Built in 1917, the listed landmark creaks with other Cypriot delicacies like loukoumia (a Greek “Turkish delight”) and olive oil, as well as reed baskets and leather sandals. Have a good mooch around the renovated complex’s museum and microbrewery, saving your carob honey souvenirs for Saripolou’s arcaded market. Lording over the city’s storied harbour on old town’s southern border is its crusader castle, ringed by medieval industrial mills, where the country’s carob, known as “black gold” was refined.

There are balconied neoclassical townhouses, Ottoman cemeteries, ornate Greek orthodox churches and minarets as tall as the neighbourhood’s swaying palms. Romans, Franks, Turks and the British ruled here, and what a legacy they’ve left. Beneath Kepir Mosque are the ruins of medieval and byzantine churches, whilst 150 metres away, imposing Limassol Castle sits atop a 5th century Christian basilica. Richard the Lionheart took refuge in Limassol’s harbour in 1191, and went on to conquer the entire island.Įxploring the old town’s streets is like peeling back the layers of its embattled history. Once nothing more than a sleepy fishing village, it was a raging storm that changed the fate of Cyprus’s largest port city.

Old town square havana