Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Lie of the Land
Shaped like a swordfish surfacing from the sea with its sharp tip and flared fins, Cyprus is
the third-largest island in the Mediterranean.
In the North, the 170km-long Kyrenia (Girne) Range was formed by upward-thrust
masses of Mesozoic limestone. It's most famous feature is the five-ridged peak known as
Five-Fingers Mountain (Beşparmak, in Turkish; Pentadaktylos, in Greek) that runs practic-
ally parallel to the northern coastline.
Directly south of this mountain range is the vast Mesaoria plain (whose name means 'in
between mountains' in Greek), which stretches from Güzelyurt (Morfou) in the west to
Famagusta (Mağusa) in the east, with the divided capital of Nicosia (Lefkosia) situated at
its middle. The plain has over 1900 sq km of irrigation and is the island's primary grain-
growing area.
Further south, the island is dominated by the vast range of the Troödos Mountains, cre-
ated millions of years ago by rising molten rock in the deep ocean. It features the imposing
Mt Olympus and its lower plateaus to the east. This area is rich in minerals and natural re-
sources like chromite, gypsum, iron pyrite, marble and copper. Mined for thousands of
years, it was instrumental in the island's development during ancient times.
