St. Hilarion Castle - Walt Disney Inspiration

St. Hilarian castle named to a saint, who is believed to have lived here. This castle was also involved in the protection chain from attacks by the Arabs including castles in Kyrenia, Buffavento and Kantara.
The castle have the most impressive architecture, with its three main sections built in 3 different levels. 1st section is build for soldiers and the castle coworkers and - contains cisterns, stables and other structures. 2nd section consists of royal apartments, kitchen, church, barracks, hall and different rooms. 3rd section consists of internal garden and steep stairs-way that reach you to the top.


It is said that Walt Disney production of "Snow White and 7 Dwarfs" was inspired by the St. Hilarian castle. The towers used in many other Disney animations are very similar. Due to the mystical image of the castle, it inspired many other artists as well. Charm to enjoy the castle including trekking never diminishes, I have visited this castle twice so far. Who can forget the views from old royal apartments to the modern royal apartments (downside the Kyrenia - swimming pools and beautifully designed village), Mutfak Kitchen, being at the top of the castle and many more eagle eye-views.


Even some of us chanting "Jai Mata Di (Remembering the Indian way of trekking over religious places)", "Badhe Chalo (Keep on going)" and many more slogans to encourage each other. Don't forget to capture the snap along with celebrity message board ( 732 m - CONGRATULATIONS! YOU ARE AT THE PEAK :-) You should have water and snacks with you, and give sufficient time to enjoy here. Although it will took approx 1 hr to reach at the top of the castle and 40 more mins to come down without any break including some snap-time. The entrance ticket is 4 Euros.


I think, this castle will remain the visitors attraction and inspiration of art lovers because from each and every side/corner of the castle, you have magnificent sights to the nature. You can think of that you are watching the Kyrenia map on a larger scale without using Google-maps. After this we follow the roads to Lapta village, a worth place to drive and capture the various natural scenery on both sides along the way.Wanna to have a look to other castles and places in North Cyprus.

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Kyrenia Castle, NC

This castle was built to protect the town against raids from the Arab. Kyrenia (Girne) castle structure changed at time to time. Using the Byzantium style of fortification, a new entrance, square and horseshoe-shaped towers, embrasures for archer, and dungeons were added. From 1974, the Department of Antiquities and museums has been responsible for all aspects of castle's preservation and use.
We directly reached here from Nicosia. You can easily search for the place if you are coming by Kyrenia town center way. Beside it, there is car parking place (If you are coming from back). Other way to reach here is, Park your car near Kyrenia Municipality, walk the Kyrenia harbour and at the end you can see the big castle. You can get the tickets above stairs (6.5 Euros per person).
We taken many photographs here. See "Dil Chahta Hai" (Bollywood movie) style photograph and other group photographs. I missed it during my first visit to NC. I have visited this place in the day as well as night time. You can get entry inside the castle only until 3:30 pm.

You will always see the crowd all around and have the drink/food in the nearby restaurants, bars. You can view the amazing Kyrenia harbour view from top of the castle. From each side/corner of the castle, you can enjoy panoramic and soothing views. Even some of us (me 2) trying to hold the castle on our hands (just for a creative pose :-)


You can visit the east wing, exhibition hall, Lunsignan Tower, Dungenos, Venetian tower, and Shipwreck Museum inside it. Wanna to have a look to other places in North Cyprus.

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Golden Beach Bafra, NC

Just from the Cayirova point, we decided to go Bafra beach. You have to take right turn just after some meters. It is quite peaceful place and wow.. golden beach! , and good roads to reach the point. The village is still developing there and we see the construction of new restaurants, buildings, hotels going on.
As we park our cars, we feel to be somewhere in UK. Actually we park our car near KayaArtemis Resort and Casino. Later googling, I found that, this hotel is the reconstruction of the Temple of Artemis (in Ephesus, Turkey - one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World) capable of over 700 rooms.


In the meantime, we had some golden memories of golden beach. Everyone was running towards the sea promenade area. If we heads up, it was the clear sky, If we heads down it was the cystal clear water all around.


Some of us visited inside the KayaArtemis, it was even more beautiful from inside. At some point, it feels that the whole area is floating over the sea. We taken many beautiful images here.


"KayaArtemis Resort Hotel & Casino is the largest hotel in the island in terms of room capacity. With the four season-warm climate, untouched shoal as far as the eye can see, exotic beach, sparkling sea, identical architecture with the historic Artemis Temple, 726 rooms which are enriched with luxurious facilities, 3000 m² Las Vegas-type casino, shopping centre, swimming pools, spa and beauty parlours, business centre, conference rooms and all other enticing features; Kaya Artemis is as breathtaking as it is astonishing." Source: http://www.gonorthcyprus.com/kaya-artemis.asp
If you want to enjoy golden beaches, prefer to stay somewhere in Famagusta and enjoy the golden beach moments. Wanna to have a look to other places in North Cyprus.

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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.

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Shipwreck Museum

This Shipwreck museum is inside the Kyrenia Castle. Some of us had some tea, coffee, snacks break after roaming all four sides of the Kyrenia Castle. You can buy the souvenirs from the shop inside the castle.

You can find some more visual arts inside the museum that let you understand the Girne castle structure and surrounding areas. The remains of the ancient ship can be viewed at the Shipwreck Museum, that was put as the heritage.



In some visual arts it is shown that how the work carried out to lift the Shipwreck to the surface. How expert scuba divers worked to accomplish the mission. Other than that you can find different shaped lamps, old age life representation at the nearby village, model of burial site, gold jewelry  coins and various ceramics. Some of us were capturing the snaps such that we 'seem to be roaming in the old age village'. I found it worth watching at least once (average).



Wanna to have a look to other places in North Cyprus.

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Bellapais Abbey, North Cyprus

Bellapais Abbey is the most famous place for its architectural treasures. It is situated over the beautiful mountain village that adds beauty to it. This was the place that I really missed during my first visit to NC. At one side you can admire the cloud touching mountains and the another side, Kyrenia city alongside the vast sea. There are easy ways to get this destination, if you follow the road-signs.


At time to time construction work took place here, if you see the history of this abbey and Kings keep on renaming it during their periods. I am not going into the history. Sometimes you can even enjoy the concert inside the abbey. Basement of Bellapais abbey invites the lovers of art and other lovers :-) You can really enjoy the photo frame pictures from every point of abbey.  

All the snaps shown here were initiated as single. Wanna to know why I am telling this. Reason is pretty clear that one person asked for the single snap till the time he gets ready and photographer clicked, the group was in the foreground. ha ha. So single converted into group ones. This was really fun-filled time and we carried on this till the end of NC trip. 
It looks even better in the night when the lights on. You can even witness it from almost any part of Kyrenia city. You can even enjoy the Bellapais Festival - A unique music experience at the breathtaking atmosphere of the Bellapais Abbey in May - June. It is known as a masterpiece of Gothic art.

Just FYI, ticket entry fee is 5 Euros (when we visited) per person. You can get group discount and even lesser, if you are student. I would suggest that Ballapais abbey is must see for the visitors of NC in any season, be it winter or summer.Wanna to have a look to other places in North Cyprus.

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Target NC Tip

After the breakfast at Riverside Holiday Villa, We forward towards our next destination - North Cyprus upper-rightmost tip point (Cape Zafer). It was not so easy as we thought. Just have the northern Cyprus map with you. Keep in mind the reference of sea-side and mountains, you wouldn't be diverted. We follow the path from our hotel to Kyrenia town-center. From the main round about in Kyrenia, first follow the places Karakum, Catalkoy, Vrysi, Karaagac, Esentepe, Bahceli, Kuku, Tatlisu, Mersinlik, Kaplica alongwith the sea. Don't take any right turn to any village, if your target is NC tip. In the way, you have option to trek Buffavento Castle (take turn from Vrysi) and Kantara Castle (take turn from Kaplica) as per the time avail.


In the way, near Tatlisu turn, we found a special woodish sandy mountain. It was really different one, I have ever seen. All are pushing our car just for the sake of a snap. In the way, we had a lot of breaks due to variety of beautiful backgrounds and foregrounds.

After Kaplica, it's time to leave the sea-side and move forward to Buyukkonuk, Zeybelkoy, Cayirova. Till this place its approx 2:30 pm by the watch. We estimated (6-7 hrs) our forward-backward time to NC tip to current place(Cayirova). As it was winter time, so we postponded the NC tip target for our next NC trip because it starts dark after 4 pm only. I will update it later.
Just FYI, follow Mehmetcik, Gelincik, Yesilkoy, Dipkarpaz, Apostolos Andreas Monastry to reach NC Tip (Cape Zafer).

Be sure to have the spare Tyre-tube for your personal vehicle. As roads are not good at various places. Due to sharp curves over the zig-zag roads, don't speed.
In the midway you will find various turtle nesting area and golden beaches. So Golden Beaches near Bafra was our next destination.

Wanna to have a look to other places in North Cyprus.

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Lapta Village

This is the village situated over the mountain. There are two ways to approach this village. Either you go by beach road in Kyrenia (way to Karaoglanoglu - Alsancak) or over the mountain (approx 20 Km from St. Hilarian Castle). You will enjoy (not the car driver :-) both sides of the mountain, one sight to the sea and the other wide plains all across curves.

Actually we approached after the St. Hilarian trekking to Lapta village. We were really laapata (Lost) while going Lapta. I am sure drivers like, Meera, Gaurav, Ravi would be enjoyed the drive and rest guys enjoyed the both sides sight seeing scenery.

Time was also running out, because it's going to be sunset and we were not in the condition to scale the same track back again. We discussed in the midway. Thanks to Ankit who confirmed with another car person that the road really goes to Kyrenia.

In the midway we had some snaps. We found the beach road and back to our ways. We had dinner in the Indian restaurant there (near Karaoglanoglu). Thanks to Rajaram site where I found this place.
Wanna to have a look to other places in North Cyprus.

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