Northern Cyprus Holiday

Bufavento Castle

Bufavento Castle, with St. Hilarion and Kantara Castle, is the part of a chain of the warning system which was composed for the aim of defending the island against Arabians. The castle was built on a windy hill, “Bufavento” word which means “ not afraid of the wind” was given to the castle. Although the exact building time was not known, the time of lion hearted Richard’s invasion of Cyprus is thought. According to some rumor, the daughter of Isac Commenus who declares himself as the king of Cyprus went out of this castle and surrendered to Richard. As the other castles’ stories, Bufavento has a story related to the Queen who reigned in Cyprus once upon a time. There was a story related to Byzantine Princess and her dog that caught into the leprous illness when Cyprus was in the reign of Templar Knights. Princess and her dog were kept in the castle. Then princess realized that the skin of her dog was getting beter and one day,princess saw her dog while it was bathing in a source beside of the castle. So princess went to this source and had a bath. After she had recovered wholly, she made the Ayios Ionnis Chrysostomos Monastery built instead of the source.

The castle was used as a prison among 1382-1398. The name of the castle was Lion Castle in this term. When the island was in the reign of Venetians in 1489, the castle lost its old importance. Venetians gave importance mostly to the castles on the sea sides.

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