The walled ramparts were built by the Venetians around the old city to keep out the Ottoman Turks. They took four years to build from 1567-1570 and weren't a fat lot of good as the Ottomans landed at Larnaka as they were being finished and stormed Nicosia three months later. The ramparts were built with 11 fortified bastions which have remained pretty well unchanged since.
Today the Green Line through the middle of the old city leaves five bastions in the south, another five in the north. The remaining Flatro Bastion in the east is occupied by Greek, Turk and UN forces - such are the niceties in carving up an island.
The southern ramparts and moat are generally in very good condition. Car parks have been built below them and there are gardens and town parks, venues for concerts. Those in the north have been left to fall apart and many are now overgrown and crumbling. There were three gates into the city originally but there is now access at several places and traffic regularly crosses into the Old City from all directions.

The Famagusta Gate is the best preserved and most photographed of the old gates that once led into the city and is found in the Caraffa Bastion in the east, off Leoforos Athinas. The impressive sloping facade leads through the wall through an imposing wooden doorway. It was renovated in 1981 and is now used for exhibitions and concerts which have attracted trendy eateries and cafes to the area. This is also the main city bar strip that lights up after 10pm.

Near the D'Avila Bastion is the Laiki Yitonia district in the revamped part of the old city. The Government expropriated a square kilometre in 1977 to preserve the old city character and support local crafts and culture. Its prettified traffic-free cobbled lanes are full of shops and restaurants designed to catch the upmarket tourist trade. There is a wide variety of bougainvillea bedecked restaurants and an even wider variety of colourful but irritating touts trying to tempt you into them. That said, there are not that many bars or cafes where you can sit outside. Nevertheless it's a very pleasant area with lots of shade and you can stock up on free maps and guides from the Cyprus Tourist Office.

Well, hardly a holiday destination but still a favourite spot for gawking tourists. The Ledra Palace Hotel crossing, the only legitimate entry point from south to north. It's not a place to dwell for long. Graffiti-daubed cement walls and posters of Greek Cypriots killed by border guards front the crossing which is about 300m long and lined with razor wire.
To the west is the bullet-pocked Ledra Palace Hotel now occupied by the UN, while east is a string of bombed out buildings. Crossing into the north is legal, though papers are inspected vigorously and south Cypriot officials will register your departure with disapproval.
The Turkish checkpoint is more informal and the guards more friendly, although passports are still rigorously studied as visitors are warned against buying alcohol or tobacco. There are many signs to warn against taking pictures but guards don't seem to mind, though it's as well to ask first unless you want your camera confiscated.
You cannot go north to south unless you are a returning visitor and you must return on the same day unless you want real problems. The Green Line divides the city east - west and there are many places where the dividing wall blocks streets and alleyways.

The Cyprus Museum has the best collection of archeological finds on the island. The building dates from around 1880 and is frankly past its best but the collections are very impressive. The highlight is the terra cotta figures dating from the 6th and 7th centuries. There are also some very fine statues, including Aphrodite of Soli, ubiquitous on travel brochures and posters.

The Faneromeni Church is the largest within the city walls and built in 1872 on the site of an ancient nunnery. The marble mausoleum commemorates those who died in the Greek War of Independence in 1821.

Ledra Museum & Observatory sits incongruously on top of the Woolworth's department store and is the best place for panoramas of the city both north and south through powerful telescopes sited there.

The House of Hadjigeorgakis Kornesios is a remarkably restored mansion of a wealthy citizen around 1800. Lavish excess triggered a peasant revolt that threw him out and when he returned five years later he was beheaded for treason. One room has been restored as a living museum while the rest is given over to Ottoman antiques and memorabilia.

The Makarios Cultural Foundation houses three exhibition areas. One is the European Art Gallery with painting by Van Dyke, Rubens and Tintoretto in its collection. Nearby is the rather dull Greek Independence War Gallery with maps, documents and paintings and also the Byzantine Art Museum which has a huge collection of icons from the 5th to the 19th centuries.

Nearby is the Ethnographic Museum which has many fine examples of folk art and crafts including embroidery, clothes, pottery, paintings, leatherwork and woodcarving.

Accommodation
There's little in the way of budget accommodation in Nicosia. Most hotels are middle to up-market. Most mid-range hotels are in the western part of the new town and top-end options in the centre.

Travel
Nicosia has several networks of urban buses. Most bus routes start at Solomou Square next to the Tripoli Bastion in the city centre or the terminal at the Constanza Bastion to the east. In addition Nicosia municipality runs its own free yellow buses within the city walls. Buses to other resorts are frequent and cheap - see left panel. Unfortunately there is no public transport to airports at Pafos or Larnaka.

There are plenty of taxi firms in Nicosia that will pick you up with a phone a call. There is also a 24-hour taxi rank at the Eleftherias Square. Taxi fares are regulated by law and drivers must use a meter.
Service taxis are operated by Travel Express (0777 474) from the Podocataro Bastion with cheap rates to other resorts. Prices in 2006 were Limasol (Lemesos) C£3.10, Larnaka (C£2.60), Pafos (C£6.35)

Car hire is plentiful and parking easiest in the large pay and display car parks around most of the city bastions, with the largest and most convenient between Constanza and D'Avila bastions on Leoforus Stasinou. It's best to avoid driving between 11am and 1pm weekdays when traffic gets very heavy.

Shopping
The main shopping areas in Nicosia are Makarios Avenue, Stasikratous Street running parallel behind it, and Ledra Street. As well as the local craft shops there are the usual international stores like Virgin and Woolworth's. Stasikratous Street is best known for expensive boutiques, shoe shops and silverware jewellery. At the end of Makarios Avenue is Eleftherias Square and the city centre. Most of the shopping area in the old part of Nicosia is now traffic free. From Eleftherias Square the wall past the town hall leads to Eleftherias Venizelos Square, also known as Ochi Square, and a colourful open market every Wednesday.

Most visitors stay in Nicosia and fail to explore the large and uninviting Messaoria plain which is a barren waste in the summer but green and pleasant in winter. But there are a few ancient sites and some attractive churches and monasteries to visit and villages in the Troodos foothills are a step back in time.
The best archaeological site is Ancient Tamassos, the remains of the ancient kingdom found about 17km south west of Nicosia near the village of Politico. Its wealth was founded on copper which was extensively mined from 600BC. The main attraction is the tombs of two kings with walls carved to imitate wood. The treasure that was here has long since vanished and a hole in the roof of the larger tomb shows where the grave robbers got in. Six limestone sculptures - four lions and two sphinxes -were recently discovered during work on one of two 6th-century BC royal tombs . Two of the lions were life-size and complete.
About 2km south is the postcard pretty village of Pera with its winding cobbled back streets and bougainvillea-bedecked walls. The village is one of several often included in 'safari' tours of Messaoria and the Troodos mountains. Equally photogenic opportunities can be found at Orounda and Peristenora. Heading into the Troodos mountains is the area of Agia Marina with several well marked shady picnic spots. Another favourite is the pretty village of Fikardou is one of a clutch of well-preserved villages. Houses date from the Ottoman period and have splendid balconies. There is a small cafe.

Much quieter than its noisier and newer southern half, North Nicosia city centre offers the visitor a glimpse into the past. Where the concrete mixers have worked overtime beyond the Green Line here little has changes since the Turkish invasion of 1974 though new estates have sprung up lately on the outskirts. You can easily see the Old City (and there's not much else you'd want to see) in a day and that's what most visitors do, though there is accommodation to be had for overnight stays though you must check at the Ledra Palace crossing to make sure this is OK.
It is a safe city to walk around night or day, though it can feel very quiet and dark at night. But the people are very welcoming and friendly. Looking north, it is not so much the city that catches your eye as the Kyrenian mountains in the distance and the huge twin flags of Turkey and the Turkish Republic of North Cyprus painted into the hillside along with the slogan 'Ne Mutlu Türküm Diyebilene' - 'Happy is he who can call himself a Turk'.

North Nicosia's most prominent landmark is the Selimiye Mosque, a strange shaped cross between mosque and gothic church that betrays its checkered history at the hands of religious conquerors. Work started on it in 1209 but it wasn't finished until 1326 when it was known as the Church of Agia Sofia. It suffered a couple of earthquakes before the Ottoman's arrived in 1570, stripped it of its treasures and built two minarets. The Gothic structure is still visible despite Islamic overlays of whitewashed walls and the ornate west front, with its three decorated doorways, is very impressive. There are no set opening times.

To the east is the Haydarpasha Mosque, the former 14th century Church of St Catherine and now an art gallery. Especially good are the ornate carvings of gargoyles, dragons and shields on display

To the west of the mosque is a rare example of a Great Inn that is being slowly turned into a museum. This was a place where, from the Middle Ages, travellers could find rooms, trade goods and socialise. It was built in 1572 around a courtyard and has nearly 70 rooms. Just north on Aga Efendi Sokak is another noted meeting place, the 17th century Gambler's Inn which is also open to visitors.

Just south is the famous Buyuk Hamam Turkish bathhouse, a favourite for male and female tourists. Entry is through a very ornate door (once part of a 14th century church) sunk below street level where you can get a refreshing steam bath and a very invigorating massage for TL20m.

Further west is the Derva Pasha Museum, a former mansion house built in 1807 which is now an ethnographic museum featuring household items, glassware and ceramics on the ground floor and a fine display of Turkish costumes in the rooms above. Most impressive is the splendid selamlik, or rest room, complete with squishy sofas and giant hookah.

Accommodation
There are fewer places to stay north of the border but several comfortable hotels in the city centre. Most mid-range hotels are in the western part of the new town.

Travel
The city airport is at Ercan, about 8km to the east along a new expressway. There are now several scheduled flights to the UK as well as Turkey. There are only two airlines at the time of writing - Cyprus Turkish Airlines and Turkish airline.

There are several public buses in north Nicosia but they mainly serve the outlying suburbs. Cyprus Turkish Airlines runs a bus to Ercan airport from its city offices about two hours before flights are scheduled to take off. The long distance bus service is from Ataturk Caddesi and Kemal Asik Caddesi in the new town. Services run daily to all the major towns.

Service taxis operate from Kyrenia Gate near the bus station for several destination including Kyrenia and Famagusta. Fares to the above tow destinations will be about TL1m - 2m.
Taxis are plentiful, especially around Kyrenia Gate and a trip should cost no more than TL1m to anywhere in the city. It is best to agree a fare before getting in. Taxi drivers will offer to take you on tours of the north for around C£30. It's not bad value, but you can get a taxi to virtually anywhere in the north anyway so there is no great saving. The advantage is that they will serve as unofficial guides as well, but check out that their English is good first unless you speak Turkish yourself.

There are several car hire firms and driving is no real problem. Parking too is relatively easy unless you arrive in the city late morning on a working day.

Shopping
Shop owners are universally friendly and welcoming and don't usually pester you when browsing. The old Belediye Pazari indoor market has plenty of fresh local produce while the new market is the place for bargain clothes, shoes and textiles. Shops only display a small selection outside because of the heat so it's a good idea to take a look inside for the better goods. The traffic free Arasta Sokagi area is the heart of north Nicosia's shopping district.

See Foxy's Cyprus Holiday and Travel Guides