Buffavento Castle, Kyrenia

Buffavento Castle is located in northern Cyprus. It means in Italian “Defier of the Winds”. The winds can reach quite high speeds in its exposed location at 950 metres above sea level. It stands in the middle of the Kyrenia range castles, with St. Hilarion Castle to the west and Kantara Castle to the east, all of which were built as a defense against Arab raids. As both of the other castles are visible from Buffavento, it was used to pass signals between them. It also controlled an important pass through the mountains. It was used as a prison in the 14th century. The lowest part of the castle was probably built by the Byzantines in the 11th century. This base was expanded upon by the Lusignans in the 14th century. It is not regular in shape as it makes use of the mountain itself for its defense. During the Venetian control of the island, Buffavento fell into disuse as the coastal castles of Cyprus, such as Kyrenia and Famagusta, were seen as more important. Source: http://www.reference.com/search?q=Buffavento



It is known as the highest mountain castle (approx 950 m) above sea level among three castle in Kyrenia. St Hilarian (approx 732 m) and Kantara Castle (approx 630 m) are the other ones. It is also said that it is most cleverly constructed castle among these three. It is also known as 'The Hundred Houses of Rigaina'.

 
We approached through Nicosia and easily found the directions from the round about. We visited this place in summer (my first NC Trip). In the way, we found many picnic spots and enjoying people. You can heal your eyes while watching the greenery and from the top of it the panoramic views of Kyrenia, Famagusta, Nicosia, and Trodoos Mountains. 

Roads to reach the place, are also not good. Just near the parking area, there is a broken memorial - "In the memory of those who perished in the air crash 27-02-1988".
There is a suicide point and view to Kyrenia was magnificent. While climbing, Sumit have a query to other trekkers - "Is it worth going up and ... ?" and everyone (Vinay, Mrunal, Praveen, Sandip, Ajay, Anil, and Saurabh including me) was busy in hilarious photo shoot.
 
If you have enough time to visit NC, or if you are interested in trekking then visit it. Because most of the parts of castle are ruined and no-one seems to be care about it (least preserved), Otherwise you should prefer to visit St. Hilarian (In my opinion - As I have visited both). Bring your snacks and drink with you, because there is no shop, restaurant or bar avail nearby. There is no entry fee to the castle. Wanna to have a look to other castles and places in North Cyprus.