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Bellapais, a Jewel in the Crown

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Bellapais is an ancient village of charm and tradition; its narrow streets and local shops create the feeling that you are still in old Cyprus. It is superbly situated on a natural rock escarpment, halfway up the northern hill slopes, magnificent views of the Kyrenia coast below, rugged pinnacles of the Kyrenia range tower behind.
Bellapais is famous for its Abbey, but the village itself dates back several centuries before the Abbey was built. It is believed that the Greek Bishop of Kyrenia had a residence on the site of the Abbey; he sought refuge here from the Arab raids on the coastal areas during the seventh to tenth centuries. With the founding of the Abbey at the end of the 12th Century the village began to develop.
The name of "Bellapais" was adopted in the 16th Century, a corruption of the earlier Abbaye de Ia Paix" (Abbey of Peace). The Abbey grew in importance during the 13th Century and also in wealth; this prosperity continued until 1373 when the Genoese army laid siege to Kyrenia, looted the Abbey and overran the village.
The Venetian occupation witnessed a further decline in the Abbey both materially and spiritually, many of the brethren are recorded to have taken wives, some of them as many as three.

Laurence Durrell's book "Bitter Lemons", a story set in the 1950s has brought attention to the village life that is still obvious today. The house that Durrell describes so graphically is still there, beautifully