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The divided city, within medieval ramparts, is full of interest. With a clutch of museums, historic buildings, a lively morning market and authentic cafés and restaurants, it merits a leisurely visit (see Nicosia Walled City).

This superb museum has a collection of finds from ancient and medieval sites all over the island. The display of clay figurines is just one of its fascinating items (see Cyprus Museum, Nicosia).

Founded by a 19th-century philanthropist to rescue Cyprus’s vanishing heritage, this collection includes remarkable ancient idols and early 20thcentury traditional costumes (see Pierides Foundation Museum, Larnaka).

Narrow market streets full of food stalls and craft workshops surround the sturdy medieval castle in the heart of the old quarter. Mosques and minarets are reminders of the island’s multicultural history (see Historic Limassol).

The plain stone walls of these old Orthodox sanctuaries, hidden in remote valleys and glens of the Troodos mountains, conceal a unique treasury of vividly coloured frescoes depicting scenes from the Old and New Testaments (see Troodos Painted Churches).

The superb mosaics that adorned the floors of lavish villas built at Pafos in its Roman Imperial heyday are now part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Today they are one of the island’s top historical attractions (see Kato Pafos Archaeological Park).

It takes a little imagination to conjure up an image of Amathous in ancient times from the fragments of walls that still remain, but this hillside temple site, just a short distance from the busy coastal highway, is proof of the city’s glorious past (see Ancient Amathous).

The multi-tiered stone theatre of ancient Kourion is often the summer setting for concerts; when not in use it offers views over the peninsula (see Kourion).

The hillsides and headlands of the Akamas form the island’s last undeveloped frontier. Here, on Cyprus’s only uncrowded beaches, turtles come each year to nest (see Akamas Peninsula).

Although the summit of Mount Olympus can be reached by car, hiking to the peak on foot offers a greater sense of achievement. Start from the Troodos resort car park and follow the signposted Atalante Trail, which is waymarked by strategically positioned red dots. Following the 1,750-m (5,750-ft) contour, this is an undemanding walk for most of the way, through pine and juniper woods, where birds and butterflies flit and with glimpses of the sea and the plains far below. Covering a little over 16 km (10 miles) and only 200 m (650 ft) in altitude, this walk can be completed in a morning by anyone of reasonable fitness, but comfortable trainers or walking boots, water and – especially in summer – a hat and sunblock are musts.

After around three hours, the so-called Atalante Trail connects with the Artemis Trail (see Artemis Trail) and a detour upward to the summit (you can’t miss the giant radar masts and telecom towers) then loops back down to the Troodos resort. En route you will pass mineral formations and information markers supplied by the tourist office that point out the indigenous plants and wildlife of the region.

At the summit are the ruins of a 16th-century Venetian fortress, built in a vain attempt to defend the island against the invading Ottomans.

Your walk completed, enjoy a lunch of fresh trout in Pano Platres.

This is the perfect time to sample Cyprus’s dozens of wines in depth, at length and, best of all, for free. Limassol’s wine-makers celebrate by sponsoring 10 days of wine tastings, held in the city’s attractive municipal gardens. The whole event is accompanied with outdoor live music and dancing in the evenings.