LAMBOUSA ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITE

This site (Lambusa Arkeolojik Alanı, Αρχαιολογικός Χώρος της Λάμπουσας/Archaiologikos Choros tis Lambousas) is home to the ruins of the ancient city of Lapithos. It was one of the nine independent cities of Cyprus, before taking the name of Lambousa ("the sparkling one") during the Roman period. Occupied by the Turkish army until 2016, the site is poorly developed and difficult to access. Best to park near Camelot beach, 750 m north of the main road, then walk some 500 m to reach the ruins on the coast. Here, a large rectangular cavity (27 x 14 m) is cut into the rock at sea level. It served as a fishpond or natatio (swimming pool) for Roman thermal baths. Inland, hundreds of tombs dot the site, which was used as a necropolis from the ^4th century onwards. The first elements of urban planning date back to 1,000 BC, but it is not known whether the town was founded by the Phoenicians or the Spartans. In any case, Lapithos played a major commercial role between Greece and the Orient. Abandoned around the ^8th century and rediscovered in the ^19th century, the site was plundered until recently. The finest artefacts are to be found abroad (notably in the Louvre), and a few in the National Museum of Cyprus in Nicosia. Near Camelot beach, the pretty Franco-Byzantine church of Agios Evlalios is dedicated to the local saint Eulalios of Lambousa (^3rd century). It dates from the ^15th century and was restored by the UN and the EU in 2020.