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A 10th-century church with wall paintings dates from the 12th and 15th centuries.

The Lusignan ruler (1358– 69) harried the eastern Mediterranean until assassinated by a cabal of his own nobles.

The Pierides Museum was founded by a wealthy collector and philanthropist, and displays as its most colourful and interesting exhibits village costumes and old-fashioned tools and farm implements that, astonishingly, only ceased to be in everyday use as recently as a decade ago. There’s also a huge collection of delicate Roman glass and some fine old embroidery, lace and silver jewellery. In addition, this well laid-out collection features some fascinating ancient relics, most notably the famous “Howling Man”, a 5,000-year-old terracotta figure. Red-and-black bowls and vases and terracotta figures excavated from archaeological sites all over Cyprus have found a home here, as well as a collection of medieval maps, weapons and armour. The Pierides Foundation also sponsors Larnaca’s fossil museum (see Pierides Foundation Museum, Larnaka).

Orthodox places of worhsip range from tiny stone chapels with Byzantine frescoes to ostentatious modern churches. Mosques, with their domes and minarets, are landmarks in the south as well as the North.

Situated above a mountain stream that becomes a fierce torrent in winter and spring, Platres is the southern gateway to the Troodos ranges and the most popular spot in the region, with restaurants, souvenir shops and places to stay. It is also the ideal base for exploring the region, with walking and biking trails branching off in all directions, trout fishing available and a cool climate even in high summer. The village is divided into two districts: Pano (Upper) Platres, the main resort area, and traditional Kato (Lower) Platres.

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.

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.

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.

Christianity gained an early foothold in Cyprus and most Greek Cypriots are devoutly Orthodox. Turkish Cypriots in the North follow an easy-going form of Islam that doesn’t seem to preclude alcohol.