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This 12-km (7.5-mile) walk, taking about three or four hours (allowing time for swimming stops) is an ideal way to burn off a night’s excesses. But for the less energetic, Agia Napa has plenty of bicycle rental shops and an asphalted bike trail leads round the headland that separates the two resorts. Take plenty of water and wear high-factor sunblock, especially between June and September.

Starting the walk at Agia Napa’s harbour, head east along the coast, past Limnaki and Kryo Nero beaches (see Kryo Nero, Agia Napa). As you leave the last of Agia Napa’s resort hotels behind, the coast becomes progressively rockier, towards the rugged headland of Cape Greco (see Cape Greco) and its landmark radar masts. Kermia beach, 4 km (2.5 miles) east of Agia Napa, is a good place to stop for a dip before setting off across country.

The route now skirts the misleadingly named Agia Napa Forest, which is actually an area of native juniper scrub, then passes the scant remnants of a temple to Aphrodite before plunging down to the blue water and pebbles of tiny Konnos Bay (see Konnos), overlooked by the little white church of Anargyroi.

From here, you can head gradually back into resort territory before reaching Protaras (see Protaras) for a well-earned cold drink. If you’re on foot, there are plenty of taxis to take you back to Agia Napa.

Although the summit of Mount Olympus can be reached by car, hiking to the peak on foot offers a greater sense of achievement. Start from the Troodos resort car park and follow the signposted Atalante Trail, which is waymarked by strategically positioned red dots. Following the 1,750-m (5,750-ft) contour, this is an undemanding walk for most of the way, through pine and juniper woods, where birds and butterflies flit and with glimpses of the sea and the plains far below. Covering a little over 16 km (10 miles) and only 200 m (650 ft) in altitude, this walk can be completed in a morning by anyone of reasonable fitness, but comfortable trainers or walking boots, water and – especially in summer – a hat and sunblock are musts.

After around three hours, the so-called Atalante Trail connects with the Artemis Trail (see Artemis Trail) and a detour upward to the summit (you can’t miss the giant radar masts and telecom towers) then loops back down to the Troodos resort. En route you will pass mineral formations and information markers supplied by the tourist office that point out the indigenous plants and wildlife of the region.

At the summit are the ruins of a 16th-century Venetian fortress, built in a vain attempt to defend the island against the invading Ottomans.

Your walk completed, enjoy a lunch of fresh trout in Pano Platres.

Enter Northern Nicosia (see Northern Nicosia) at the Kyrenia gate and walk south down Girne Caddesi to Ataturk Meydan, the hub of the old town. South of here, the city’s historic buildings tower above a maze of narrow streets.

Walk down Asmaali Sok to the fortress-like Büyük Han, a 16th-century caravanserai with an arcaded courtyard which now houses boutiques and a pleasant café, then turn left towards the soaring Gothic front of the Selimiye Camii. This 700-year-old cathedral of Agia Sofia (Holy Wisdom) turned mosque is Northern Nicosia’s greatest glory. Behind it, signs lead you to a small square, Selimiye Meydan, and the Sultan Mahmut Library, an eight-sided building with a domed roof containing a collection of Islamic manuscripts and ancient Korans. On the opposite side of the square, a haphazard collection of stonework in the Lapidary Museum includes medieval crests, Turkish tombstones and gargoyles stripped from the Gothic cathedral.

Immediately south of the Selimiye is another Gothic relic, the church of St Nicholas, which became a storehouse under the Ottomans. Across the road, the Belidiye Pazari is the town’s central market, with a colourful mix of produce stands and arts and crafts sellers.

Walk back through the Arabahmet quarter, and enjoy lunch at the Boghjalian Konak Restaurant (see Boghjalian Konak Restaurant, Nicosia).

Start the day in Ktima, or upper Pafos, with a visit to the Covered Market (see Covered Market, Ktima Pafos), where you’ll find lace, embroidery, ceramics and leather goods on sale and an array of open-air stalls selling everything the Cypriot housewife could wish for, from kebab skewers to fresh fruit and vegetables. From here, walk up to the town’s only relic of its Ottoman past, the Cami Kebir (Grand Mosque), standing desolate and padlocked in the heart of Ktima’s oldest quarter.

A stroll back along Makariou, Ktima’s main street, takes you through the Central Park with its fountains and cafés to the unassuming Ethnographical Museum and, within sight of it, the much more imposing Byzantine Museum, guarded by a bust of Archbishop Makarios. The highlight of its collection is the icon of Agia Marina, dating from the 8th century AD – one of the oldest in the world.

To avoid a long, hot walk, return to the taxi stand on the town’s main square, close to the corner of Makariou and Evagora Pallikaridi streets, and take a five-minute ride to view the Archaeological Museum’s collection, which spans the millennia between the Bronze Age and the Byzantine era. Then, having whetted your appetite for ancient arcana, take another cab to Kato Pafos (see Kato Pafos Archaeological Park) to see the preserved mosaics of this Roman villa complex.

Continue the Roman theme with lunch at the Roman Restaurant (see Roman Restaurant, Pafos).

Start your day at the top of Stasicratous and window-shop your way south past ranks of designer stores, then double back along busy Archiepiskopou Makariou III, stopping for a cold drink at one of the street’s hip cafés.

Cross Plateia Eleftherias and enter Laiki Geitonia (see Laiki Geitonia). This area has been restored as a sanitized version of an old-fashioned Nicosia neighbourhood. You’ll find souvenirs aplenty here – some authentic, some amusing and some trashy. The Diakroniki Gallery at Aristokyprou 2B is a good place to seek out original and facsimile prints and engravings. Nearby, at Ippokratous 2, you can find copies of Byzantine silverware at the Leventis Museum Gift shop.

Nicosia’s main shopping street, Odos Lidras (Ledra Street), runs north from Laiki Geitonia. It too is pedestrianized, but it could hardly be more different with its big-name department stores and smaller shops doing a thriving trade in copies of designer sunglasses.

At Plateia Faneromenis, turn right and wander across the square to the Central Market, off Plateia Palaiou Dimarchiou, for a look at how the locals shop: fruit and vegetables, fresh olives, feta cheese and dried herbs are sold from dozens of stalls in this venerable emporium.

If all this food has made you hungry, enjoy a fish lunch at Kalymnos Fish Tavern (see Kalymnos Fish Tavern).