There is a very atmospheric ruin of a monastic complex in the village of Bellapais, on the mountainside overlooking Kyrenia. The village itself is rather touristy – it has both the abbey ruin and the erstwhile house of Lawrence Durrell to attract the coach parties. But the abbey itself is worth a visit – there is a largely complete church and refectory, and a rather beautiful set of ruined cloisters.
Bellapais Abbey cloisters
There is now a restaurant on the site of the abbey kitchens immediately adjacent to the cloisters, where Christopher and I enjoyed a very pleasant dinner when we were there some fifteen years or so ago. So I was really pleased when I realised that the tour included a dinner at that very restaurant. The twelve of us on the trip were collected by minibus and taken up to the Abbey on the Saturday night for a meal of mezes followed by a huge mixed grill. It was very tasty, in fact the best meal of the whole trip. And the floodlit abbey ruins underneath the full moon really added some atmosphere.
Bellapais by night
