Cyprus – Limassol

On my 7 day trip to Cyprus I also took in the following places.

Click on the link for each place to read my post on them.

I arrived in Larnaca and based myself here, then made day-trips out by car, to see each site.

Nicosia – click here

Kyrenia – click here

Paphos – click here

Larnaca – click here

Drive from Larnaca to Limassol

Today was another day trip day!

I had looked up on the map and plotted my route. The journey from my apartment in Larnaca to Limassol was only about an hour.

I checked out the streets on Google maps and saw that there were quite a few roads just out of the centre with free roadside parking. It turned out that was true, so my day’s parking was free and only a 10 min walk into the centre, where the sights I wanted to see were located

The route in was by a modern, dual carriageway. It was delightfully straight and easy to drive and often had a view of the Med’ to my left and a view up to the mountains on my right.

The route skirted the coastline a few kms inland and was a relatively traffic free and uneventful drive. I actually arrived a little earlier than expected.

From Limassol, I plotted out to the two places I also wanted to visit, outside of the city – the ancient ruins of Kourion (a huge, once very important ancient Greek/Roman city) and the castle of Kolossi. They were an easy 20 mins drive out of the city and again had free parking actually at the sites, although you pay to go inside to see the attractions.

So, water bottle in hand and with a still pretty full tank of petrol, I set off for Limassol and its outskirts.

A little about Limassol before we explore

So, like many places in Cyprus Limassol has a history that goes way back in time.

Let’s start with the present. Today, this city of around 240.000 people, is the second biggest city on the island, with an important commercial and tourism base.

It has two ports – “Old Port” (commercial based) and “New Port” (marina/leisure based). The Old Port is now one of the most important trading stops in the Mediterranean and the most important harbour on the island.  Wine, machinery, fruits and cereals are the biggest exports.

It has several long beaches nearby and many of its visitors come here as holidaymakers. In fact, the coastline has some of the highest hotels in the med and a new Casino Resort will be the biggest in Europe.

Want to know an interesting fact – so many Russians come here on holiday or to live that 17% of the population are Russian-speakers and 8% of its population are Russian residents.

So, when did this city come about?

Well, the earliest records say graves from 2000 BC were found here.

The city’s first real mention was around 85BC and it went by the name of Theodosiana. Two ancient and important Greek cities Amathus and Kourion were nearby and predated this one by several hundred years, so no wonder it was not really on the map as such.

By the 7^th Century it was called Neopolis and was important enough to have the seat of a Christian Bishop here.

In the 10^th Century the Byzantines were calling it Lemesos and built a grand castle here (it’s still here today).

The city was a backwater town but one event here then threw it into history and shaped the fate of the rest of the island.

In 1190, the Governor of Cyprus refused to help the sister and the fiancé of King Richard of England, when they sought refuge in Limassol. Their ships had been caught in a storm at sea on their way to the Holy land for a Crusade.

King Richard who followed later on the Crusade stopped off at Limassol, invaded and arrested the King for his behaviour. While he was there, he took the whole island and thus the Anglo-Normans controlled the whole of Cyprus and brought Byzantine rule to an end – punishment indeed!

After a year, King Richard sold the entire island to the Templars in 1191 AD. Then shortly afterwards ,it was handed to the French Lusignans and 300 years of peace and prosperity then came to Limassol. Mainly aided by merchants setting up trade and the port being a big commercial centre, it grew in cultural and financial importance.

1489 brought the Venetians to Limassol and the island in general. They expanded the castle to improve defences to continue trading the Med.

The Ottoman Empire took over the island in 1670 and Limassol fell without any resistance. The city had a mix of Greek and Turkish Cypriots who mainly lived well together.

In 1878 the British took over and the city Governor commenced a huge clean-up and improvement of the city.

Roads were built, public areas cleaned and maintained, proper docks built, sea front promenades, schools, hospitals, Post offices established and a general beautification of the city with public lighting, trees and parks was performed.

By 1912, electricity was flowing in the city. Theatres, hotels, newspapers, Art Galleries and sporting clubs filled the city and a huge intellectual and cultural explosion happened. It was a city of high standing.

Many of these are still here today and the city still retains the air of affluence.

In 1974, with The Turkish invasion of northern Cyprus and then the establishment of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (which incidentally no-one in the world recognises except Turkey), mass migration happened from the city.

A big exodus of Turkish Cypriots went north and Greek Cypriots came south to the city. This turned the relative equal numbers of either into a huge majority of Greek Cypriots in Limassol. Today it also has a minority but important representation of Armenians.

So, that’s Limassol in a nutshell.

Limassol Castle

Turning off the main highway from Larnaca it was an easy drive through part of the outer city to arrive at the area I had pre-selected for parking.

Outside of the centre, street parking is pretty easy but look out for kerb-side signs for any prohibitions or restrictions. I parked not far from the marina harbour and it was an easy 7 min walk from there to get to my visit site.

At first glance, this edifice appears to be a large solid stone, almost block of a building. Very little adornment or even windows are visible and you could mistake this for being a huge tomb or mausoleum of someone famous.

Its cream-coloured stone walls rise up high and the building is almost a perfect rectangle in shape.

It carries quite a bit of history due to its age. However, don’t forget that in its foundations are what was considered to be Limassol’s first church. That became a Basilica in the 5th Century and then a Cathedral but all traces of these are only seen in the basement.

It’s ituated next to the old harbour and designed to protect it and the city that grew up around it. It stands now as one of the tallest buildings in the Old Town area of the city.

The Byzantines built the first castle here in and the famous event that I mentioned at the beginning of the post happened here.

King Richard the Lionheart married his fiancé in a chapel in the castle. This was after he landed here to remonstrate with the King Of Cyprus as to why he did not help his shipwrecked future wife. The Cypriot King was deposed by Richard for his behaviour and Richard took over the whole Island.

Later, the Knights Templar set up Cyprus as their main base and actually situated themselves at the castle.

The French Lusignans were given the island and they hugely enlarged the castle, which then stood for 300 years without damage or take-over. It survived attacks by the Italian Genoese, a fire in 1373, an attack by the Mamluks in 1423 and the earthquake of 1389 – quite some feats!

Look carefully and see if you can find the icon of the lily flower on the walls – that’s the Lusignan dynasty symbol.

It wasn’t until 1538 that the Turkish Ottomans took the city and castle. After a period of demolition by the later conquering Venetians they retook it and massively expanded it as part of a huge fort in 1590.

The lower part of the castle was used as a prison and when the British took over in 1878, they continued as prison cells until 1950.

What we see today is much of the Ottoman’s legacy.

Click here for opening times and ticket info for Limassol Castle.

Limassol Old Town

This area is not exactly huge and is more of a quaint, serene area than a hugely historical zone full of ancient buildings.

Many of the buildings are residential and still lived in, despite being several hundred years old. It thus is full of artisan shops, antique stores, local stores and restaurants.

Most buildings are single or two storeys tall, and even though some are not very old they tend to retain the traditional styles and elements of Cypriot architecture – lots of use of bare stone and wooden adornments.

Many streets are pedestrianised but even those that aren’t have vehicle restrictions or clear walkways on either side. The walkabout is thus quite relaxing and vehicle free. There are several buildings with clear Ottoman influences also in their window and door shapes.

I wandered from the castle along these streets just admiring the solemnity and admirably maintained facades. These streets also led me to my next port of call nearby and still in the Old Town area. I could often see its tall minaret from many points over the roofs as I meandered around the streets.

Limassol Grand Mosque

Ok, so the name “Grand” makes it sound like this is going to be a huge, ornate building – it is not! It is tucked away in the Old Town area (often referred to as the “Turkish Quarter”). It is actually quite hard to find despite you knowing where it is, as the minaret tower can be seen from most places in the area.

It’s down a pedestrianised small side street – I did wonder if I was entering into a dead end street, but too many people were heading that way for it to be a dead end.

You arrive at a really small entrance clearing and immediately I saw the shoe racks with shoes placed on them, which indicated the presence of the Mosque entrance.

Several men were passing by me heading for the doorway, so I at first thought it must be prayer time and thus I would automatically be denied entrance. However, a quick glance at my watch revealed it wasn’t prayer time – my travels in the Middle East taught me the prayer times. There was also no call to prayer at the time (but maybe they don’t do one as The Muslim Community here is quite small).

I got quite a few glances from men hurrying in to prayer. I am not a typical looking Cypriot (sorry to generalise) – I’m very tall, pasty skin, light hair and probably giving off a nervous vibe.  However, no-one stopped me at the door area. One younger man saw me furtively looking to see if I would be allowed in and asked me in English (he clearly guessed I didn’t speak Turkish or Greek!) if I was ok. I said I wanted to see the Mosque and asked if I was allowed in, as I didn’t want to disturb anyone if it was prayer time.

He smiled and asked me where I was from and then said “of course you can come in, come, come”. I immediately took off my shoes before he did so I think that also reassured him that I knew the procedure. He accompanied me and showed me where I could go to one side to see the mosque and not be in the way of prayers. He smiled again and went off to pray.

I looked around, only moving a little to get a better angle but kept behind the worshippers.

The Mosque is quite plain inside, looks quite old and was clearly well maintained and attended. It was not even official prayer time and there were around 8-10 people inside praying.

I stayed for 10 mins and saw all I needed. As I moved to leave the man saw me and gently gave me a small wave and a smile back.

I am still amazed at the generosity of people to help and reassure. I felt welcomed and under no pressure and this is not the first time that someone has helped me be reassured and shown me into a Mosque around the world, despite not being Muslim myself. Some Mosques prohibit non-Muslims, so I am always cautious.

The Mosque is clearly one of a few or perhaps the only one in Limassol but is well attended and cared for.

I left and walked back into the main part of Old Town and headed for my next place to see.

Limassol Aya Napa Cathedral

A few minutes away is Limassol cathedral. built at the end of the 19th century, on the ruins of an older Byzantine church.

There is a very famous seaside resort called Ayia Napa on the island and the similarity in name did make me chuckle. The resort is known for music raves, young tourists getting drunk on cheap booze and “frolicking” around and not quite the image this Church would want.

The Cathedral is dedicated to the Virgin Mary in English so where does the name Ayia Napa come from – well, Ayia is Greek for Saint or Holy and Napa means valley in Latin. The theory being that it is named after an icon of the Virgin Mary found in a valley. Interesting, right?

Ok, another version is that it is named after a temple built in the French Lusignan period of 1192-1489, which was dedicated to the Holy Nappe of St. Berenice, known by the name of ‘Saint Nape’.

Take your pick! Let’s stick with Saint Mary therefore for simplicity.

I approached the Cathedral – it was Sunday, so no reason for it to be closed…. It was closed.

What …… wait … the Mosque down the road serving a small community was open on a non-religious day for them and thronging with worshippers. This Cathedral was closed on their most important day with no-one around. It took a while to get over the dichotomy!

No pics of the interior for that reason.

I took a pic of the side of the Cathedral from the market against its walls which was buzzing with people buying stuff – maybe the market was too big a pull to go worship!

So, onwards to the nearby sea promenade

Molos Waterfront Park Limassol

This park is such an amazing sight.

A kilometre long new seafront park that is just so creative and imaginative. Molos means “jetty” in Greek and it is kinda that. The park is a huge green area full of multitudinous trees, shrubs, plants and lawns.

It was originally constructed in 1872 and necessitated the infilling of the old shoreline to create a long promenade park between the sea and the city centre and long old seafront avenue. Refurbishments in 1974 and then a huge redevelopment in 2015 has turned it into one of the largest parks in Cyprus and an absolutely divine place to wander and pass time along its massive seafront.

The park has lots of interconnecting water ponds, fountains and pools of water. Interspersed among this is a curving walkway that not only curves out to sea on a long boardwalk but then curves back in to transverse the park. It then curves back out to sea, to create a huge infilled wooden board platform space before curving back in.

This long curving walkways cuts through the park and sea simultaneously. It has to be seen to be believed.

Within the park are cafes, jogging tracks, children’s playground, luscious vegetation and more. City dwellers, from what I saw clearly loved walking through this green oasis and so many locals were seated at the numerous benches or walking the walkways, just enjoying the sea breeze and sun.

Palm trees line many of the routes and at various points there are many artistic and stylish creations to stir the imagination

I never got to the end as it is very long but what a joy of vegetation, sea walk into the Med and nature in a city centre. The person who thought this up was a genius!

Castle of Kolossi

It now meant a return to my car and an easy drive out of town for about 14 km towards the west. The road passes through several villages and loads of olive and vineyard plantations.

In fact, the wine around this area has a claim to fame. It is supposed to be the oldest continually grown and “named” wine in the world – called Commandaria. It has been produced here for several thousand years. It was named after the Templars’ Grand Commandery stationed nearby.

For all you wine aficionados out there this amber-coloured, sweet, dessert wine’s named area (or D.O.C) covers here and up to the nearby Troodos Mountains.

Its other claim to fame is from history. Remember I spoke earlier that the King Richard the Lionheart of England married his future wife, Berengaria of Navarra in a chapel at nearby Limassol Castle! Well, he also had this wine at his wedding and declared it to be “wine of kings and the king of wines.” Praise indeed!

I never got to try the wine (and I doubt I would have as I’m not a fan at all of sweet wines), but with that recommendation, I guess I should have!

So, back to the castle.

It is recognised as one of the most important Mediaeval buildings in Cyprus and in its day held great military importance.

It was built in 1210 by the Frankish military but taken over by the Knights of the Order of St John of Jerusalem (commonly and abbreviately known as the Hospitallers). The castle was then taken over by the Knights Templars (both Christian 13^th Century military groups) who played possession ping-pong with it between themselves till 1454.

At that date it stayed with the Hospitallers and they then carved their Coat of Arms and those of the Kingdom of Cyprus, into one of the outer walls in a final gesture of “it’s mine”. What we see today is largely from that time.

The castle tower is impressively 21 metres tall, with four walls each 15 metres long. It is also the most European of castle towers I have seen on the island.

You enter the tower via a short drawbridge which was defended by a parapet high above, through which defenders would pour boiling water onto the attackers. Look up and do you see that decorated overhang that you thought was a nice balcony? Well, that’s where that boiling water would have came thundering down from.

Today the drawbridge is just a walkway with railings but you get the idea.

The interior if the castle is bare – no furniture or adornments but you certainly get the feel of the space and thickness of the walls from this.

The first floor is an enormous room with a fireplace and carved window seats, The floor is covered by slabs of stone. The bright sun was shining gloriously through the few windows (and causing glare on my photos). Alternatively, on a grey cold day, you can just imagine how gloomy it must have been with the lack of windows.

Take the spiral staircase in the wall to the side and you ascend into an equally large, similar shaped room above, with another fireplace and some preserved painted wall decorations.

High vaulted ceilings are a feature of both floors.

Again, ascend the next stairs and you come out onto the massive flat roof of the tower, stretching to each of the four walls.

Battlements line all sides and the view across the landscape below is impressive. Any defender would have seen any attacker coming kilometres away. Look carefully and you can see numerous small vineyards with their lines of vines stretching away before you.

Look down and below you can see large ruins of what you will now descend to explore.

If you wander the grounds, you will find more ruined buildings and the castle walls. To one side are the buildings of an ancient sugar press. Cane sugar was grown nearby and this small factory was used to extract the sugar. Notably the water wheel was fed from an aqueduct that terminated here which you can still wander around today.

This was a quite easy and low time take-up site. It’s actually quite compact to explore and can be done within 30 mins. However, don’t miss it, as its one of the most important mediaeval sites in Cyprus with important historical connections to the island and indeed the rest of Europe.

The view from the top is also quite incredible and I could even see towards where I was next headed.

Ancient Kourion

Ok, how far back do we want to go on this – historically the area is old, old, old!

The area, for kilometres all around, has been inhabited for over 7,500 years. Tombs around the area relate to that time.

I’m not going to commence a history lesson here, that would be extensive, so let’s say in 5500 BC people lived in this area. I call it an area because settlements are all over many square kilometres, but the actual place we are going to visit today became the major one….. over a long period of time

We can talk of the Kingdom of Kourion (basically a city-state) from around 1000 BC.

Just to add a little flavour into mix, whilst the city state was here, it was ruled by an Egyptian Dynasty for 20 years from 569 BC, then by Persians for the next 100 something years, then by Greeks from 479 BC – the King of Kourion aided Alexander the Great in his conquests.

The Romans arrived in 58 BC and guess what? Yep, they took over. But along came Mark Anthony and Cleopatra who took over and gave it back to the Greeks – all these famous historical figures certainly got their hands on Kourion and mostly Cyprus itself. Mark and Cleo held it for only 15 years before it reverted to the Romans.

What you see today is the complete mix up of Greek, Roman and Byzantine remains, but mainly Roman,

The site is huge and only certain areas have been excavated. Thus, there are enormous gaps of scrubland between important sites within the many square kilometres of the archaeological site. The site is built just inland from the cliffs and in its day would have beautiful coastal views on one side and views to the distant Troodos Mountains on the other.

You can walk from site to site but give yourself plenty of time and take water, stout shoes and sunscreen on a hot day, as virtually everything is exposed to the elements.

There is a museum at one end and some of the sites have huge, modern, overhead awnings to protect the delicate mosaics from the elements. In other areas you walk on raised platforms over the ruins so as to be able to get into the structures without touching them.

I parked my car at the main car park entrance and started with the exploration of the huge theatre complex. Parts are under protective roofs but the theatre itself is accessible.

It was originally built in the 2^nd century BC by Greeks but then enlarged and rebuilt 400 years later by the Roman inhabitants.

Take a trip to the very top and you not only get a view of the whole theatre’s downward steps and seating area, but a fabulous view over the cliffs to the Med’. Imagine that as a backdrop when you are watching a play, as it is still used today for events.

There are paths that lead across the wasteland to the next excavated area and when you arrive the scenery is one of what’s left of the old stone floors of plazas, walkway and house foundations.

Various columns have been re-erected from where they stand but little is left in this area of the walls themselves. However, the covered floor is huge and creates an atmosphere of the grandeur of its day.

The areas would have contained Temples, bathhouses, homes, huge public buildings and all manner of ceremonial and trading buildings. The size of the almost untouched floor space of some of the buildings give you an idea of how massive they must have been.

At one point it became clear that I was getting further and further away from where I had left the car and it seemed logical to go back and drive to the next section and use the car park there. This is quite normal as the site is spread out over several square kilometres. Each section has a little car park area leading from the main road. This main road connects all the other sites.

In fact, if you want to see the stadium, the Gladiators house or the big Temple of Apollo it would be recommended to drive to each one as they are a few kilometres away and in isolated separate areas of the site.

Move on to another excavated area and you are presented with room upon room of mosaic filled floors still open to the elements. They are still well preserved but sectioned off, often with viewing platforms so you can get up close …. but no touching!

Leaving the car at the next car park. I wandered through an extensive excavation that encompassed many buildings with walls often up to its old roof line. One area held the bathhouses and showed the underground system of heating them. Here the floor is laid over columns of bricks under which the hot air could pass underneath and heat the rooms. Nearby cooling rooms are shown and these are some of the biggest remains of buildings on this site.

One area did allow you to walk among the walls and pathways the ancient Romans used. They are pretty intact and thus less delicate than others. You get a feel of how close together these buildings were.

In another you can duck under the remaining arches and even walk the main Forum square.

There were many other areas to this site – I’d have to drive more to see them but I felt I was now all “Kourioned”- out and had seen so much and enough.

As I wandered, I kept seeing down to the sea level at the base of the enormous cliffs and even saw some windsurfers skimming the shoreline. I was definitely tempted to get down there and see that shoreline.

There is a small local road that goes down to the heavily stone and pebble beach and I wanted to get up close to the Med’ Sea. What greeted me was a beautiful stoney beach that went on for miles in both directions.

The heavy whooshing sounds of the waves and even a little bit of spray was relief from the stillness and quiet of the ancient ruins.

Lots of cars were parked up nearby and enjoying the uncommercialised sea front, the sea air and the waves, (surfers and swimmers). The complete greyness of the stone was a complete contrast to the cream and beige of stone blocks where I had just been.

I wonder if the original inhabitants used the beach for recreation too?

My thoughts on Limassol and surrounding sights

Limassol is clearly very affluent; it’s even been named as one of the best cities to reside in, in many world surveys.

The seafront promenade is elegant, creative artistic and unique – it’s also beautifully long.

Buildings have a contemporary city feel but a traditional inheritance. There is even talk of the tallest building in Cyprus being completed here soon and masses of ex-pat residential complexes in the pipeline.

The Old area of the city is compact and well maintained but as a historical venue, contains only a few memorable places – despite the city’s historical importance to the island.

Two of the most important sites on the island lay some 10-15 km just outside the city, so I guess if you include these in the area, then it greatly pushes Limassol up the heritage chart.

As the second biggest city on the island, it doesn’t have its own airport. Really, the island is not big enough for more than the two it already has. Funnily enough, right next to Limassol is the massive British military and airforce base that is still under British sovereignty. Kourion actually sits in its territory but there are no borders or signs – except for when you get to the airforce base gates.

The day was now done and after my rest at the beach, I was now ready to make the hour’s journey back to my apartment in Larnaca. This island is so well set up for day trips and to get around. The highways are relatively traffic free and superbly modern. In that respect I was, for once, happy to hit the road again!

Feb 2018

Below are some related posts on nearby places to visit. Click on the pic to view.