was St.
Hilarion, one of the most spectacular Crusader fort sites we’ve ever
seen. Yes, even at our senile age we managed to climb up through the
several steeply ascending levels of fortifications and yours truly
even continued the rock climb up to the ultimate peak. A ‘must see &
do’ for anyone visiting.
Unfortunately, visiting the other two major castle sites in these
mountains was negated by the complexities of the Turkish army still
using ‘em. Since their historical positions dominate the central plain
right over to the (Greek) south coast, it’s maybe understandable!
(Due to modern politics, the Turkish army was everywhere. Some 50,000
troops apparently, ‘guarding’ a 250,000 population, and their many
controlled areas ARE to be avoided!).
Another Crusader abbey was also most interesting at nearby Bellapais
(also home to Durrell’s ‘Bitter Lemons’ for those who have read it).
Ancient Salamis was obviously on our list. Fascinating to be there, of
course, but the excavations to date proved very rudimentary, with some
very cack-handed reconstructions. Shouldn’t be missed though.
What did surprise, through our iggerance, were the superb mediaeval
walls of nearby Famagusta and, equally, the crusader/mediaeval
buildings and walls of Nicosia. More directly to our particular
tastes, Nicosia also has a marvellous unreconstructed (and
unpublicised) ancient han/caravanserai, as well as another rather naff
but still interesting reconstruction. We hadn’t planned to visit
either metropolis but now realise that neither should be missed.
Re modern politics, and having received the Greek version on our
previous visit 18 months back, now hearing the Turkish version proved
very interesting indeed. Suffice here to say that there are always, of
course, two sides to a story, and we do now feel, on balance, that the
‘official’ UN/EU etc. wholesale support of the Greek version is very
one-sided indeed. The Turkish Cypriots have at least as much cause for
their current stand as the Greeks. As always compromise from both
sides will be needed, but it doesn’t seem too imminent. The Greeks
threw out a recent UN referendum attempt which the Turks supported yet
also, while we were there, Northern Cyprus held its General Election,
and brought in a new harder-line government. (The Turkish Cypriots
tend to be more hard-line that their Turkish protectors, which can
embarrass the latter’s EU hopes!).
‘Nuff said here, but am quite willing to be less PC if anyone wants to
chat around that one!
As in the opening, this was a brief foray into an easily accessible
area, but none the less interesting for all that.