The Cities of Cyprus

Four large cities punctuate the island, with Lefkosia (Nicosia), the capital in the centre, and Larnaka (Larnaca), Lemesos (Limassol) and Pafos (Paphos) along the southern coast.

Lefkosia

Lefkosia (Nicosia), the island’s capital, combines both old and new in a busy modern commercial and business centre and a centuries-old culture. The centre of the city is its old quarter surrounded by a Venetian sandstone fortress wall with a moat and heart-shaped bastions.
The new town spreads beyond the walls with a modern Europeanised centre of high-rise buildings, office blocks, shops and pavement cafes, expanding into suburban residential areas.

Lemesos

The old town Lemesos (Limassol) is the heart of the city with its narrow streets radiating out from the old fishing harbour. The medieval Lemesos castle was the site of a royal wedding in the Middle Ages between Richard the Lionheart, King of England, and Berengaria of Navarre, and now houses the Cyprus Medieval Museum

Larnaka

The town of Larnaka (Larnaca) is built over the ancient city kingdom of Kition, a rich sea port and major centre of the copper trade and later a Phoenician stronghold. Its remains can be seen today in its cyclopean walls made of giant blocks of stone and a complex of 12th century BC Mycenaean Greek temples

Paphos

Paphos lies in the western part of Cyprus, occupying an area of 1,396Km2 and is the fourth most populous town in Cyprus