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The leading specialists in cultural walking tours
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We specialise in guided cultural walking holidays with music festivals, opera,
art & architecture, birdwatching, wildlife and gourmet food & wine.
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North Cyprus: Walking, Birds, Flowers and Crusader Castles
By mid April the eastern Mediterranean is already benefiting from warm sunshine
and clear blue skies. An extraordinary profusion of wildflowers carpets the
landscape and huge numbers of northbound migrant birds pass daily, adding a
special dimension to walks in the dramatic mountain and coastal scenery.
With few visitors and only low-key development; monuments ranging from
Phoenician and Bronze Age sites to Venetian fortifications and splendid
Crusader castles; accommodation in one outstanding hotel and two sustainable
tourism projects in traditional villages; and excellent Turkish Cypriot cuisine
and wines, the north part of the island is a tranquil and rewarding
destination.
TRIP ITINERARY
DAY 1
D included
After arriving at Larnaca airport we drive through the mountains (1.5 hrs) to
our hotel where we are based for the next 6 nights. This very comfortable hotel
(recently voted the best hotel in N. Cyprus) is owned by a particularly
welcoming family, has an excellent Slow Food restaurant, and is beautifully
situated beside the 13C Bellapais Abbey. It has an attractive pool, gardens
scented with jasmine and orange blossom, Scops owls calling at night, and
superb views down to the coast.
DAY 2
B, L, D included
We set off this morning to explore the romantic mountain-top Crusader castle of
St. Hilarion, with its extravagantly crenellated walls and towers and long
history as the summer residence of the Kings of Cyprus. We walk on paths
through the valley below - wild iris and sages, anemones and rock roses are all
about us and bird species include Sardinian warbler and the endemic Cyprus pied
wheatear and Cyprus warbler. We have an alfresco lunch in the whitewashed
village of Karaman - summer fruits and salads, sesame bread, sharp flavoured
sheep’s cheeses and local olives - then follow a quiet track which is particularly
rewarding for orchids. Dinner in a traditional village restaurant is a typical
meze, an array of small dishes reflecting the centuries of Turkish, Lebanese and
Greek influences.
DAY 3
B, L, D included
Cape Korucam to the west is an unspoilt area of maquis and small carob orchards
which is excellent for diurnal migration in spring: bee-eaters, woodchat
shrikes, hoopoes, black-eared wheatears and golden orioles. We walk a circular
route past the lighthouse seeing many orchids on the heathland, enjoy a local
lunch, then have a free afternoon to explore the magnificent gothic ruin of
Bellapais Abbey, and Bellapais village, once Lawrence Durrell’s home and the setting for ‘Bitter Lemons’.
DAY 4
B, L, D included
A long morning walk (on an easy forestry track) in the mountains above Lapta
village offers marvellous scenery and many birds and flowers, including myriad
orchids. We enjoy lunch overlooking the yacht-filled harbour in Kyrenia and
have a free afternoon to explore: the fine 9C Byzantine castle with its
subsequent Lusignan and Venetian additions; an excellent Shipwreck Museum
exhibiting a cargo ship wrecked in the 4C BC (complete with its cargo of
almonds and wine amphorae; or shopping for ceramics, kilims and locally woven
baskets).
DAY 5
B, L, D included
This morning we stroll from the hotel down an ancient cobbled track once used by
the Crusaders, then drive high up into the Besparmak mountains to walk on a
well graded track through a beautiful natural forest of Calabrian pine, the
indigenous Evergreen Cypress and Eastern Strawberry Tree. Birds such as masked
shrikes, Cretzschmar’s buntings and great spotted cuckoos are readily observable as they vie to
establish territories and raptors, including goshawk and peregrine, are often
soaring above the crags. After visiting the North Cyprus Herbarium, we return
to our hotel for some time to relax in the gardens.
DAY 6
B, L, D included
We drive round to the south side of the Kyrenia range for a day looking
specifically for orchids with a local naturalist. Our walk follows the
escarpment edge (good for little owls and raptor watching too) and we hope to
find Holy Orchid, Bug Orchid, Ploughshare Orchid, Pyramidal Orchid, Giant
fennel and many anemones, as well as the wild asparagus that all Cypriots
collect to eat in the spring. Dinner this evening, within the floodlit ruins of
Bellapais Abbey, is a memorable experience.
DAY 7
B, L, D included
En route to the Karpaz peninsula, the island ‘panhandle’ which extends northeast towards the coast of Anatolia, we visit the superbly
sited Crusader castle of Kantara. Traditionally considered to be where Commenus
surrendered to Richard the Lionheart in 1191, the castle enjoys commanding
views, with Alpine swifts and very occasional griffon vultures floating above
the cedar forests. We walk gradually down a track with long views, then
investigate a small marsh which usually holds good numbers of waders, purple
herons and glossy ibis as we make our way to a small Karpaz village where we
stay for two nights in an arched stone house, recently converted as a
sustainable tourism project.
DAY 8
B, L, D included
This morning we have the opportunity to immerse ourselves in Cypriot village
life, learning to bake traditional Cypriot bread in a brush-fired oven, to care
for donkeys (optional!), to make fresh goat and sheep’s cheeses, and the preparation of organic vegetable dishes - culminating by
eating everything for lunch. We also explore the village on foot, seeing the
olive oil mill and village handicrafts (artefacts carved from olive, juniper
and cypress, wild fennel stools and hand woven bags). In the afternoon we walk
down from a ridge above the sea, enjoying marvellous views and looking out for
golden orioles and flocks of bee-eaters.
DAY 9
B, L, D included
After a short drive, we wander through the impressive ruins of Salamis,
reputedly founded by Teucer on his return from the Trojan War, walk or swim
from the sandy beach, and visit the monastery of St. Barnabas, now an icon
museum. In the mediaeval centre of Famagusta the 14C Lusignan cathedral was
converted into the Lala Mustafa Pasha mosque by the Ottomans, following the
terrible siege of 1571. We admire the colossal Venetian fortifications
(Leonardo da Vinci acted as consultant) and Othello’s Tower which inspired Shakespeare, then enjoy tea and delicious Turkish
pastries before travelling to the far end of the Karpaz peninsula. We walk for
a couple of hours before settling into our final small hotel, an imaginative
group of traditional stone village houses.
DAY 10
B, L, D included
We spend the day exploring this remote and unspoilt peninsula, virtually
uninhabited and a proposed national park. Colourful rollers perch on olive
trees and the curious grating call of the black francolin is the only sound. ‘Falls’ of migrants can occur, with good numbers of larks, pipits, wagtails and
warblers, and the very rare Audouin’s Gull breeds just offshore. After visiting the Greek Orthodox church of St.
Andreas we swim and walk on a delightful long sandy beach. Dinner may well be a
classic Cypriot dish of lamb, herbs and vegetables, baked for hours in a clay
oven, accompanied by robust red wine from the Turkish mainland.
DAY 11
B, L, D included
Continuing our exploration of Karpaz we walk on paths through the aromatic
maquis (where we often surprise the famous wild donkeys), looking out for
turban buttercups and Cyprus gladioli, and observing raptor migration overhead
(especially falcons and harriers). Red-rumped swallows swoop around us as we
enjoy lunch beside the 10C Byzantine church of Ayios Philon, its ruined mosaic
flooring half smothered in wildflowers. In the afternoon we can swim from the
beach, or look for birds and flowers along the coastal track, before returning
to our hotel for a farewell dinner in the village.
DAY 12
B, L included
We follow small cart tracks between the carob and olive groves, passing fields
where hay is already being harvested and red-footed falcons often gather to
feed on crickets. Driving west, we pause to join the sheep wandering the mosaic
floors of the delightfully bucolic 5C basilica of Ayas Trias before a light
fish lunch overlooking a small fishing harbour, and on to Larnaca airport for
flights home.
Price includes:
All accommodation for Days 1 through 12, on a double shared basis
All meals (with wine at lunches and dinners) as listed in the daily notation
All land transportation in a private vehicle as described except during free
periods
All entrance and sightseeing fees except during free periods
Gratuities for hotel and restaurant staff
Tour Leader
Fi Lowry has been an elected member of the British Ornithologists Union since
1985 and in 1993 was elected a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society. She
has led bird trips to numerous European and North African destinations plus
Jordan, Israel, Syria, East Africa and South Africa. Fi has also travelled
extensively on an independent basis to the majority of the important European
birding sites (from Iceland to the Danube delta), the Okavango Delta in
Botswana, Uganda, Zaire, Sudan, Kenya, Ethiopia, Zimbabwe, Malawi, Rio Tambo
Pata Reserve in Peru, Bolivia, Argentina, Chile, the Galapagos Islands,
Patagonia, Oman, Nepal, Bhutan, India, Trinidad and Tobago, Cuba and
Madagascar. She has participated in many scientific expeditions including the
original ornithological survey of South Yemen and Socotra island, the Cyprus
Akamas Peninsula Migration Survey, and the ICBP migration survey in Senegal.
Visa and Health Requirements
Currently all visitors require a valid passport, but not a visa, for entry to
North Cyprus. At present there are no specific and compulsory health
requirements for entry to North Cyprus. You may also wish to check the advice
given to travellers by the Department of Health and the FCO.
Insurance
It is essential, and a condition of booking, that you protect yourself with a
suitable travel insurance policy as soon as you book a trip. Follow this link
for a quote for a policy available to UK residents.
If you are already insured, or a non-UK resident, please inform us of your
policy at the time of booking.
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Kudu Travel Limited
Teffont Manor
Teffont Ewyas
Salisbury SP3 5RJ
Phone: 01722 716167
Registered in England
No. 03854049
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