Cyprus, a tale of 2 countries.

(Walking the Green Line of the last divided city in the world - Lefkosia aka Nicosia)

It is february 2024, and we return from our regular Kenya Mission trip in January, this time accompanied by my sister Marjo and her husband Herman as well as our friends Linda and Gary. As Linda and Gary made the long trip from the US to Kenya and because Amsterdam is cold and dreary in February and especially this year, we concocted a follow up trip to Cyprus an island not yet visited and decidedly warmer.

(Border crossing into Turkish Cyprus)

(Turks are kind enough to also have Greek as a translation of their warning)

(The Greek side of a border crossing has a civil rights

stone monument calling for a spirit of brotherhood in this divided city)

Our 10 days there were divided in touring the southern coast of the Greek side (the republic of Cyprus), followed by a trip into the Troodos mountain area and then onward to our last stay in Lefkosia (the Greek name for Nicosia) the capital, the last divided capital in the world where a border is cutting the city into 2 capitals.

(A boat tour we did not take)

(High in the mountains we look over in to Turkish Cyprus)

(The city of Kyrenia the largest Turkish Cypriot town)

The northern part of Cyprus is since 1983 officially named The Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC). Their passport is however only good and accepted by the following countries: Anguilla, Pakistan, Tanzania, Turkey, Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States. And of those countries only Turkey officially recognizes the TRNC, while the other countries listed consider that passport as part of the (Greek) Republic of Cyprus, which since 2004 is a full member of the EU. Politics again is a “science” of international declarations based on strange underlying motives.

(The UN has their building strategically between

the 2 Cyprus “countries” in the no land zone)

(Strange enough the Kyrenia City Hall lies in Turkish Nicosia)

(This beach is where the Goddess Venus was born - supposedly)

In 2003 the border was opened for both sides to visit each other and tourists can now see both “countries”, although rental car agencies do not allow crossing the border as it invalidates insurance.

(Water is on this island dotted by dams: a constant worry)

(Our visit to St Hilarion Castle, built by Byzantines to defend the island against Arab raids

Later upgraded to summer residence for local kings)

(High in the mountains Grapes are still doing well)

The Brits still have independent military bases on the Greek side and therefore a trip to Cyprus count for a three “country” visit. Britain only gave up their Commonwealth Dominion island in 1960 because of incessant Greek struggle for freedom. Since then Turks and Greeks have over the next millennia feuded with each other and thus the island from 1960 onwards suffered under the “troubles”, like Northern Ireland did, creating a hate relationship between the two peoples (horror stories of murders and mayhem), which culminated in 1974 in a coup by Athens against the Cypriot government to make Cyprus part of Greece. This led to an invasion by the Turkish army to allegedly protect their Turkish Cypriot citizens.

(The smallest cathedral I ever saw: the Cathedral

of St John the Theologian built in 1662)

(On the Turkish side opened in 2023: the Hala Sultan Camii Mosque for 3000 worshippers with four 60 meter high minarets)

(Roman Catholic Church where Pope Francis came in 2021.

That church holds maybe a few hundred worshippers)

The battle ended in a draw and since then it is a divided island with the same no man’s land strip between the two Cyprus “countries” as we had between East and West Germany till the wall came down, thanks to Gorbachev and HW Bush. Here such a reunification seems unlikely at this time.

(Backside of United Nations Building in the Green zone)

(The desolate remains in the no-man’s land zone)

(I made too many pictures of this Green Line zone

as it just fascinated me, remembering Berlin

in the days that I traded with East Germany)

We arrived 1 hour before dark in Larnaca airport and had some trouble finding the pickup spot for our off the airport grounds based rental car agency (tip: since the main agencies with their booths and car lots at the airport pay a million dollar plus rent each year for the rights to be there to the airport management company, rental prices are often considerably less with agencies that are a few miles away from the airport)

(Wild flowers are everywhere and often intrigue me)

(This tourist pole knows no borders)

(Did I already mention my flower mania)

Sandee was the main driver since she is 5 years younger than me (at our age more and more rental agencies refuse to rent to us “older seniors” over 80) and because she likes driving, since she does not like my driving (and she was smug one day later), we started our 90 minute plus drive to the Ivi Mare hotel in Paphos at the beach outside of town on a strip full of beach hotels. I mention this hotel because if any of you ever wish to go to Paphos on Cyprus, you will find this completely white marble lodging place with 3 restaurants and with a staff that is more service oriented than we have ever encountered, with on top of all of that, a champagne welcome basket and champagne farewell basket in your room followed by daily goodies, a true oasis to return to after having been out and about. We thought you should know that, thus the inclusion in this blog.

(UNESCO Kato Pafos Archeological Park, 2000 year history,

Below more pictures of the archeological bus tour we made)

(Near the Greenline a monument to a brave lady Eyfrosyne Proestou, the wife of Lapithos, who hid 12 soldiers caught on the wrong side of the conflict in 1974. Two comments: yes they would have been executed by the Turks and second: what is it with the “the wife of” epithaphs)

(A nice way to use leftovers)

Exploring the area of Paphos leisurely that first day, with no real must do destination we ventured out westward to a real sandy beach I had read about (most beaches here are rocky) and got into narrow windy dirt road situations, with flooded areas where the road disappeared. Sandee decided enough was enough and when one pool on the road seemed possibly so deep that we could maybe stall, so we turned back.

(A beautiful age old trunk of an olive tree)

I asked if I could drive back into town and within 30 minutes behind the wheel I entered a traffic circle colliding with a lady driver already in the circle, damaging her door and our front fender and headlights.

We had been told by the agency in such situations to stay till the insurance agent arrived to survey the scene (no police was ever involved). They only arrive at such scenes when bodily harm has occurred.

(My boomski or booboo)

An hour later we limped back into our hotel parking lot and of course we had to get a new car from the rental lot with lots of paperwork and paying deductibles.

(The greenline street has occupied homes on one side and empty ones on the other side)

(Dead end street with guardhouse -in this case unmanned

So that I could take a picture, because pictures in the green zone is strictly forbidden)

(Another greenline border street with boarded up houses)

The following day we had a bus tour to Roman ruins in the British part of Cyprus near Paphos.

(Roman Odeon so well constructed that an orator

down in the circle could easily be heard all the

way at the top rang speaking without raising his voice)

(Beautiful tiled floor mosaic in the remnants of a Roman villa)

(A second example of century old well preserved mosaics)

Since we were the next day returning the car back to Larnaca we decided to see the flamingos who seasonally flock to a nearby salt lake by the thousands. We ventured around the lake looking for the “pinkies” dirtying up our new clean car on a dirt road around the lake, to ultimately abort the effort as we never saw any flamingo.

(Sleeping visitor in welcoming Orthodox Church)

(Center dome of same Orthodox Church)

(The beautiful altar in this Orthodox Church in Nicosia)

Driving further East I suggested a cute fishing village for lunch to be followed by a drive up a to a viewing point looking over the Turkish border into the devoid of citizens ghost city of Famagusta, once before the Turkish invasion a booming beach town.

(This art stands in front of the

Public library)

(Had to take this photo on a street corner)

(In front of his palace, erected after his death, a white marble statue of archbishop and president Makarios III, first president of Cyprus with two terms in office, between 1960 and 1977 (his death of a heart attack, maybe as a result of 4 failed assassination attempts), while also being the Archbishop of the Greek Orthodox Church of Cyprus)

Well as we were out of season there was no lunch to be found in the fishing village and after many more miles of searching we at long last found a so-so place. Famagusta was not going to happen as time had run out and we needed to return to Ivi Mare.

(Ok so Nicosia was last and the Troodos mountains

second on our tour, but below are pictures of the mountains

starting with a waterfall of melting snow)

(The highest point being Mount Olympus at 6401ft/1961m)

(The road stops here at a Greek military zone with

maybe communication towers on Mt Olympus)

(Snow all around while having lunch)

The next day we moved to the Troodos mountains and enjoyed cute villages dotted with churches and chapels and snowy mountain sides. A longer ride out brought us to one of the rich monasteries

( Kykkos Monastery)

(Entrance to the museum, but we were too late to enter)

(The outside galleries ceilings)

(

The entrance to the monastery from the parking lot)

(This monastery had no walls that were not painted)

Our last stay in Nicosia was spent with two guides one on the Greek side and one on the Turkish side. We also walked the border on both sides to see differences.