Little old castle way up on top of the hill

The castle down in Kyrenia

I head north to further explore this foreign territory of the Republic of Northern Cyprus aka the illegally occupied territory if you ask in the south. I am heading first for a small old castle situated way up a steep road at the top of a hill looking out over the city of Girne or Kyrenia. On the road up to the castle you can see this is still an area of military significance. There is a pretty big Turkish army base at the top of the hill which is used mainly as a training camp - but I am sure if worst comes to worst the people on the base will be the main line of defense for the city a few kilometers further to the north.

The castle is consisting of three parts - part one is the first area you will enter from the ticket office and the second and third part is further up the hill. There are some remains of the old rooms of the castle and there is also several old cisterns used to collect the water to make the castle self sufficient in case of a siege. I guess there is no underground water supply on this pretty barren hill in the dry mountain range.

The castle high up on the hill

The second part of the castle is probably the best preserved and there are several rooms of which one has been turned into a café which was currently closed probably because it is out of season and not many people is wondering around on top of the mountains in the area. Just as I leave the second part of the castle to go to the third and highest part I stumble upon a strange thing it looks like ice - and I am sweating from walking up hill - it actually also feels like ice so maybe it is actually real ice - I suppose it is getting pretty cold at night in this area during the winter time.

I finally get myself up to the third part of the castle and there is some old ruins but the ruins are actually not the best part of this high part of the castle - the view is the main thing up here. You can look around of a huge part of the coastline of northern Cyprus and down on the city below with the ancient harbor and the forth guarding the city and the entrance to the harbor. Just before you are getting ready to leave the ruins there is a sign - to the top - I cannot resist such an offer - I need to go to the top. And up right at the top of the mountain at 732 meters above sea level there is a great view out of the area - even better than the one down at the castle itself. The walk uphill may be a bit of work but I probably need the exercise anyways and it sure is worth it to get up on the top to have the view of the area.