Cyprus [antikvár]

The Cypriot landscape is studded with hilltop monasteries and churches: this is Kykko Monastery, celebrated in the Greek Orthodox world INTRODUCTION The mere mention of Cyprus seems to stir the imagination. It is the third largest of the Mediterranean islands, stretching 149 miles (240km) from its west coast to its eastemmost tip, and 60 miles (96km) from north to south; and the furthest east, lying close to the shores of Asia Minor. Perhaps it is this location at the crossroads of east and west, with its remarkable mixture of cultures and philosophies, that stimulâtes the imagination to create a make-believe picture of this distant land. Whatever it is, the reality is certain to be différent from the imagined. One could not suspect that the lowly Kyrenia hills are much more spectacular than the high Troodos Mountains; or that the central plain is a barren dust-bowl in summer and an incredible blaze of wildllowers in springtime. People are surprised that the winter nights are cold and that vast amounts of snow fall on Mount Olympus and nowhere else. Any ideas that the villages are the well-kept counterparts of tidy western habitations will be quickly dispelled at first sight of the ramshackle collections of houses, picturesque as they might be. The visitor might well be amazed that a jeweller