Girne (Kyrenia): places to see

The old town and harbour

The TRNC Department of Antiquities and Museums describes Girne Castle as lying in the north-east of the town and dominating the harbour; Wikipedia likewise places it at the east end of the old harbour. Visit North Cyprus calls the harbour horseshoe-shaped and says its restaurants and cafés occupy former carob warehouses or Venetian dwellings. Where trading vessels once moored, it adds, pleasure craft and boats offering coastal cruises now lie. For the castle itself, see Castles of North Cyprus.

Visit North Cyprus states that the Kyrenia region harvested over a quarter of the island's carob pods, so the harbour became the centre of that trade and harbour-front buildings stored the crop before shipping; it says the international carob trade collapsed in the 1960s. The Severis Foundation holds a 1933 watercolour of the carob stores on the shore, painted by an amateur artist and described by the foundation as not precise in its topography. For dining along the quay, see nightlife and dining.

On the old defences, Wikipedia says the Lusignans built a wall and towers around the town and extended the fortifications to the harbour. Visit North Cyprus describes a round tower of about 1300 joined to others by a curtain wall, says the walls fell down gradually so that houses stood outside them by about 1600, and notes other tower remains. It also describes a Venetian chain tower that held a chain across the harbour entrance, with the old Customs House as the other tower. The same site lists boat trips from Kyrenia as gulet and sailing outings, usually mornings with lunch on board, plus short evening sails.

Museums, churches and the mosque near the harbour

The Department of Antiquities and Museums describes the Harup Ambarı ve Kıbrıs Evi Müzesi (Carob Warehouse and Cyprus House Museum) as standing on the harbour waterfront road and opened in 1974. It says the building reflects Cypriot houses from before the 17th century to recent times, with farm tools on the ground floor and handicrafts and household items upstairs. Our heritage and museums guide covers this museum and the Archangelos Mihail icon museum in more detail.

Visit North Cyprus describes the Archangelos Michael Church as a 19th-century Greek church with a white bell tower, now a museum of 18th- and 19th-century icons from Orthodox churches across North Cyprus. A traveller note on Wikivoyage says the church and museum were closed from 2018 for rebuilding, so check locally. The same site describes Chrysopolitissa as a small roofless ruin built as a Latin church in the 1500s with a Gothic north doorway, and St Andrew's as an Anglican church built in 1913, a few yards from the castle.

For the Ağa Cafer Paşa Mosque, Visit North Cyprus says it is named after the Ottoman governor who donated the land, was built in the 1580s although some sources say it was converted from a Lusignan warehouse, and has a fountain dated 1841; Wikipedia gives 1589 to 1590. Visit North Cyprus also counts about 70 known rock tombs in Kyrenia, noting that the Roman and Byzantine town lay east of the castle and that some tombs are visible in the cliff face in the town centre.

The castle, the shipwreck and the mountain forts

Girne Castle, the Girne Ancient Shipwreck and the three mountain forts are covered in Castles of North Cyprus, and the harbour-side family stops in family days out. One further detail comes from the Department of Antiquities and Museums: its castle page records the tomb of the Ottoman admiral Cezayirli Sadık Paşa in the entrance corridor of the Lusignan castle. The same page lists the shipwreck display, dated to about 300 BC, among the museum sections inside.

On the range behind the town, Wikipedia says the Kyrenia Mountains run along the northern coast, that Pentadaktylos (Beşparmak) is another name for them, and gives Mount Selvili as 1,024 m. Visit North Cyprus describes the range as a barrier between the Mesarya plain and the northern coast and a source of water for towns and villages, and lists a Besparmak Mountain Trail of 18 stages over 260 km. Wikivoyage advises staying on the lane to Saint Hilarion because the surrounding area is military.