View allAll Photos Tagged Cyprus
Having took part in the 2018 Brauunston Historic Boat Rally, Narrowboat 'CYPRUS' is seen returning home on Monday the 25th of June 2018, photographed along the Grand Union Canal on the approach to Norton Junction.
Cyprus is a year-round island. There is always a new world to discover. In Cyprus East meets West and a new experience awaits for you under the sun everyday. Inviting beaches and breathtaking mountain trails lie around the island. Once you’ve been to Cyprus ... you’ll come back again.
Cyprus seems to float on a mirror... the Mediterranean
Chypre, qui semble flotter sur la surface miroir de la Méditerranée
Credits: ESA/NASA
140D1280
The Saint Hilarion Castle lies on the Kyrenia mountain range, in Cyprus. This location provided the castle with command of the pass road from Kyrenia to Nicosia. It is the best preserved ruin of the three former strongholds in the Kyrenia mountains, the other two being Kantara and Buffavento. The castle is not named after St. Hilarion, active in Palestine and Cyprus in the 4th century. It was named after an obscure saint, who is traditionally held to have fled to Cyprus after the Arab conquest of the Holy Land and retired to the hilltop on which the castle was built for hermitage. An English traveller reported the preservation of his relics in the 14th century. It has been proposed that a monastery built in his name preceded the castle, which was built around it. However, this view is not supported by any substantial evidence.
Starting in the 11th century, the Byzantines began fortification. Saint Hilarion, together with the castles of Buffavento and Kantara, formed the defense of the island against Arab pirates raiding the coast. Some sections were further upgraded under the Lusignan dynasty, whose kings may have used it as a summer residence. During the rule of Lusignans, the castle was the focus of a four-year struggle between Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II and Regent John d' Ibelin for control of Cyprus.
Much of the castle was dismantled by the Venetians in the 15th century to reduce the cost of garrisons.