Karpasia Things to Do

This monastery is a key religious site, and the focus for Greek Cypriot pilgrimages on the important festivals of Orthodox Easter and St Andrew's Day. A fortified monastery stood on the shoreline in the 12th century. The oldest surviving building is a 15th century seaside chapel, now essentially a crypt below the main icon-decorated church.

Today around the monastery there are locals selling souvenirs and from time to time kids go around, willing to tell you the history of the monastery in English in exchange for some coins.

If you are lucky, you may even see some friendly, supposedly, wild donkeys going around the monastery. Don't get so close though. You will never know.

There are six national parks in Northern Cyprus and this one is located on the northeastern tip of the island. The national park covers a quite large area which includes the ruins of ancient city of Karpasia, Apostolos Andreas Monastery, wonderful beaches (Golden Beach, Sea Bird etc.) and at the very end Zafer Burnu (Cape Victory).

It is also one of the most important areas when it comes to wild life. This part of the island is a natural habitat for wild donkeys of Cyprus and a natural nesting site for world famous Caretta Caretta turtles.

The road within the national park is not very good but it's OK. Be careful with the stones though.

The church is in the site of the ancient city of Karpasia, which was founded by the legendary King Pygmalion of Cyprus. It was a flourishing Christian community until the Arab raiders burnt it in 802. Its inhabitants fled inland at that time.

The building has been constructed on ruins dating from the Hellenistic and Roman periods. Philon is the saint who converted the people of Karpasia to Christianity in the 4th century. There are colourful mosaics on the floor. A domed church was built in the 12th century on the ruins of the old building destroyed by the Arab pirates. It also has a cistern and a baptising room.

Baby is the name of Hasan's dog. This is Baby 3 as the other two have mysteriously disappeared. Hasan gets them from a dog shelter and gives them a nice life at Golden beach.

You can see Baby having a swim or chasing after lizarsa and having a lot of fun doing it :o)

As I mentioned previously, there are many perfect spots to hang a hammock at Hasan's place. You have the view of the mountains or the sea. I enjoyed reading a book under the shade of a tree or falling asleep to the gentle movemnt. The one I will miss the most is watching the stars through the tree branches, truly magical :o))

This is Hasan's hammock next to his bungalow, a little away from the main part, a little heaven of peace :o)