Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
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Kyrenia Castle
HISTORIC SITE
(Girne Kalesi;
MAP
GOOGLE MAP
; Old Harbour; adult/student 12/2TL;
h
9am-7pm Jun-Sep, to 4pm Oct-May)
If the grand fortifications of Kyrenia Castle could talk, they could sure tell some tales.
First built by the Byzantines - possibly over the remains of an earlier Roman fort - every
era of conquerors from Richard the Lionheart to the Ottomans has added their own touch
to its bulk.
A large rectangular structure, the castle contains a cistern, dungeon, chapel and mu-
seum, though the real highlight is walking along the ramparts high above the harbour.
You enter the castle via the stone bridge over the former moat, which leads to the small
12th-century Byzantine
Chapel of St George
. Its broken mosaics and Corinthian
columns, originally outside the walls, were incorporated into the larger structure by the
Venetians.
The western side of the inner castle is home to the infamous dungeon where King Peter
I's pregnant mistress, Joanna L'Aleman, was tortured by order of the king's jealous wife,
Queen Eleanor.
Across the courtyard, the northeast Lusignon bastion tower features mannequins
dressed in armour. The Venetian bastion tower is in the southeast corner. Between the
towers are two small museums.
You can walk between the castle's four towers via the handrailed ramparts, but follow
the marked routes as some sections can be quite dangerous. Keep younger children close
by at all times. Views of the Old Harbour are fantastic from here, especially in the morn-
ing light.
Shipwreck Museum
MUSEUM
The Kyrenia Shipwreck chamber contains the remains of the oldest shipwreck recovered
from Cypriot waters. This wooden-hulled (Aleppo pine) Greek merchant ship sank off the
Kyrenia coast around 300 BC, and was discovered by a local diver in 1967. Its cargo con-
sisted of amphorae, almonds, grain, wine and millstones from the Greek islands of Samos,
Rhodes and Kos. Its crew most likely traded along the coast of Anatolia and as far as the
islands of the Dodecanese in Greece.
Evidence suggests that the boat, 80 years old at the time, sank because of piracy. Much
of its cargo seems to have been plundered, and it has what appear to be spear marks in its
hull. A curse tablet was also found with the wreck. At the time, pirates believed that pla-
cing these tablets on a sinking ship would conceal its fate, by keeping the wreck forever at
the bottom of the sea.
An excellent modern reconstruction of the ship (using the same materials) can be
viewed in Agia Napa's Thalassa Municipal Museum of the Sea.
