Laiki Geitonia, Nicosia's strolling quarter

Laiki Geitonia is the first old-town quarter almost everyone walks into, because it’s right by Eleftheria Square. It’s also the most spruced up. Here’s what it is, what to see and why I’d use it as a jumping-off point, not an end in itself, based on what Nicosia municipality and the Leventis Museum publish.

What Laiki Geitonia is

The name means «people’s neighbourhood». The municipality describes it as a traditional quarter inside the walls whose houses were restored to recall old Nicosia. It’s pedestrianised, with 18th-century buildings, and mixes homes, craft shops and tavernas. In practice it’s a handful of cobbled lanes, whitewashed houses with wooden shutters and terraces, a stone’s throw from the southern walls.

Coming from the new town, you enter by Eleftheria Square, the bridge across the old moat by the Venetian walls of Nicosia. The quarter is to one side and Ledra Street starts straight ahead.

The best thing here, the Leventis Museum

The real reason to stop is the Leventis Museum in Nicosia, in the traditional houses of Ippokratous Street. It tells Nicosia’s story from the day the Mesaoria plain rose from the sea to the present, with rooms on the ancient city, the Byzantine and medieval town, and the Venetian, Ottoman and British periods. The idea came from mayor Lellos Demetriades, the A. G. Leventis Foundation set it up in 1984 and it opened in 1989. Two years later it won the European Museum of the Year Award.

To me it’s the best introduction to the capital there is, and it’s free. The museum runs on voluntary donations, opens Tuesday to Sunday from 10:00 to 16:30 and closes on Mondays and public holidays. It has floor plans in several languages and facilities for disabled visitors. I compare it with the rest in museums in Nicosia. A short walk away is the Leventis Gallery, devoted to painting.

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Eating and wandering

The tavernas here are aimed at people strolling by, with tables out in the lanes, which is why I use the quarter as a lunch stop between the walls and Ledra Street. I don’t have a source that lets me recommend a particular one, so I won’t. I will say that prices and atmosphere in a quarter this polished aren’t those of an everyday neighbourhood. With half an hour to spare, the Ömeriye Mosque in Nicosia and its hammam are a few minutes away.

Building it into a Nicosia morning

I’d start the day at the Leventis Museum at 10:00, to understand the city before seeing it. Then the walls along the moat to the east, or Ledra Street to the north. And for a real neighbourhood, with the Green Line at the end of its streets, I’d cross the old town to Chrysaliniotissa. Everything else to see is in Nicosia.

If you would rather have a local show you round, book a guided tour in Nicosia and choose by the reviews.

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Once your dates are set, check which hotels are still free in Nicosia before prices climb.