Traveller's101

Welcome To Lefke (Lefka)

The town of Lefke is located just done the road from the city of Guzelyurt in the Turkish controlled north of the island of Cyprus.  A mixture of coastline and mountain ranges, it is filled with citrus groves like its neighbour and it is the only place on the island where Yafa oranges are grown.  With three dams providing the town water all year round, Lefke’s citrus, soft fruit and other agricultural plants grow lushly in this area. 

Lefke has actually been under Turkish influence for the better part of three hundred years and it is very evident in the town’s overall atmosphere.  During the Venetian settling of Cyprus, many Italian Catholics could be found in the city, but they fled when the Ottoman’s captured the island, turning Lefke into a Turkish Cypriot stronghold since 1571. 

The spiritual head of the Haqqani branch of the Naqshbandi Sufi order of Islam still calls Lefke home.  Ottoman architecture can still be found all over the town. 

At one point in time, Lefke was a prosperous mining town with Troodos mountain range backing the town.  Copper and gold was the main quarry and during the ancient times it was a major mining centre and medieval barony.  To reach Lefke’s town centre actually requires the visitor to work their way through some of the mountain’s foothills. 

The Troodos Mountains have recently been reforested and it is some of the most beautiful country on the island.

Photo by www.cypnet.co.uk

Rough and rugged, the Troodos Mountains are great for hiking and expeditions with Lefke used as starting point.  Base camps are best set up on the southern slope of Platres which rises 3,937 feet above sea level.  This side of the mountain ranges leaves the climbers on the direct approach to tackle Mount Olympus.  While not necessarily the fabled home of the Greek Gods and Goddesses – there is a Mount Olympus also in Greece – the peak is the highest on the island at 6,404 feet above sea level.  The summit is always snow covered and many vacationers can enjoy year round skiing at one of the many ski resorts located on the peak. 

Visitors to Lefke can enjoy traditional Turkish dishes or fresh fish along the coastline of the town and if they are not in the mood to eat, they can always take a dip in the Mediterranean off of one of Lefke’s beaches.  If they are there during the month of August, visitors can join in the cooking competitions and annual fair that is held in Ataturk Park every year.  The fair celebrates the freeing of Lefke during the war.  There is also an annual music festival held in Lefke every spring. 

Unfortunately, not everything in this region of Cyprus is wonderful.  Like Famagusta, which was rated as one of the most endangered sites in the world, Lefke has a bit of a problem with the abandoned mining facility in the town of Karavostasi, part of the Lefke municipality.  When the island was captured by the Turkish army and the Greek Cypriots evacuated the areas in which they lived, everything that was run by Greek Cypriots simply shut down.  The main copper mine that is still in existence on the island – and was still working thirty-four years ago – has been left abandoned all this time. 

The copper and other mineral mine in Karavostasi was, at the time of the shutdown, owned by Cyprus Mines Corporation (CMC).  They have been subsequently bought out by AMAX and they own the mine jointly.  The mine happens to be in the Turkish controlled north and the government of the Turkish Republic of North Cyprus (TRNC) would not allow the mine owners back on the property after the took the area in 1974. 

Mineral wastes that were stored in the mines and in the area under strict monitoring and control are now starting to cause problems after being left exposed and abandoned for over thirty years.  Scientists from Turkey and Europe visited the mines and what they found there was cause for serious alarm.  Many of the barrels of chemical that were just left are now leaking, with the by-product of the metal waste coming into its own and becoming dangerous.   

Of course, the exposed chemicals and minerals are not the only hazards at the mine.  There are miles of underground tunnels that have been left with no upkeep that could cave in at any time.  The lack of ground covering in the area where it was never replaced after mining is causing erosion and trace elements to be lifted into the air.  The underground water sources that farmers use for their fruit crops are starting to show traces of arsenic.  Authorities are realizing that measure are going to have to be taken at the abandoned mine before it is too late and before the ecological effects are irreversible.