My friends and I, a party of four, visited Kyrenia on a day trip on our last holiday to Cyprus, which was in September 2003, and it was well worth seeing. We had heard various reports, mostly from the Greek Cypriots, about how hard it was to get there, how long a wait it was, how much hassle you got from the border guards etc, but we still decided to give it a go. There are, as far as I know, two border gates open for day trips. We used the one on the outskirts of Nicosia, (the other one is near Paralimini). It was well signposted from the motorway. We found the whole process very easy.
On arriving at the border, we had to go to the Greek office to get insurance for our hire car, which was £10 per car, (the Greek Cypriots had told us it was £10 per person) we then had to show our passports at the Turkish office, they did not stamp them, but stamped a blank piece of paper which they put inside. The Greek officials were just that!! ...Official...but the Turkish officials had a laugh and a joke with us, especially when we told one of them he was the image of Tom Cruise!!. They told us to be back at the border by midnight, so feeling like four Cinderellas, we set off on our adventure.
Driving was so easy, they drive on the left (as the Greek part of Cyprus does), and the road to Kyrenia was straight and well looked after. Kyrenia is "Girne" in Turkish, so look out for the signs. There was a large car park near the harbour, with good toilet facilities, and the usual free splash of lemon cologne from the attendant! The harbour area itself is very pretty, old Ottoman style houses cling to the cliff and round the waters edge bars and cafes abound with gaily coloured tablecloths flapping in the breeze, staffed by smiling Turkish Cypriots who are so eager to please.
The harbour has many Turkish "gulets", which are beautiful traditional wooden sailing boats. The shops behind the harbour sell all manner of goods, gold, jewellry, raki, fake designer goods, belly dancers' costumes, you name it, they've got it.. and all at bargain prices..."cheaper than Tesco"..."cheaper than Asda"... and even one shop advertising "cheaper than Oxfam". They will take any kind of currency too. Cigarettes cost about £7 for 200 when we were there.
There are several nice little beaches nearby. We found a little cove with an apartment block, bar and restaurant, which was advertising free sunbeds, and met up with the owner who was a most interesting man. He had been a Turkish diplomat in London in the 1950's, and had met Princess Margaret (he was very proud about that!) and was an expert on musicals, even giving us his own rendition of Topol's "If I were a rich man"!!
Having had a swim, a sunbathe, a beer and a meal, we reluctantly headed back to Nicosia. There was a queue at the checkpoint, but all tourists in hire cars were waved through without a wait. We all agreed it was one of the best days out of our holidays. If you are staying in the Greek part of Cyprus, try it! You won't be disappointed.
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Thanks for passing on your "local" knowledge of Kyrenia.
Bollinger28 12.08.2004 15:28
Good first review but paragraphs do make it easier to read ! Regards Lexy
Delicate_Orchid 12.08.2004 14:49
Good first review. Have to agree with Emma, you have a good writing style, but should use paragraphs to make info more accessible. I hope you write more reviews of this caliber soon! Welcome to Ciao!
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Advantages: Very pretty harbour, cooler to walk round and explore at night, amazing castle Disadvantages: Girne town centre is VERY HOT to walk around in the day, inadequate infrastructure to cope witht he amount of litter generated by tourists
venusbabe2004 06.08.2005 (06.08.2005)
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Kyrenia (Girne)
Aug 12th, 2004
(Aug 19th, 2004)
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