Paralimni, the town by the lake

Paralimni is the everyday side of the Protaras coast, the town where many of the people who work in the hotels live. It has no beach, but it does have a square full of churches, a couple of museums and a lake that fills with birds in winter. Here are the essentials, from sights to buses. For the wider picture, see Famagusta district.

The town by the lake

With 19,037 people at the 2021 census, Paralimni is the most populous place in the Government-controlled part of the district. The Visit Famagusta portal adds that it serves as the district’s interim capital, that it’s the biggest municipality, that it grew considerably after 1974 as displaced people arrived from the north, and that it became a municipality in 1986 after a referendum. Protaras is its coastal strip.

The name means by the lake. The town grew up on the shore of a shallow lake that only filled in winter, and in the early 20th century its bed was turned over to farming. According to the same website, the first village stood on a hill between Deryneia and today’s site, and in the 15th century it moved inland to stay out of sight of pirates.

The square of three churches

Two churches dedicated to Saint George, Agios Georgios, the town’s patron, stand side by side on the main square. The big metropolitan church was built between 1963 and 1966 in Byzantine style, with contemporary frescoes and a Christ Pantocrator in the dome surrounded by archangels, prophets and saints. Next door, the old church bears a marble inscription dated 1859, was built on the ruins of a Byzantine church and keeps a 19th-century wooden iconostasis and a large fresco of the saint slaying the dragon.

Close by is Agia Anna, a 13th-century limestone chapel originally dedicated to the Virgin, which was declared a monument in 1985 and is now a church museum, with icons from the 16th to the 19th century, relics and manuscripts.

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Museums and the traditional house

In the old quarter, the traditional Cypriot house is a restored 19th-century home, with arches, a courtyard full of flowers and rooms of farm tools, utensils and crafts, and it’s also used for traditional weddings. The municipal history museum holds pieces from Cypriot and Greek history, from the Middle Ages to the EOKA struggle of 1955 to 1959. According to the region it opens Tuesday to Friday 8:00 to 14:00 and Saturdays 9:00 to 14:00, closes on Mondays and public holidays and costs €3 for anyone over 12.

The lake and the surroundings

To the west, between Paralimni and Sotira, the seasonal lake fills with winter rain and forms a wetland that, according to Visit Famagusta, has been in the Natura 2000 network since 2009. It shelters an endemic grass snake, Natrix natrix cypriaca, and in winter draws migrating birds and flamingos. Around town are chapels such as Archangel Gabriel, at the foot of Fanos hill, and Panagia Panagiotissa, and the windmills that once pumped water for the potatoes of the red soil, the land of the Kokkinochoria.

If you are short on time, see the best tours in Protaras and pick one that fits your day.

Getting there

OSEA route 301 loops round the town from Agios Georgios square, routes 101 and 102 link it with Protaras, Cape Greco and Ayia Napa, routes 501 and 502 with Deryneia and Frenaros, and route 711 with Larnaca. A daytime trip costs €2. Next door is Deryneia, and for somewhere to stay, see hotels in Protaras.

Where the bus does not go, a car does: compare car hire in Protaras before you arrive rather than at the desk.

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