This local festival first started back in 2006, despite its name which would indicate it dates back much further than that. The content however does look back many years to the ancient traditions of an island that has plenty of history to recall.

The venue for this week long festival was the courtyard of the Medieval Monastery in Ayia Napa, where evenings of traditional music and dance awaited visitors. Admission to the festival was free. Last year the event was held during June and proved popular with the many tourists in the resort at that time. Although you could expect to find many traditional Greek dance and music performances, the 2008 event oddly included a harp concert by an Irish group and and musical performances by an Austrian group. Another visiting act was the Italian Gruppo Storico, a medieval dance and flag waving group from Castiglion Fiorentino, a medieval village in Tuscany. These are a well travelled group of performers who, over the years, have performed in places like New York, Japan, Germany and Australia.

The Ayia Napa Medieval Festival took place on the evenings between the 17th and 24th October and started at 8pm.

Flythomascook.com one way flights to Cyprus during October are currently available at prices from 47.99 departing from various UK airports including London Gatwick, Manchester, Birmingham and Newcastle.