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Kyrenia
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St Hilarion, the Crusader Castle |
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Along with Kantara and Buffavento, St. Hilarion
Castle was originally built as a watch tower for approaching
pirates who launched a series of raids on Cyprus and the coasts
of Anatolia from the 7th to the 10th centuries. By the 10th
century, a Byzantine chapel and monastery has been added to the
tower’s site and joined by a fort in the 12th century. Richard
the Lionheart captured the castle on his way to the Third
Crusade, followed by the Lusignan kings, who called it their
“Dieu d’Amour”, using it as a place of refuge and summer
residence. When the Venetians captured Cyprus in 1489, they
relied on the main towns for the defence of the island and St.
Hilarion was neglected and fell into oblivion.
St. Hilarion Castle and Disney’s Snow White Featuring three sets
of defensive walls and towers, St. Hilarion undoubtedly looks
like a fairy-tale castle, with rumour still persisting that Walt
Disney’s Snow White’s castle is based on this St. Hilarion
original.
To reach the castle you can either venture along the narrow road
to St. Hilarion that curves around rocky peaks or walk and climb
the peak, best avoiding the midday heat during the summer
months. Once there, you can climb through the castle’s layers
from the bailey and courtyard with stables and barracks at the
base to the royal apartments and past the Byzantine church and
dining hall. On your journey upwards, you will discover more
apartments, another dining hall and more barracks, before
finally reaching the tower at the very pinnacle of the
twin-peaked mountain, some 730 m above sea-level. From here, the
view across the Girne coastline is simply breathtaking. On a
clear day, the Five Finger Mountain Range, the Mediterranean and
even the snow-capped Taurus mountains of Anatolia some 100 km
north are visible. |
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