The controversial politics aside, just think of the pluses. First off, the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) has the benefit of proximity, being just a 90-minute flight from İstanbul.
Then it has an enviable climate with more than 300 sunny days per year.
Finally, it’s small in size and easy to get around with old-fashioned taxi-dolmuşes running between the main population centres.
But none of that would amount to much if it didn’t also punch way above its weight in terms of historic remains. Because the present-day bickering over the island of Cyprus pales into insignificance when set against its covoluted history as the R&R destination of choice for every Crusader who ever set off from Europe in search of the Holy Land.
Most visitors stay in or around Girne (the old Kyrenia) on the north coast which boasts one of the most picture-perfect fishing harbours in the entire Mediterranean. The harbour is ringed with alluring restaurants, their tables spilling across a blissfully traffic-free road. To one side a vast castle still sits brooding as it has done since Byzantine times. Nowadays it houses a Shipwreck Museum to rival the one in Bodrum, its centrepiece a salvaged cargo ship that sank in around 300 BC.
The tourist board gushes about “unspoilt” Northern Cyprus, and it’s certainly true that in spring the fields still light up with colourful wild flowers. You certainly shouldn’t miss the delightful drives from Girne to the picturesque ruins of Bellapais Abbey and the dramatic sites of St Hilarion and Buffavento castles but along the way the truth behind the hype unfolds itself in the lines of Hisarönü-style “luxury villas” thrown up to cater for a growing army first of British expats and now of Russians.
It would be crazy not to pop across to Gazimağusa (old Famagusta) on the east coast where the sprawling settlement of modern Mağusa stands shoulder to shoulder with a magnificent old walled town so densely studded with medieval churches that it could be an open-air museum. Right at its heart is the old cathedral of St Nicholas where the French Lusignan kings of Cyprus, who ruled the island between 1192 and 1489, were ceremonially crowned kings of Jerusalem after their official coronation as kings of Cyprus in Nicosia. A stunning Gothic masterpiece, the church became the Lala Mustafa Paşa Cami in 1571.
On an island that has witnessed more than its fair share of atrocities, the cathedral played a starring role in one of the more gruesome episodes when the defeated Venetian leader Bragadino was flayed alive between two pillars in front of it.
The square surrounding the cathedral has been given a stealthy facelift courtesy of the EU and now boasts an assortment of cafes set amid the ruins of the old Venetian palace and the Cafer Paşa hamam. But no matter which way you walk you will quickly bump into the remains of other churches and chapels. In a sobering testimony to the inability of different groups within the same religion to unite for the common good, the Knights Templar, the Knights Hospitallers, the Nestorians, the Greeks, the Latins and a myriad other splinter Christian groups all felt obliged to open their own private places of worship here before setting sail for Palestine.
But for all Mağusa’s magnificence the dark underside of modern Cypriot politics is readily visible in adjoining Varosha. Until 1974, when its Greek population fled south, the beaches of Varosha formed the heart of Cyprus’ flourishing tourist industry. With no agreement over what should happen to them, its Benidorm-style high-rise hotels were cordoned off behind barbed wire, their only guests the occasional United Nations patrol. Since 2020 tourists are allowed to visit a small part of the abandoned town.
It’s worth haggling with a taxi driver to run you north to the ruins of Salamis, a Roman site to give Ephesus a run for its money but with none of the offputting crowds. You’ll need several hours to take in the remains of the old baths, an amphitheatre, an agora and several basilicas half-hidden amid bush. Afterwards you can swim off the nearby beach or visit the Royal Tombs, a collection of graves cut into the ground where startled archaeologists found the remains of horses sacrificed on the entrance ramps just as Homer recorded centuries earlier in Greece.
Until 1974 Cyprus was one country with its capital at Nicosia, another fine walled city right in the middle of the island. Since then, however, the Atilla Line/Green Line dividing the two sides has sliced straight through the centre turning Nicosia into two separate capital cities: Lefkoşa for the TRNC and Lefkosia for the Republic of Cyprus.
Until recently visitors to Northern Cyprus were forbidden to cross into the Republic which meant that they could only visit sleepy Lefkoşa. But in a game of smoke and mirrors that only bureaucrats could devise, the whole island of Cyprus technically joined the European Union in 2005 – the catch is that its laws are suspended in the north. What this means in practise is that lucky EU (and US) citizens are now free to cross from the north to the south of the island and back again. So for the first time in a generation visitors to Lefkoşa/Lefkosia/Nicoasia have a chance to view the town as a whole (post-Brexit British citizens have lost their legal right to cross freely although may still be able to do so in certain circumstances).
Rarely can the contrast between two sides of the same place have been sharper. Lefkoşa is more like downtown Nevşehir than a capital city while Lefkosia grows livelier and more assertive with every passing day. Within the old walls the United Nations has been doing its best on both sides of the divide, slowly restoring the old Ottoman houses which rub up against the messy Green Lıne of barbed wire, watch towers and “Keep Out” signs.
Otherwise, Lefkoşa hosts the lion’s share of medieval monuments, most of them clustered around the Selimye Cami, another splendid Gothic church-turned-mosque.
Few visitors to the Republic peel themselves away from the southern beaches for long enough to visit Lefkosia. However, if you cross from the TRNC you will find the Laiki Yitonia district immediately south of the Green Line packed with restaurants, hotels and tacky souvenir shops. The excellent Cyprus Museum is a short walk away.
Also worth squeezing into the tightest schedule is a trip to the award-winning Omeriye Hamam, newly renovated and offering aromatic massages in romantically oriental surrounds.
To put your finger on the pulse of moden Lefkosia check Time Out Cyprus online and head out beyond the walls. As you browse the flashy shops of Archbishop Makarios III Ave and sample modern Cypriot cuisine in restaurants that rarely see a tourist, it will be hard not to rage at the politics which still keep the two sides of the city – and the island – apart.
Sleeping
Nostalgia Hotel Cafer Paşa Sokağı, Girne, Tel: 0392-815 3079
Hotel Bristol Hurriyet Caddesi, Girne, Tel: 0392-815 6570
Dome Hotel Kordon Boyu Sokak, Girne, Tel: 0392-815 2453
Hotel Rimi Solonos 5, Lefkosia, Tel: 0357-2268 0101
Tony’s B&B Solonos 13, Lefkosia, Tel: 0357-2266 6752
Transport info
You can get to the TRNC from Turkey by ferry from Mersin (toMağusa) or Taşucu (to Girne). These days few tourists take the ferries since the flights are so cheap and the crossing can be rough and subject to delays. The boats are mainly used to transport Turkish soldiers during their military service on the island.
The airport of the TRNC is at Ercan, near Lefkoşa. You can fly there from İstanbul, Ankara or Adana.
Turkish Airlines Tel: 0212-444 0849, www.thy.com
Pegasus Tel: 0212-444 0737, www.flypgs.com
