We live just below Bellapais Abbey and it is very beautiful.
What a wonderful place to live. We went to TRNC 14 years ago and I guess it must have changed quite a bit. We arranged the visit in quite an unusual way. I had an idea we should use a local travel agent and so tried to find one online. Much trawling found me the travel agent who was arranging a conference at the University of the Eastern Mediterranean - so I contacted him. It turned out that he only did corporate events, but was willing to make an exception and so Hilary and I were his first private clients. I found out last year that we were also his last!
Anyway the point of that story is that he and his female cousin decided to take us out for a meal and so arrived at our hotel and drove us to a mystery destination. It turned out to be the restaurant next to the abbey overlooking Kyrenia. How many people get bought a meal by their travel agent when they are on holiday?
We had already been Bella Pais twice before. Once to tour the great abbey, sit under the Tree of Idleness and climb up to the Bitter Lemons house. We also found the Secret Gardens of Irene higher up from Bitter Lemons (long gone now, I'm sure). Irene was an English woman who was living there when the invasion/liberation occurred and was still there and serving drinks to the small number of customers who managed to find her garden tucked away at the top of the village. A very odd place. While we there we heard a bit of a fuss and then a party of four came in. It turned out to be the Romanian Ambassador to (Southern) Cyprus, his wife, and a couple of minions. In TRNC at that time such happenings seemed quite normal. Irene also did evening meals for a limited number (six maximum) customers who booked in advance so we were back again for lamb shank one evening at a large round table with Irene, her partner and a couple of other pairs who were strangers to each other (and us).
We recall Bella Pais very fondly.
