The island of Cyprus has a history going back thousands of years, and has had numerous cultures invade an live there. The very earliest human activity is thought to be around 10,000 BC. The island is presently partitioned between the Greek south and the Turkish north following an invasion in 1974 by the Turks.

And it was in this period of tension Thuberon undertakes a walk around the island, looking to discover the people, the history, the places and the underlying reasons behind the animosity between the cultures in that decade. Being British he has good access to almost all of the areas of the island, and the people that he meets and extend their hospitality to him and almost all generous and welcoming.

He has a knack of bringing the landscape that he is travelling through to life, through the sights, smalls and atmosphere. He writes with an engaging style and his encounters with the people of this island are told with humility.

Still one of my favourite travel writers.

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For some reason this Colin Thubron book of 1975 has just been reissued. I can't imagine that the publishers thought that with Cyprus being in the news with its financial crisis they might take advantage. An odd thing to do but always good to read the decent travel writing of Mr Thubron.

He wanders around the island at a time before the Turkish invasion but when it has already been partitioned by factional fighting. The stroll he takes is the structure of the book. He ambles from village to village bumping into churches, monastries and ruins from various periods of historical invasion. More of a history book than travel. Though some of his landscape descriptions are Turner-esque. He is remarkably unprepared for his trip seeming to have nothing with him but his sleeping bag. He depends on the strangers he meets for food and accommodation and sometimes seems to take unneccessary advantage of the hospitality of extremely poor peasants.

After a while the linear narrative becomes repetitive. Mr Thrubron is a good and learned guide the the depths of Cypriot history but the meandering stroll in the end prooves a tiresome route. Too many churches, too many saints as those are what time has preserved. Nevertheless interesting to have a record of a Cyprus as it was before mass tourism and before it became a Russian off shore banking centre. In a century of two what will remain of that particular invasion? ( )

Author traveled extensively throughout the island not long before the 1974 Greek - Turkish partition.