Do you remember the days of your childhood when everything new amazed you and simple things made you happy - the sun, the wind, animals, walks, lying alone on the beach swinging your feet to the sun?... Now we find these memories on the pages of brochures for tourists, where travel writers like to boast of escaping the crowds and finding that beautiful beach where one can be alone with his memories. Astonishingly in Northern Cyprus you can do it! Blessed in disguise by solitude. BBC World's Fastrack programme described it as is one of the last truly unspoilt landscapes in the Mediterranean. Northern Cyprus is the Mediterranean as many would like to remember it...

 

Kyrenia is the prettiest town on the island, a tranquil seaside resort with a tiny, charming harbour full of bobbing yachts and fishing boats. Framed by the colossal hulk of Kyrenia Crusader castle, the town exudes an ambience of intoxicating serenity - the perfect place to escape the bustle of the city, to relax the mind and revitalise the body. At least, so say the tourist brochures. True, it remains the most scenic destination, but this is mainly by virtue of the undeniably picturesque harbour, and in a country that boasts architectural blemishes such a statement should not be construed as glowing praise.

The harbour must be one of the most picturesque in the Mediterranean. Besides providing a fine setting for a range of eating places alfresco or indoors according to season, it also incorporates a number of curious relics of its ancient harbour within its modern one. The harbour is beautiful at all times of day, but is at its most bewitching at night. Many of the restaurants are open for food all day long.

Today's population of Girne, officially 14,000, is double what it was before 1974. Many private houses were looted in the fighting and by 1976 only some 200 out of the original 2,500 British residents remained. Turks from the Limassol area were resettled here, and given land and property that had been Greek, in the same way that Greeks were given Turkish property in the south in compensation for their losses in the north. Some mainland Turks have also been brought across, which is how the population level has been restored.

As you approach the castle from the harbour, the sheer power of the walls impresses. The huge round tower that confronts you is the work of the Venetians. Such fortifications were their major legacy to Cyprus, for they always regarded it as a military outpost to protect and service their lust for trade. Housed within the castle walls is the Girne Department of Antiquities, which took over custodianship of the castle in 1959. In some of the castle's locked rooms the Antiquities Department is keeping icons which were collected from churches in the Girne area pre-1974 and stored here for safe keeping. Some of these are now on display in the Archangel Michael Church.

This castle and royal summer palace makes an exciting and mildly strenuous half-day trip from Girne. 'Dieu d'Amour' was the name the Frankish knights bestowed upon it, and certainly from afar its extravagantly crenellated walls and towers tumbling over the craggy hilltop evoke a fairy-tale vision of bygone chivalry.

There is a number of Diving Schools which provide a great way for divers to spend their holiday. Most of them offer additional water sports facilities for the whole family. While one member of the family can indulge his or her passion in diving, the rest of the family can enjoy Water Skiing, Banana Rides, Windsurfing, Parasailing or whatever.

The strong aroma of thyme... Olive trees... Myrtle... Atlas pistachio... Aged pine trees... With the hilltops of the Five Fingers, the Toros Mountains opposite and the Mediterranean sandwiched in between... The enchanting dance of a small white ball on the infinite colours of green... A place where quality and prestige meets... The Korineum Golf Course... You can get to the Korineum Golf Course which is north of Kyrenia toward Esentepe in 10 minutes by cart.

The beauty of Bellapais is legendary. When Lawrence Durrell bought a house here, he felt 'guilty of an act of fearful temerity in trying to settle in so fantastic a place'...

North Cyprus has many places of interest for both holiday makers and residents alike, but over the past few years, development has changed many of the lesser known parts into what are now better known on account of having, to a large extent, more attractions than they have had hitherto.