Cyprus: Sun, Beach and Halumi

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We wanted a nice sunny holidays on white sandy beaches and therefore Cyprus seemed like a perfect (and quite affordable) pick. The majority of the popular beaches are located on the eastern part of the island, so we headed directly to the centre of the island’s beach and nightlife, the famous Ayia Napa. Our accommodation in the centre of Ayia Napa was conveniently located for beach hopping, as well as for exploring the supposedly second largest clubbing district in the world. Even though the island offers plenty of archaeological sites and historical ruins, this time we opted for a more sedentary vacation, so we spent more time on the beach then on actual sightseeing around the island. Still, our curious political minds couldn’t leave Cyprus without seeing the famous capital city of Nicosia, known for its conflicting geopolitical history and peculiarity of its current status. Even though the city itself doesn’t offer grand architecture or famous sights, the very experience of a border crossing makes the visit worthwhile. As for the rest of our time on Cyprus, we really loved some of the less crowded beaches, but we couldn’t escape the feeling that the whole tourism sector is custom-made for British visitors. You really need to dig deep to find quality authentic food and a nice and comfortable spot under the sun. But once you do, it’s well worth it. Who wouldn’t love the sun, sand, the sea…and not to forget, the amazing Cypriot haloumi cheese.

Top 5 things to see on Cyprus

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1. Nicosia – Lefkosa

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Nicosia, the only divided capital of the world, unfortunately became a tourist attraction due to its infamous border going through the very centre of the city. As an aftermath of the 1963 inter-ethnic violence between Greek and Turkish Cypriots, the UN’s mediators divided the city with the so-called Green Line into Greek and Turkish Cypriot quarters. The same Green Line is still today a UN buffer zone and militarized border between the Republic of Cyprus and Northern Cyprus, established as a result of Turkish occupation of the northern part of the island in 1974. There is a possibility to cross the Green line on 2 pedestrian border crossing points on Ledra street and Ledra palace (research prior to your arrival on the required documents and conditions for the crossing). To satisfy our political curiously, the first thing we did when we came to Nicosia was to go to the main border crossing on Ledra street. We showed our IDs (for EU citizens only) on both southern and northern checkpoint and we found ourselves in a completely different setting. The calm and rather still Ledra street on Cypriot side, with only local elders drinking their morning coffee in numerous bars and restaurants, turned into a brisk and busy bazaar with vendors selling everything from food and clothes to local arts and crafts. This instant shift of atmosphere and societal culture is really remarkable.

While on the southern side you felt like a rather lonely wonderer in the empty alleys of old Nicosia, the northern part, Lefkosa, is bursting with street life. In the middle of this lively Arasta shopping area is the famous Büyük Han, a 16th century historical roadside inn (caravanserai) where caravan travellers used to stop for rest and recovery. The building now hosts restaurants, art shops and galleries, so we stopped there to try some Turkish specialities at the picturesque Sedirhan Café (you can pay with cards, so there is no immediate need to exchange the money). We really enjoyed the setup of the inner courtyard with long colonnades, staircases and a small mosque with a fountain in the centre.

Further along the street from Büyük Han you will reach the central Selimiye Mosque, which was originally built as a gothic Cathedral of St. Sophia. Next to it is the Bedesten, originally also a gothic Church of St. Nicholas, but then transformed and used as a covered marketplace in the Ottoman era.

With the limited time ahead of us, we finished our tour of the northern part, and returned back to Nicosia via the same crossing. With the heat rising up, we stopped for couple of refreshments on Ledra street, where we found a rustic and charming Pieto café in Klokkari Arcade. The original old city of Nicosia was surrounded by Venetian Walls with three gates as points of entry for traders and travellers. In some areas parts of the city walls and the gates are still well preserved, so we went to check out the eastern Famagusta Gate and nearby sights, the oldest aqueduct on Cyprus and the Liberty/Eleftheria Monument representing the Cypriot uprising against the British rule in 1955. We ended our day in Nicosia with a visit to a hamam, not just for the pleasure of the scrubbing but as well for historical reasons. Today’s Hamam Omerye is located in the old 14th century Augustinian church of Virgin Mary, later converted into a Muslim shrine dedicated to caliph Omar. The interior is indeed impressive, with brick walls, domes and vaults, hot marble surfaces and water running from the historical troughs. It feels like you stepped into some other time…and you will certainly step out with the softest skin you can ever imagine.

2. Ayia Napa

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Ayia Napa is a very tourism-oriented town. It is over-flooded with neon commercials of fast food chains, night clubs and tour offers, visibly adjusted for the young British tourist who seemingly form the largest portion of visitors in this area. At the first glance it’s hard to notice that this town offers anything but instant fun, but we did explore a bit of its historical heritage. In the very centre of the town, behind the famous “I heart Ayia Napa” monument, you can find the town’s oldest landmark, the Ayia Napa monastery. We visited the location during one of the walks around the city and explored the 15th century’s Church of Ayia Napa, its monastery and a mill. It is a bit surreal experience to visit a monastery located in the centre of the town’s clubbing district, but then again, the town was originally a monastic town established on the location where the icon of the Virgin Mary was discovered.

Besides the very centre of the town around the Ayia Napa square, there is also a much calmer area of the town’s harbour with a nice seafront and a pier sheltering the small marina. It’s a nice place for a walk or a visit to and a number of seafood restaurants located in the harbour. In one of the evening walks around the town we also passed by a Luna park located on the shore, but the offer there doesn’t stand out from the usual setup of any amusement parks.

3. Beaches of Ayia Napa

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The most of Ayia Napa’s day life is built around its beaches. During our stay we visited a number of beaches in the area, from the famous Nissi beach to Makronissos beach, Landa beach, Vathia Gonia beach and a bit more distant Konnos beach. All of them are wide sandy beaches with variety of rental beach beds (2,50 euros), beach bars and restaurants. We were not very impressed with the most famous of them, the Nissi beach. It’s usually overcrowded and a bit chaotic. What we found interesting on Nissi beach is an offshore small rocky Nissi island which can be reached on foot through the shallow waters. The water level in the afternoon was up to our waists so we went across with all of our stuff and stayed on the island a bit, walking around and checking out the people jumping off cliffs (which is officially forbidden, but well…).

Close to Nissi beach are the less crowded, but visually quite similar beaches of Landa and Vathia Gonia. Both are known for their clubbing offers, first one hosting the fairly popular Nozomi beach club and the other one hosting Café del Mar beach bar. We really enjoyed the great food, cocktails and authentic blue and white design of the latter. Unlike the rest of the beach clubs in the area, Café del Mar offers the real Mediterranean atmosphere which we were looking for.

Our favourite beach in Ayia Napa was Makronissos beach. It is a bit more distant from the town’s centre but it’s by far the cleanest and most beautiful beach there. The sand is crystal white and soft, water is light blue and general atmosphere on the beach is relaxing, calm and very enjoyable. Since our first visit to Makronissos beach, we were returning there till the end of our holidays. One of the popular beaches outside the town of Ayia Napa is also Konnos beach, easily reachable with the local bus. It’s also a sandy beach, like most of the beaches on the island, but intertwined with fairly photogenic rocks. Don’t be surprised by the number of private modelling sessions around the rocks, it sometimes last longer than what you would expect, but then again, we are all on holidays so there is no rush. Relax and enjoy the Cyprus beach life.

4. Ayia Napa nightlife

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Ayia Napa is the nightlife capital of Cyprus, widely known and recognised as a place for parties, concerts and events. The town’s centre, Ayia Napa square, and all the streets leading to it are filled with pubs, bars, clubs and fast food restaurants with hostesses and promotors offering discounts and special offers if you come into their bar. The offer of music, entertainment, as well as (mostly bad) drinks is very similar in all of them. We visited a pub called The Square with live music, Aruba bar with mostly hip-hop and rap repertoire and The Castle club with a number of different music floors, but the offer is plentiful so anyone can find their music and clubbing preference.

5. Tony’s tavern

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We were really struggling with the food offer in Ayia Napa. Majority of the offer was fried, greasy and too heavy for our taste and we didn’t really want to eat hamburgers and fries in the middle of the Mediterranean. Tony’s tavern was a very picturesque and charming restaurant on the main street in Ayia Napa, the Nissi avenue. We were initially drawn by the sight of the traditional white and blue Mediterranean house with an amazing pink bougainvillea on the front porch, but the food offer ended up being the best thing we have had during our whole holiday. We ended up dining in Tony’s tavern every night, enjoying everything from local lamb chops to a variety of fish platters. We can only highly recommend the place, as everything from the food, decorations, atmosphere to the looks of the remarkable owner Tony, tastes and feels like the true Mediterranean.

V & S