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If you want to see the effects of the division of the island since 1974 on a rural community, Potamia is a good place to start. Until 1974, it was approximately half Greek and half Turkish Cypriot, but today only a handful of Turkish Cypriots remain, while exiled Greek Cypriots have moved into properties abandoned by those who left. The village overlooks the “buffer zone” that divides the south of the island from the occupied North. Potamia was also the site of a fortified royal villa, built in the 14th century for the Lusignan King James I but destroyed by Ottoman invaders 1426. A ruined shell on the outskirts of the modern village is all that now remains.

Tumbledown old houses with overhanging balconies grace the narrow streets of this village in the Troodos foothills.

This tiny fishing port has wooden boats moored along the banks, and a crumbling Venetian watchtower nearby.

Nicosia’s “ladies who lunch” favour Pralina, on the city’s smartest shopping street, for coffee and pastries. Those who turn up in shorts will feel conspicuously under-dressed.

Pralina attracts a youthful crowd of locals, who wear a lot of black and spend as much time on their mobile phones as they do talking to each other. A great place to soak up the vibe of modern Cypriot life.

Neolithic people settled Cyprus more than 10,000 years ago. By 3900 BC copper tools were in use and by 2500 BC Cyprus was part of a Bronze Age civilization with links to Egypt, Asia Minor and the Aegean. In the 12th century BC Achaean Greeks began to oust the original Eteocypriot inhabitants.

This huge venue is out of the tourist area but is worth the taxi fare. The music is a mix of European and Greek chart hits, with a choice of dancing spaces.

The highest settlement in Cyprus, at 1,440 m (4,725 ft) above sea level, Prodromos commands the pass between Mount Olympus in the east and Agios Ilias, in the west. It stands among cherry and apple orchards that enhance the area with their pink-and-white blooms in spring and early summer. Nearby, the artificial lake of the Prodromos reservoir attracts trout fishermenand, in spring and autumn, migrant waterfowl.

Starting at Profitis Elias church on the Protaras-Paralimni road, this trail leads through hilly fields and pastures, passing the tiny chapels of Agii Saranta and Agios Ioannis and winding up at Konnos Beach.