Lemesos Medieval Castle

The city's most popular tourist attraction is Lemesos Medieval Castle, and its alluring gardens, on the west side of the Old City, are a shady haven in the summer heat. The structure, built in the 14th century over the remains of a Byzantine castle, has been used and plundered by many throughout Cyprus' exciting history. The Venetians vandalised it; the Ottomans gave it a face-lift for military use; and the Brits used it as a prison during their colonial rule. Inside is the Lemesos Medieval Museum, this building is an intriguing collection of vaults and air shafts, and its artefacts, transferred from the original Lefkosia Medieval Museum in 1974, are often fascinating.

According to history and legend, Richard the Lionheart married Berengaria in the chapel of the original castle in 1191, where he also crowned himself King of Cyprus and his wife Queen of England. The chapel and Byzantine castle have long since gone, and in their place now stands the current structure.

Although the castle doesn't look like a massively grandiose structure from the outside, it's worth going inside and exploring. The gardens hide an old olive oil press that dates from the 7th to 9th centuries. The oil press is based on a simplified version of a Hellenistic and Roman trapetum, a mill that uses only one millstone.

In order to appreciate the castle, don't miss the Lemesos Medieval Museum.