The Karpaz Peninsula is the long finger of land that extends north east into the sea towards Turkey. It is a wonderfully scenic and unspoiled area, and offers a landscape that feels as though it hasn’t changed much in the last 1000 years or more. We always manage a day or two up here on a visit to north Cyprus and our normal tour around will be a blog topic for another day. This time I want to focus on one particular reason to visit: the wild donkeys or asses of the Karpaz. Traditionally and for thousands of years donkeys were a vital part of the island’s economy. Each family would have one or two, owned for their superior carrying strength. A donkey can carry far more weight than a horse and so were useful for hauling harvests of olives, potatoes and other goods to market or to the mills. Portraits of donkeys have been found in Cypriot tombs dating back to the 7th century B.C. and there is even evidence to suggest that the donkeys existed on Cyprus before the island split off from the mainland. Certainly the donkeys seem to share genetics and heritage with the Wild African Ass. They are bigger, stronger and have a blacker coat than the smaller, grey European donkeys. It is not unusual to still see the odd donkey in use on rural farms but they have largely been replaced by tractors since the early 1970s and many were abandoned in 1974 when the island was divided. In an effort to protect them and appease farmers whose crops they were eating, large numbers were relocated to the Karpaz. At one point there were thousands of them although modern estimates seem to now hover between around 1200 and 500. The terrain is wild and so it is difficult to be sure. In any case, they seem to be very happy in their new home, a protected area of the Karpaz, to the east of the town of Dipkarpaz, a natural heritage area, home to many species of wildlife. A visit will usually produce many sightings of the donkeys and they are easy to spot. They like to eat the bushes which grow wild there but food is being left for them at roadside spots near the Apostolos Andreas Monastery which is within the protected area so there are nearly always some there. These are wild donkeys so must be viewed as unpredictable although I have seen people out of their cars feeding them and we have had countless face to face encounters ourselves without any sign of aggression. If you take them some fruit and veg, they will undoubtedly eat it!!!!! With my UK goggles on I worry about them hanging about the road but…… it must be said….. the road at this point is little more than a track with large sections unpaved and very little traffic on it other than visitors to the monastery, so hopefully they are safe enough. To visit the donkeys, drive to Dipkarpaz, the last villiage of the peninsula. Take the right turn road from the village centre and follow signs for the Apostolos Andreas Monastery. The road will run along beside the sea, passing some wonderful beaches like Golden Sands, and small coves with little eco hotels. Keep going. You may see donkeys in the fields on either side from this point on. You will go up a steep hill with a fantastic viewpoint over the beaches. Keep going a little further and you will enter the gate into the fenced region of the protected area. The bushes at this point come down to the track on either side or it is in this stretch that you are most likely to encounter the donkeys. The road continues all the way to the monastery, a few more miles. Beyond the monastery it peters out into a walking track to land’s end. |
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![]() We all enjoy a good shop! Especially if we can get a bargain. I often get asked about shopping in North Cyprus. What is available? What are the best buys? What are prices like? Well, the first thing to point out is that in the north we use the New Turkish Lira, not the Euro. This tends to make goods very, very much cheaper than the equivalent costs would be in Euro Zone countries. Currently there are around 4 ytl to 1 GBP and that makes prices even better. There is little or no tax. Another reason prices are low. Remember when food shopping that you will pay much less if you shop “Cypriot” than if you insist on buying the same food/brands as you do in the UK. Supermarkets: There are 3 large supermarket “chains” in our area – Starling, Lemar and Tempo, and also just down the road from the villa there is Ileli. These supermarkets seem to be open seven days a week and almost round the clock. They stock a huge range of goods including most items that you would expect to get in the UK. Lemar is probably the most Anglicised but Starling offers an online ordering system. Markets: There is a market somewhere every day of the week but the main ones are in Kyrenia (Wednesday), Guzelyurt (Saturday), Lefkosa(Every day) and Famagusta(Friday). These specialise in food but also sell clothes, plants and general household items. The covered market in Lefkosa (Nicosia) was built by the British in 1932 and is well worth visiting in its own right. It is surrounded by the bazaar streets of the old town. Food is very cheap and you can go home armed with wonderful fresh fruit, yoghurt, honey, cheeses too. High Street Shops: Both Lefkosa, Famagusta and Kyrenia all have town centres full of the types of shops you would expect to find on the high street at home. There are lots of fashion boutiques, home decoration stores, jewellers, leather shops, shoes. Prices for gold jewellery and leather are very competitive. Designer Copies: This is big business in Cyprus. You can buy “designer” clothes and particularly handbags in many places. Quality is very varied. Handbags range from non-leather copies which are very cheap to very high quality leather copies which still cost hundreds of pounds each, and every shade in the middle. Some shops will copy any bag you wish: take in a photograph, or pick from a catalogue. This is one of the best souvenirs of the island. I have a brilliant “Hermes” clutch and a Marc Jacobs bag that have both been much admired by many people who clearly thought they were genuine! Alcohol and Tobacco: You can buy all the same cigarette brands and also loose tobacco brands as are available in Europe, plus Turkish brands. They are very cheap in comparison to European prices as there is little or no tax on them. Premium brands of wine and spirits from all over the world are also available in supermarkets and specialist wine shops. Local wine and Turkish wine can be very good. Angora is a reasonable range of wines. Local spirits are a MASSIVE bargain. Cypriot gin, whisky, rum, vodka and brandy are all available at prices generally around £3 per bottle. Take my word for it that they are more than pleasant especially if you are using them in mixed drinks. The brandy is easily smooth enough to savour alone and you will be offered it at the end of many meals. It’s delicious. The Cypriot brands are available in the supermarkets tending to be on the lower shelves below the premium brands. My strong advice is not to buy duty free on the plane but to wait and buy your alcohol here. Bazaars: Whilst all the large towns will have a bazaar, the best one is in Lefkosa off Leda Street,near the Mosque/Cathedral. In the warren of tiny streets you will find a huge number of shops selling everything from copperware to clothes, jewellery, slippers, baskets, pottery, textiles, Turkish delight, nuts, herbs and spices. It’s a brilliant part of any visit to the old town. The Great Han which is in the same area now houses a collection of arts and crafts shops and is well worth a visit. The Han is an inn dating from crusader times and is incredibly picturesque with a lovely café in the lower courtyard. Don’t forget to bargain.
![]() We British have never taken easily to outside cooking. Even when we lived in caves and then huts, we stubbornly smoked out our living space with cooking fires. Let’s face it. Our weather isn’t very conducive to slaving over an open fire, much of the year. In Mediterranean lands, the opposite has been the case: historically, the Romans, Greeks and other peoples sited their kitchens outside as a protection against fire and to make a more pleasant cooking environment. In any case, they spent much of their time outside in the fresher air of the garden or countryside rather than huddling round the fire hiding from the rain like us. Anyone who’s tried to cook in the normal 40C heat of a Cypriot summer will appreciate the benefits instantly. In Cyprus we still see this tradition with many of the older houses displaying outside (as well as inside) kitchens, communal village bakeries and of course the ubiquitous bbq grill. The domed shaped wood burning oven can be seen all over the island in all sizes. Bakeries will have an array of them. So, in the spirit of “when in Cyprus” …… we made part of our garden terrace an outside kitchen area with a large brick built bbq and a traditional wood burning oven. One of the huge pleasures of living in this part of the world is the ability to be able to eat all meals outside nearly all year. It only makes sense that the cook can also share in this pleasure!!! Whilst we are all now familiar with bbq cooking even in Britain, most of us have no experience with the delights of the traditional oven. I know Jamie’s got one and is passionate about it but have you seen the price of them???? Thousands of pounds….. For us the good news was that because all the Cypriots have one, the price in Cyprus starts at about £100 delivered. Wood can be had for the gathering or you can buy it. Of course no self-respecting Cypriot would buy it. All my enquiries of where wood could be purchased met with a look of utter confusion and bemusement, then, outright laughter….. “Just go to the woods” or “Pick it up along the road”. They didn’t actually say “DUH….” But it was right there…. Teetering on their grinning lips, peeking through the twinkle in their eyes. So, we do occasionally buy a load but we also have turned into ardent foragers, stopping the car and filling the boot with dead wood from the roadsides. Somehow this makes it even more fun! So, what do we use the wood burning oven for? Well, you can use it for everything, even grills. We tend to use it for bread, pizza, roasted meats and casseroles. I can’t tell you how utterly brilliant it is to remove a wonderfully aromatic, garlic studded leg of lamb from the confines of the oven, its meat flaking off in melting lusciousness with just a little hint of smoke in there with the herbs. Or to make fresh pizza in literally 2 minutes and then sit down and eat it poolside. It’s a thousand times better than what you can make in your normal home oven even if you make it from scratch there. Why? Well, the wood burner gets much hotter than your oven ever could and so the pizza base goes crisp almost immediately sealing itself against sogginess while the top melts very quickly, keeping maximum flavour and juiciness. Wait till you see the kids’ faces! And it’s so easy! Best of all, the only slightly difficult bit i.e. building and tending the fire is something that all men love doing. It brings back that caveman thing or something. So….. let them do all that over a beer while the sun sets, you can just prepare the pizzas which is a matter of minutes (or can be) and then….. bish bosh in they go and out they come! After dinner, there is no oven cleaning (not that you’d do much of that on holiday anyway but still…..). Next time He-Who-Builds-the-Fire goes to light it, he just sweeps the ash out and puts it on the garden. Any grease or debris just carbonises to ash in the heat of the oven. It’s genius. See…. That’s the Jamie coming out…… So, how to make your own pizzas for the family and become even more of a goddess than you already are: first, you could make your own pizza bases, it’s easy and fun and delicious and I do that always….. but…. You’re on holiday…. Maybe you don’t want to do that…. So, in the supermarkets they sell pizza bases or sometimes they call them pide bases. They’re the thin and crispy sort. If you’re a deep dish sort of family….sorry….you’ll have to make your own. Get a selection of toppings you like: sausage, pepperoni, olives, vegetables, leftover chicken, tuna, fresh herbs. You will need some tomato paste (more on this in a minute) and cheese. I tend to use two sorts of cheese because I like A LOT of cheese on my pizza. Firstly, the really melty sort which is going to turn into oozy puddles on top – mozzarella traditionally. Now you can use mozzarella, it’s available but much better is to use the halloumi or hellim from Cyprus. Almost as melty as mozzarella and much, much cheaper because it was made up the mountain, locally. Then I often sprinkle over another cheese on top. It could be grated cheddar but again, when in Cyprus…. So I use the white cheese which is like a cross between goat and cottage cheese and sold in rather anonymous plastic bags in the supermarket. It’s what the Cypriots use in everything from pizza to a cheese roll or pie. They call it White Cheese! Now about the tomato paste…. You could buy a tin or jar of passata in the supermarket but, hey, we’ve got an electric juicer in the kitchen and tomatoes are just fantastically flavourful and so, so cheap in Cyprus. Honestly, like 10p a kilo most of the year. So, what I do is, I run a whole load through the juicer to make tomato juice which my husband loves and is very good for him. All men over 40 should have a daily tomato juice to keep their prostate gland healthy. The juicer will also produce loads of tomato pulp as a by-product. Don’t throw it away! I put it in Tupperware in the fridge or freezer and then it is the perfect pizza topping. Fresh, flavourful, ready and free! I also use it as the basis for Italian style pasta sauces or in stews or on toasted bread as bruschetta. So, out with the base, on with the paste, sprinkle over the toppings ending with the cheese and herbs. By now the oven should be heated up (it takes about an hour to get it super-hot for pizza). It should blast your face when you open the door and the roof should show white ash inside. Push all the wood and ash back to the edges of the oven leaving a space in the middle. Don’t worry about any fine bits of ash dust left on the oven floor, they are fine and won’t affect your pizza at all. The extreme heat sterilises it all. The oven will be at about 600-700 degrees F. Put the pizza onto the pizza paddle. Open the door of the oven and slide the pizza onto the oven floor. Shut the door. Wait literally 1.5 to 2 minutes. Open the door and take the pizza out. Enjoy the rapture! The season proper has just started and our first summer guests are in Cyprus. The weather is already perfect for them. Mid 20s with very warm sun and the island is at its greenest after the winter rains. Rain will be very little from now on till perhaps December apart from the odd shower. We particularly enjoy May and June when the sun is plenty hot for all meals to be taken outside but not too hot to make us unwilling to leave the confines of the pool. This is the ideal time to visit the old town in Nicosia and enjoy a coffee in the atmospheric Great Han, pretending to be a tourist in the middle ages, visit the bazaars there and see a Whirling Dervish performance. Or to climb to the heights of St Hilarion castle and marvel at the views once enjoyed exclusively by the Lusignan knights. There are a lot of things to see and do here. Far too many for a two week holiday. We're still catching up after 9 years!
One of my favourite moments of the day is when I open the bedroom curtains and there it is all is - green mountains and glittering blue sea! It still gives me such a thrill. Some days I can even see the Turkish coast in the distance. The school holidays through to mid November are now booked solid but we do have availability in May, June and the first weeks of July. There are daily flights to Ercan or Larnaca from regional UK airports and Pegasus have just launched a new service from Gatwick to Ercan to complement their Stansted departures. Hope some of our Facebook followers can make use of them. |
AuthorThe Boler family love travel, food and drink. Not necessarily in that order! The villa is our home from home which we love to share with our friends, old and new. Archives
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