The story of Lefka

Lefka overlooks Morphou Bay and is known for citrus fruit and mines. One story says it was founded in the 3rd century BC by Lefkos, a son of the Ptolemaic king of Egypt, and named after him; another tells of a sick Christian girl called Lefka, meaning poplar, who came for the clean mountain air, stayed until her death and gave the town her name.

Copper around the town was first mined in the Middle Bronze Age, and the mines worked until around 150. Under the Lusignans and Venetians Lefka was a district capital, and the Lusignan royal family took refuge here when the Mamluks attacked Cyprus in 1425. After 1571, Turks from Anatolia settled here. Walk the narrow Nekipzade, Hacı Emin and Salih Suphi streets to see houses built between 1900 and 1930, Ottoman in style but with Greek touches such as Ionic columns, and visit the Piri Mehmet Pasha Mosque, the oldest of the town's three mosques.