Kyrenia, fairly dazzles with the specialty of being a historical city which carries ruins of many civilizations that lived in Cyprus before. Respectively, Egyptian, Hittite, Phoenician, Persian, Alexander the Great, Roman, Byzantine, British, Lusignan, Genoa, Venice, Ottoman and British respectively dominated Kyrenia. Kyrenia as being one of the most important historical and touristic center with 6.000 years of history; always attracts attention with the Kyrenia Castle from the period of Lusigna- Venetian and the Archangelos Mihail Church (Icon Museum) located in the city center. There are lovely cafes and restaurants serving flavors of Cypriot cuisine located around the harbor which is built like the shape of a horseshoe.
In the historic area of Kyrenia’s harbor, many of the buildings were built around the Kyrenia Harbour by Lusignans and Venetians. These buildings were built with the purpose of protecting against enemy attacks up until Venetians discovered gunpowder than they lost their importance and only the tower in the middle of the harbor as well as the tower across the old customs building survived until today.
According to rumors, Kyrenia, named after a mountain when found in 10th century BC by Achaeans which was located in their own country. However according to another rumor; „the Phoenicians were the first to settle in the city in the 9th century BC and they named after the city as Corineum according to the Roman sources“. (Checkin).
