Old Town

Top choice in Kyrenia (Girne)


Wrapping around the Old Harbour, the diminutive Old Town is an atmospheric area for a wander. Its winding alleyways hold a jumble of abandoned stone buildings slowly slipping into disrepair, mixed with newer concrete additions.

Modest remnants of Kyrenia's long history are speckled throughout the lanes. Two of the major monuments are the Ottoman-era Ağa Cafer Pașa Mosque and the dilapidated remains of 16th-century Chysopolitissa Church. There are also ancient Greco-Roman tombs on the road leading to Archangelos Michael Church.

During the Lusignan era, the town was protected by fortifications which, over the years, were dismantled and reused for other building works. The Round Tower on Ziya Rızkı Caddesi next to one of the entrance ways into the neighbourhood is one of the few still-standing pieces of wall. At the eastern edge of the Old Town, leading down to the castle, is bijoux St Andrew's Anglican Church, built in 1913 and still serving Kyrenia's Christian foreign resident community today.


Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

Nearby Kyrenia (Girne) attractions

2. Chysopolitissa Church

0.04 MILES

This small roofless ruin is Kyrenia's oldest church, dating back to the 1500s. It's usually kept open so you can check out the two intricately carved wood…

3. Cyprus House

0.04 MILES

This lovingly restored old carob warehouse on the harbour contains interesting ethnographic exhibits of traditional clothing, furniture and Cypriot…

4. St Andrew's Anglican Church

0.06 MILES

Built in 1913, this unassuming, whitewashed church still holds Sunday services for Kyrenia's small Anglican community of foreign residents.

5. Archangelos Michael Icon Museum

0.12 MILES

The 19th-century Archangelos Michael Church, with its white bell tower rising up above the surrounding harbourside buildings, displays icons dating from…

6. Kyrenia Castle

0.12 MILES

If the grand fortifications of Kyrenia Castle could talk, they could sure tell some tales. The castle was first built by the Byzantines – possibly over…

7. Greco-Roman Tombs

0.12 MILES

These ancient tombs, carved into the rock face, and usually partially obscured by parked vehicles, are thought to have been used in the Hellenistic and…

8. Bellapais Abbey

3.06 MILES

The exquisite ruins of this Augustinian monastery are reason enough to drive up the mountain to Bellapais. It was built in the 12th century by monks…