The Mini Rough Guide to Cyprus (Travel Guide eBook)

Rough Guides

• Publisher: Rough Guides
• Year: 2022
• Print ISBN: 9781785731495
• eBook ISBN: 9781839058080
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Personal Development
• Subtopic: Travel

This pocket-sized guide is a convenient, quick-reference companion to discovering what to do, what to see and how to get around Cyprus. It covers top attractions like ancient Kourion, Agios Neophytos Monastery and the famous Paphos Mosaics, as well as hidden gems, including visiting the Troödos painted churches, exploring the museums of Nicosia and hiking the untamed Akamas Peninsula. This will save you time, and enhance your exploration of this fascinating island. This title has been fully updated post-COVID-19.

This Mini Rough Guide to Cyprus covers: Nicosia, Pitsilia, Troödos, Larnaka, Lefkara, Agia Napa, Cape Gkreko, Konnos Bay, Limassol, Amathus, Akrotiri Peninsula, Kourion, Petra tou Romiou, Pafos, Platres, Mt Olympos, Kakopetria, Marathassa, Kalopanagiotis, Kykkou, Lagoudera, Ktima, Geroskipou, Kouklia, Lara Bay, Akamas Peninsula, Northern Cyprus, Keryneia Hills, Keryneia, Famagusta, Karpasia (Karpaz) Peninsula

In this travel guide you will find:

RECOMMENDATIONS FOR EVERY TYPE OF TRAVELLER
Experiences selected for every kind of trip to Cyprus, from cultural explorations to family activities in child-friendly places or chilled-out breaks in popular tourist areas.

TOP TEN ATTRACTIONS
Covers the destination's top ten attractions not to miss, including Panagia Tou Araka, Keryneia, Buffavento and a Perfect Day/Tour itinerary suggestions.

COMPACT FORMAT
Compact, concise, and packed with essential information, with a sharp design and colour-coded sections, this is the perfect on-the-move companion when you're exploring Cyprus.

HISTORICAL AND CULTURAL INSIGHTS
Includes an insightful overview of landscape, history and culture.

WHAT TO DO
Detailed description of entertainment, shopping, nightlife, festivals and events, and children's activities.

PRACTICAL MAPS
Handy colour maps on the inside cover flaps will help you find your way around.

PRACTICAL TRAVEL INFORMATION
Practical information on eating out, including a handy glossary and detailed restaurant listings, as well as a comprehensive A-Z of travel tips on everything from getting around to health and tourist information.

STRIKING PICTURES
Inspirational colour photography throughout.

Out and About

If you really want to get to know Cyprus, rather than just soak up the sun on its beaches, you should stay in more than one place. Say you’re based at one of southern Cyprus’ extremities – Pafos or Agia Napa – it would be a good idea to spend a few nights at a more central coastal location around Limassol, or to go inland to Nicosia or the Troödos Mountains. You may also want to set aside time for the North, where the best overnight options are around Keryneia or on the Karpaz Peninsula.

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Clear waters near Agia Napa

Nicosia and Environs

Nicosia (Lefkosia in Greek, Lefkoşa in Turkish) 1 [map] is Cyprus’ only major city in the interior, occupying the site of ancient Ledra, founded in the 3rd century BC by Lefkonas, son of Ptolemy I of Egypt. When coastal Paphos and Salamis (Constantia) came under Arab attack during the 7th century AD, the population moved inland and Nicosia became the chief city. Under the Lusignans, it grew into a splendid capital marked by elegant churches and monasteries in the French Gothic style.

Almost everything of interest to tourists lies within, or just outside, the old city walls. The ramparts, built by the Venetians in preparation for the Turkish invasion of 1570, remain Nicosia’s dominant feature. The wheel-shaped Renaissance fortification has become the modern capital’s distinctive logo, with its eleven pointed bastions and three gateways named after the coastal cities to which they lead – Famagusta Gate to the east, Pafos Gate to the west and Keryneia (Girne) Gate to the north. Some of the bastions now shelter municipal offices, while sections of the (now dry) moat serve as public gardens and car parks.

Rapid transit

The motorway network linking Nicosia and all the coastal resorts in South Cyprus makes for speedy transfers, but there’s much to be said for pottering along on a slower route.

Since the Turkish invasion of 1974, Nicosia remains a divided city, roughly half in Southern Cyprus, half in the North; the ‘Green Line’ buffer zone that straddles the dividing line, with its derelict 1930s buildings, UN, Greek-Cypriot and Turkish-Cypriot checkpoints, barbed wire, sandbags and roadblocks, is an eerie reminder of this. However, the Cypriot capital is experiencing something of a rebirth. Both tourists and Cypriots can now pass with relative ease; tourists on foot typically use the Ledra/Lokmacı crossing, though you can walk through Agios Dometios or Pyla if you are being collected by a car or person the other side.

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Nicosia has a rich café culture

Many visitors spend just a day here, but an overnight stay (or more) is well worthwhile if you want to explore both halves of the fortified city properly – and experience some of the best dining opportunities on the island. Be prepared for real summer heat – Nicosia is around three or four degrees hotter than the coast, with temperatures soaring to 37°C (99°F) in July.

The Cyprus Museum

The island’s finest collection of antiquities is housed in the Cyprus Museum A [map] (Tues–Fri 8am–6pm, Sat 9am–5pm, Sun 10am–1pm, first Wed of month until 8pm) on Leoforos (Avenue) Mouseiou, just west of the walled city near the Pafos Gate. The neoclassical building houses archaeological artefacts dating from the Stone Age (around 8000 BC) to the Roman era, though the most riveting displays are of Bronze Age and Archaic vintage. Talks of a new purpose-built annexe, linked to the existing building by an underpass or aerial bridge, have long been up in the air, but so far plans haven’t yet got off the ground; the guards may proudly tell you that items in storage could fill four museums.

Exhibits from the early Bronze Age, in Room 2, include the so-called sanctuary model (2000 BC), in which worshippers and priests attend a bull sacrifice while a peeping Tom on the sanctuary wall watches the secret ceremony. In Room 3, an intriguing Mycenaean krater (drinking cup) imported to Enkomi in the 14th century BC has an octopus motif framing a scene of Zeus preparing warriors for battle at Troy; nearby, a beautiful green faïence rhyton (ritual drinking vessel) of the 12th century BC depicts a lively bull-hunt in Kition.

Room 5 has a rich collection of sculpture, and the highlight is a trio of magnificent lions, tongues and teeth bared, plus two sphinxes, discovered in 1997 guarding tombs at Tamassos. Left of these is a double-sided limestone stele depicting Dionysos on one side, and on the other, facing the wall, an erotic scene leaving nothing to the imagination. At the far end of the hall, a sensuous marble Aphrodite has become the logo of island tourism despite having lost her arms and lower legs.

The monumental bronze of Roman Emperor Septimius Severus (c.AD 200) dominates Room 6, among other marble and bronze sculptures. Highlights of Room 7 include the ‘Horned God’ from Enkomi, one hand downturned in a blessing gesture, and gold pieces from the Lambousa Treasure Hoard. Up short stairs in Room 11 is some fascinating royal tomb furniture from Salamis (8th century BC): an ivory throne, a bed, ornamentation for two funerary chariots and their horses’ tackle.

Along Odos Lidras

The old city’s principal thoroughfare and main pedestrianized shopping street, Lidras (Ledra Street), runs north from Plateia Eleftherias to the Ledra/Lokmacı crossing. Just off its southern end, at Ippokratous 17, stands the award-winning Leventis Municipal Museum of Nicosia B [map] (www.leventismuseum.org.cy; Tues–Sun 10am–4.30pm; free but donation appreciated), three floors of a fine 19th-century neoclassical mansion devoted to the city’s history. Galleries are filled with privately donated archaeological collections, Lusignan pottery, metal utensils, old engravings and posters, and displays on trades or crafts. There is also a revolving programme of worthwhile temporary exhibitions.

Cyprus' Terracotta Army

Perhaps the most memorable exhibit in the Cyprus Museum is the ‘Terracotta Army’, consisting of over 500 votive statues and figurines dating from between 625 and 500 BC (an equal number were taken to Stockholm by the Swedish excavators). Found at Agia Irini in northwest Cyprus, the figurines are displayed as they originally stood, around the altar of an open-air sanctuary dedicated to a dual cult of war and fertility. Soldiers, war chariots, priests with bull masks, sphinxes, minotaurs and bulls were fashioned in all sizes, from life-size to just 10cm (4ins) tall, and at various levels of workmanship, according to the wealth of the donor.

Just east of the museum spreads the so-called Laïki Geitonia (Traditional Pedestrian Neighbourhood), which purports to recreate old Nicosia. Various buildings in traditional style – some restored, others purpose-built – house galleries, cafés and tavernas. The latter is eminently avoidable: a tourist trap, in short. The real rescue of the long-neglected old town is taking place on other streets, through private, state and UN initiatives.

George Taylor/Apa Publications

Statue of Aphrodite

Slightly further up Lidras, the Shacolas Tower Museum & Observatory (daily summer 10am–7pm, closes earlier Oct–April) is located on the top floor of the sixth-tallest building in Nicosia. The first five floors are occupied by an H&M; bypass these and head instead to the museum and observatory on the top floor for excellent views of the whole city. The ‘museum’ bit is rather bogus, though, consisting merely of poor reproductions of archival photos.

East of, and parallel to, Lidras is pedestrianized Onasagorou, less chain-store dominated and with interesting restaurants and cafés. It leads north to the landmark church of Panagia Faneromeni (open irregularly), dating from 1872 in its present form and the last resting place of four bishops executed in 1821. Nearby is the chunky but handsome Araplar Mosque, usually closed to the public, converted into its current guise from the former 16th-century churc...

Table of contents

• 10 Things Not To Miss
• A Perfect Tour of Cyprus
• Overview
• History and Culture
• Out and About
• Things To Do
• Food and Drink
• Where To Eat
• A–Z Travel Tips
• Where To Stay