The Abbey of Peace: A Romantic Afternoon in Bellapais

"The Most Beautiful Place on Earth"

In 1953, the English writer Lawrence Durrell arrived in a small Cypriot village perched above the northern coast, bought a crumbling house among lemon trees, and proceeded to write one of the finest travel memoirs of the 20th century: Bitter Lemons of Cyprus. The village was Bellapais — from the French Abbaye de la Paix, the "Abbey of Peace" — and Durrell declared it, quite simply, the most beautiful place he had ever seen.

Seven decades later, standing in the ruined nave of Bellapais Abbey as the afternoon light pours through its soaring Gothic arches, framing the Kyrenia coastline in a luminous haze of blue and gold, you understand exactly what he meant. Some places are beautiful. Bellapais is transcendent.

A Gothic Masterpiece on a Mediterranean Hilltop

The abbey was founded in 1198 by Augustinian canons fleeing the fall of Jerusalem, and expanded into its present magnificent form by the Lusignan kings during the 13th and 14th centuries. What they created is nothing short of extraordinary: a French Gothic monastery of cathedral-like proportions, transplanted onto a cypress-clad hillside 250 metres above the Mediterranean.

The architecture is hauntingly beautiful. The great refectory — the monks' dining hall — is the jewel of the complex: a vast, vaulted chamber with six elegant Gothic windows along its northern wall, each one framing a different angle of the Kyrenia coastline below. The effect is like standing inside a gallery of living paintings, the sea and sky shifting through blue, turquoise, and amber as the sun moves across the sky.

The Cloister: Where Time Stands Still

Below the refectory, the cloister wraps around a tranquil garden courtyard. Slender Gothic columns support graceful pointed arches, and mature cypress trees — some centuries old — stand like dark sentinels against the Mediterranean light. The acoustics here are remarkable: a whisper at one end of the cloister carries perfectly to the other, a phenomenon that classical musicians discovered long ago.

Today, Bellapais Abbey hosts classical music concerts during the summer months, and the experience of hearing a string quartet or a solo cello echo through these ancient stone corridors, with the stars visible through the open arches above, is one of the most moving cultural experiences in the Eastern Mediterranean.

The View That Stopped Durrell in His Tracks

But the abbey's greatest artwork is the one it cannot claim credit for: the view. From the refectory windows, from the cloister garden, from the abbey terrace, the panorama is breathtaking. The Kyrenia harbour glitters below like a jewel box. The medieval castle guards the harbour entrance. The Mediterranean stretches north towards Turkey in an endless wash of blue. And in the foreground, the village of Bellapais cascades down the hillside in a tumble of terracotta roofs, white walls, and bougainvillea.

It is, without exaggeration, one of the most iconic views in the entire Mediterranean.

The Village: Durrell's Ghost Among the Lemon Trees

The village itself is an inseparable part of the Bellapais experience. Narrow lanes wind between stone houses draped in jasmine and bougainvillea. Small cafés serve fresh lemonade under mulberry trees. The Tree of Idleness — the ancient mulberry under which Durrell and the village elders would sit, drink coffee, and argue about politics — still stands in the village square, now the terrace of a restaurant with one of the finest sunset views on the island.

Practical Information

• Location: 6 km southeast of Kyrenia, accessible by car or guided tour.
• Duration: Allow 1–2 hours for the abbey, plus time for the village.
• Best Time: Late afternoon. The golden-hour light through the Gothic arches is extraordinary, and you can stay for sunset at the Tree of Idleness café.
• Combine With: A morning visit to St. Hilarion Castle and lunch in Kyrenia old harbour for a perfect Kyrenia day.

Discover Bellapais with Frostway LLC

Frostway LLC's Kyrenia Heritage Tour includes a guided visit to Bellapais Abbey paired with St. Hilarion Castle and lunch in Kyrenia's historic harbour — a full day of Gothic splendour, mountain fortresses, and coastal beauty. Our professional guides bring Durrell's stories to life and reveal the architectural secrets of this extraordinary abbey.

Discover history's most romantic corner with Frostway LLC's professional guides. Book your Kyrenia Heritage Tour today. Contact us to plan your visit.