It was mid September 1991, when I first went to North Cyprus. I took a taxi from Ercan Airport. It took me about 45 minutes to reach Kyrenia. As we turned the last sharp bend downhill just below St. Hilarion Castle, I met the spectacular view of Kyrenia. I could see a wide range of beauties from East to west. Among those were the old harbor and the Kyrenia Castle which made me think I was entering a Venetian town.

During my six years of stay in Kyrenia, I almost discovered every corner of the northern part of the island. The most remarkable sites among those were the Soli ruins, Vuni ruins, The Abbey of Bellapais, Kantara Castle and the Sup Maga monastery. I found the Armenian monastery by pure luck. It is so well hidden in the curves of Alevkayasi-the mountain just opposite the Kantara Castle. I am sure it is impossible to see the monastery by air; it is below some steep clifs in Alevkayasi. Althouhg has a dirt track leading to it; there is no single sign that mentions the monastery. I am sure that is why it is still so beautiful and has the same atmosphere that it probably had hundred years ago. It is partially ruined but most of the rooms, the well and the courtyard are still there. Surrounded by Cypress trees, the courtyard has some fig trees and vines along with tall grown grasses. A must to see if you ever visit North Cyprus.

I did a lot of hiking in the mountains. My hikes varied from night to day and hot weather to stormy weathers. My favorite was when I and 12 other friends decided to climb the five Finger Mountains on a stormy night with no torches. We spent the whole night trying to find our way to the top of the mountain. It was heavily raining, very windy and dark. And as we had no torches, we had to feel our way along the dense cypress trees and Mediterranean bushes. We all were in our teen ages; which made us do foolish things. Foolish but a lot of fun! We ended up in a military base to be transported back into town by a military truck.

Kyrenia has some very nice beaches; not in town though. You have to east or west to find a nice sandy beach. However; if you want to swim at the best beach of the whole island, then you need to travel to Golden Beach located in Karpaz peninsula. Sand is as fine as powder and long clean inhabitant beaches are sure to be most memorable part of your vacation. Do visit golden beach if you ever go to North Cyprus. And do visit St. Apostles monastery while you are there.

Living in an island for six years can get boring sometimes. It sure did; but we always found some ways to entertain ourselves. Discos, night clubs, pubs and the harbor itself wasn’t enough to keep us amused all the time so we invented other means of leisure facilities. We did horseback riding, scuba diving and when those were not enough too; we started to work for a travel company as part time tour guides. That was a lot of fun. We did meet a lot of people; mostly from Great Britain. I used to do the Güzelyurt tours every Saturday. The tour was nice, food was great but the bad thing about it was it was on Saturdays. Friday evenings were our disco nights and it was not very much fun to get up on a Saturday morning with a headache to go on a tour. However; by noon, after eating a well served lunch and drinking several cups of coffee I would forget all about the hassle I used to go through to get out of bed.

We had a dog that I stole from a villa’s garden while searching for water during a soccer game in Ozanköy. We named him buster. He was a mixed breed of Doberman and an English pointer. We grew up together. Had a lot of fights and games; very nice memories too.

As students, we could buy cars without having to pay a lot of taxes so they were very cheap. I bought my first BMW for 600 US$. It wasn’t the latest model but it sure was a fun car to drive. Since we did not pay a lot of money for cars, we were not treating them as very valuable things and so we were getting involved in many accidents. And that’s why we were not very much liked by the locals!

Finally we all graduated and left North Cyprus for good. We all want to go back to Kyrenia but none of us has managed to do so!

Many people think North Cyprus is under occupation and it is not possible to go there. Well, this is not true. It is true that there are no direct flights to North Cyprus but, anyone can fly to North Cyprus via Turkey.

I have received a few funny questions from some people who know nothing about North Cyprus. These include; “is north Cyprus occupied”; “how is it possible to go there if it is under military occupation”; etc. I was very much surprised with these questions; however, when I was shown a map of Cyprus published by the southern part, I understand why these questions were being asked. The map showed south with all the details and north was colored with a bleak color and it said in capital letters “UNDER THE OCCUPATION OF TURKISH ARMY”. Well, after seeing the map, I could understand the silly questions asked by those people.

You can be certain that north Cyprus is not under occupation; people live there just like other people living in any other part of the world. Not only it is not occupied, but also you barely see any soldiers around. Certainly that map makes one think it is a country like Berlin before the wall was torn down. They probably think there are patrolling soldiers everywhere!

Well, anyone can freely enter and exit the country. Remember that although North Cyprus is not recognized except a few countries, it doesn’t mean no one is living there. The fact is there are around 300 thousand people living in north Cyprus and it is their home!

Having seen all the hotels in Kyrenia those were built before 1998, I think I am in a position to be able to make some suggestions.

Please note that these are based on my personal tastes. Since transportation is no big hassle, I would prefer to stay outside the town, where it would be quieter. Town itself isn’t too noisy either, but further the better. I like east Kyrenia more than the west so I’d choose Club Acapulco. Has a nice beach and offers a selection of hotel rooms and bungalows. Has a big swimming pool too. You can’t take short walks along the coast to further east, and if you rent a jeep, you can go visit the villages along the coast. I particularly like the eastern stretch of the Five Finger Mountains. The eastern stretch is less populated and hence offers more natural beauties. The best thing is you can have total privacy in the mountains. You can walk around the whole day not seeing one single human being. That’s very hard to do in big cities and their surroundings.

If you want to be in the town then you can choose the Dome or the Rocks hotel, but I would prefer The Dome as it is more authentic. Also, just slightly outside Kyrenia is the Jasmine Court hotel. Located conveniently, the hotel offers a big pool and enough leisure activities to keep you busy during your stay. It’s a very nice hotel. If you must stay at a hotel in West Kyrenia, then I would suggest Deniz Kizi Hotel. It has an excellent beach with plenty of water sports to enjoy.