Sunday 1 October – Kyrenia and cricket – old meets new.

We walked back into the old town this morning to a small square where a mini-van service is provided for the 20-kilometre trip to Kyrenia.  The vans are nine-seaters and depart every ten minutes or so.  And the cost?  Eight Turkish lira each – 16 lira (five dollars) for both of us to travel 20 kilometres in style. (Back home, five dollars would probably take us from our house to our front gate). Of course we returned from Kyrenia the same way.

Kyrenia is a beautiful old harbour town, dominated by a large castle.  The area was first settled by Mycenean Greeks about 1200 BC and, like most of the Mediterranean islands, has had a series of invaders and conquerors; the Romans expanded and established Kyrenia as a city and it had several different rulers in the ensuing centuries. In 1974, when Turkey invaded Cyprus it used the beaches just to the west of Kyrenia to land its army. 

The castle was built by the Byzantines in the 7^th century to help ward off Arab raids, then in 1191 it was captured by Richard the Lionheart, who later sold it to the Knights Templar and then to Guy de Lusignan, leading to three centuries of Frankish rule.  The castle was enlarged in the 13th century, was attacked and almost destroyed by the Genoese in 1373, then by 1489 the Venetians had taken control of Cyprus and they enlarged the castle in 1540 to its present size and appearance.  In 1570 the castle was surrendered to the Ottomans and following their defeat was taken over by the British, who retained control until 1974.  During the British occupation the castle was used as a police academy and a prison.

We spent a couple of hours in the castle, walking the wind-swept ramparts, exploring the 12^th century Byzantine church and the dungeon where King Peter’s pregnant mistress was tortured on the orders of the king’s jealous wife, visited the bastion towers which each contain a different exhibition: mannequins of soldiers through the centuries in the different costumes and armour; dioramas of Neolithic settlements; ancient funeral chambers; the tomb of a famous Ottoman general. The castle also features a museum containing the remains of a wooden sailing vessel which sank off the coast in 300 BC and was only discovered in 1965.  A good portion of the original hull is on display, as well as much of the cargo that was located with the wreck – jars of almonds, wine and grain casks, pottery, ballast stones.  On leaving the castle we wandered past the 1584 Aghere Cafer Pasa mosque and the Ottoman graveyard, which was also used in Roman and Byzantine times.  And during all our explorations we found time to stop for a delicious seafood lunch overlooking the harbour (we weren’t sure what Café Doping was offering, but we decided not to chance it).

On our return to Nicosia, we walked back to our apartment and passed a cricket match which was being played on what would have been the floor of the moat surrounding the ancient town walls.  What was even better, we found that we had a Brewongle Stand view of this spirited 20/20 match, being played by young Turkish Cypriots, from our terrace.  So John took a chair out onto the terrace, settled down and spent a very enjoyable hour or so as a spectator, applauding the wickets and bemoaning the occasional dropped catches.  Who needs the SCG?

Tomorrow – do some more exploring around Nicosia.