Cyprus

The legendary birthplace of Aphrodite, Cyprus is every inch the <a href="/region/southern-europe">Mediterranean</a> – sandy beaches, ancient monasteries, classical ruins, thyme-scented mountains, terracotta pottery and, of course, the obligatory party resorts full of sun-seeking twenty-somethings.Cyprus has always been at a crossroads between <a href="/region/europe">Europe</a> and <a href="/region/asia">Asia</a>. In ancient times, a succession of empires squabbled over its seaports and mountain fortresses, which guaranteed supremacy over the eastern Mediterranean. These empire-builders left behind an incredible legacy of historical relics: ancient <a href="/country/greece">Greek</a> and <a href="/country/italy">Roman</a> ruins, Crusader castles, mighty Venetian city walls and towering mosques and minarets left behind by <a href="/country/turkey">Ottoman</a> invaders.Until the 1970s, Cyprus was a sleepy backwater, but a devastating civil war saw the island split into Greek Cypriot and Turkish states. In the south, the Greek Republic of Cyprus grew into a modern <a href="/region/europe">European</a> state, while the Turkish north half of the island remains isolated, recognised only by <a href="/country/turkey">Turkey</a> and well off the mainstream tourist radar.After Partition, tourist development went into overdrive in the <a href="/country/greece">Greek</a> half of the island, with the emergence of <a href="/city/ayia-napa/7402">Ayia Napa</a>, <a href="/city/protaras/7413">Protaras</a>, <a href="/city/limassol/2301">Limassol</a>, <a href="/city/paphos/2300">Paphos</a> and a string of other package holiday resorts along the southern coast. This is one face of Cyprus – whitewashed villas, sunbathers, banana-boat rides, boisterous nightclubs and hordes of young people enjoying the blistering summer sunshine.Inland, the old Cyprus endures, with beautiful villages full of UNESCO-listed churches, peaceful mountain trails and vineyards that have been producing wines since ancient times. A similar old-world atmosphere pervades the divided capital, <a href="/city/nicosia/2302">Lefkosia</a> (<a href="/city/nicosia/2302">Nicosia</a>), where quiet lanes lined with <a href="/country/turkey">Turkish</a> mosques and Byzantine churches come to a sudden halt at the Green Line, the de facto border between the two enclaves.The north is something else again, more <a href="/country/turkey">Turkish</a> than <a href="/country/greece">Greek</a>, even down to the menus on restaurant tables, but studded with ancient ruins and dramatic Crusader castles. While rampant development is taking place along the coast around <a href="/city/famagusta/7404">Famagusta</a> (<a href="/city/famagusta/7404">Gazimagusa</a>) and Kyrenia (Girne), the remote Karpas Peninsula offers a journey back in time, where ancient ruins spill out onto golden beaches that see more sea turtles than human visitors.

Cyprus

Cypriot Cuisine