Kyrenia District Off The Beaten Path Tips by peterdhduncan Top 5 Page for this destination

The Karpas Peninsula - North - South Road

We then turned southwards. The picture shows our hire car on a rather rough unmade-up road, which, fortunately, only lasted for a few miles. It was the only untarmaced road that we experienced in north Cyprus.

The Karpas Peninsula - Dipkarpaz (Rizokarpaso)

We then stopped off at Dipkarpaz, the largest village on the peninsula, to take this photo, before driving on to Salamis....

Website: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dipkarpaz

The Karpas Peninsula - North Coast

When we left St Hilarion Castle, we returned to the north coast and followed the road eastwards to the Karpas Peninsula. The first few miles of the road were new and wide, but it then became narrow and quite bumpy (although tarmacked) and often hugging closely to the coast. There was very little other traffic, and sometimes we drove for several miles without seeing either another vehicle or other people.

Website: http://www.cypnet.co.uk/ncyprus/city/iskele/karpas/index.html

The Karpas Peninsula - Apostolos Andreas Monastery

The following morning we drove in a replacement hire car to the Apostolos Andreas Monastery, which is almost at the tip of the peninsula, and a long way from the nearest settlement.

Unfortunately, we were unable to go in to it, as it was in the process of being restored with a U.N./E.U. grant, although there didn't appear to be much activity. However, outside there was a large market selling a huge variety of items, with several stalls and stallholders, but no customers!

Website: http://www.cypnet.co.uk/ncyprus/city/iskele/karpas/apandreas/index.html

The Karpas Peninsula - Wild Donkeys

We saw several of the wild donkeys for which the Karpas Peninsula is famous whilst driving along it.

The Karpas Peninsula - Theresa Hotel

From Bafra we headed north-east back to the north coast. We were considering whether to stay the night on the Karpas Peninsula when our car started overheating, which decided the matter for us. Fortunately, we were near to the Theresa Hotel, and were able to spend a night there.

The Karpas Peninsula - Palloura Beach

We eventually arrived at Palloura Beach near Bafra. It turned out to consist of a cabin selling food, some tables and chairs under a makeshift cover, sunbeds and parasols, a handful of people and a glorious, long beach, mostly unoccupied. We swam in the warm, clear turquoise sea with the fish swimming round us.

The Karpas Peninsula - Golden Beach

On leaving the monastery, we visited the amazingly beautiful and empty Golden Beach.