DK Travel : Cyprus : History & Culture

Page
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10

Food and Drink

Cyprus owes most of its favourite dishes – from meze to baklava to doner kebab – to the Turks, who also introduced coffee to the island. Other empires contributed to the wine list: Commandaria was first made at Kolossi for the crusader Knights of St John. Red wines were introduced by the Lusignans, while fruity white hock and dry sherry were 19th-century British innovations.
Galata

The precarious-looking balconies of handsome old village houses overhang the narrow main street of this old-fashioned community, which is about 2 km (1 mile) above Kakopetria. The village is located above a fast-flowing mountain stream. An ideal base from which to explore the nearby Troodos churches.
Geometric, Archaic and Classical Periods

By 1050 BC there were 10 city-states and a flourishing cult of Aphrodite. The wealth of Cyprus lured Phoenicians, who settled at Kition, as well as Assyrian, Egyptian and Persian invaders. In 325 BC Alexander the Great added Cyprus to his empire.
Guy de Lusignan

Driven from the throne of Jerusalem, Guy (d.1194) bought rulership of Cyprus.
Hadjigeorgiakis Kornesios

This intercessor between the feuding Greeks and the Turks became the richest man in Cyprus, until he was beheaded in 1809.
Hellenistic Era

After Alexander’s death Cyprus fell to the Ptolemy dynasty of Alexandria until 58 BC, when the island was conquered by Rome. The saints Paul and Barnabas converted Sergius Paulus, the Roman governor of Cyprus, to Christianity in AD 45.
Historic Limassol

Behind Limassol’s water-front, where newly planted palms nod in the Mediterranean breeze in front of modern high-rise buildings, lies an historic city of old-fashioned workshops and markets. Around the bulk of Limassol Castle, built by the island’s medieval Lusignan dynasty, are the slender minarets of mosques built in the city’s Ottoman heyday, Byzantine churches, narrow shopping streets and a plethora of cafés, bars and restaurants to suit every taste. The medieval museum, within the castle, is a must-see, with its suits of armour and ferocious weaponry, and there are great rooftop views from the castle battlements. The recently refurbished Central Market, in a graceful arcaded building dating from the British era in the early 20th century, is a great place to shop for handmade reed baskets, olive oil, loukoumi (Turkish delight) and other Cypriot delicacies. It is surrounded by old tavernas that make a change from the modern eating-places in the city’s resort area (see Historic Limassol).
Idalion

Massive walls guard this hillside Bronze Age site, where archaeologists have unearthed statues of Aphrodite (see Ancient Idalion).
Independent Cyprus

Cyprus won independence from Britain on 16 August 1960 after a violent national liberation struggle by Greek Cypriots. However, friction between the Greek and Turkish Cypriot communities continued and in 1974 Athens engineered a coup against the Cypriot government with the aim of uniting Cyprus with Greece, while Turkey invaded to protect Turkish Cypriots. Since a ceasefire, the “Green Line”, patrolled by UN troops, divides the Turkish-occupied North from the south.
Kaimakli

Two pretty churches are the jewels of this village. Although they are not that old by Cypriot standards – the Church of the Archangel dates from the 18th century and the church of Agia Barbara is a mere late 19th-century addition – they are worth seeing nonetheless for the riot of ornate carving, silver-framed icons and votive candles that are so typical of the Orthodox faith.