Cyprus: Nicosia and the Green Zone

Nicosia is the last divided European capital.  Like Kyrenia and Famagusta, it is a fortified city with the coolest city wall ever:This is a picture my dad took of the north side of the city.  Notice the Turkish flag on the side of the mountain and the minarets that have been added to the Christian church.We had to present our passports to go from the North side to the south side.  The north side is noticeably poorer than the south side.  The south side had nice, modern looking department stores while the shopping district in the north looked like thisIn between is a fenced off “Green Zone” which neither side is allowed to inhabit.  The green zone stretches all the way across the island.  So here is the vibrant capital city with a strip of vacated, decaying buildings right in the middle.  I would have taken pictures of the green zone but it is illegal and there were armed guards around.  I did, however take pictures of the green zone when we drove through it to get to Nicosia.

This is a ghost town in the green zone.  Everyone who lived here was forced to leave and move into a refugee camp in 1974.  My dad says that the day this conflict ends archeologists will be crawling all over this city because it is a perfect time capsule complete with breakfast on the tablesThe Turks have occupied many of the abandoned homes to use as look out stations in the green zone.  On the other side of the road the UN has set up dinky look out posts that look like glorified life guard chairs.Back to our day in Nicosia:  We ate more Turkish delight, ate lamb kebabs and visited an old fortified inn for caravans.  It was fortified so that the travellers could sleep knowing that their livestock would be safe from theft in the center.  Norah really wanted to pet this dog and but she was a little nervous so she and this other little girl just walked around it pointing at it while saying “dog” in their respective languages.  When the dog’s owner came over to protect her dog from the circling children Norah when right up to her and put her arm around her neck for security.  Then she petted the dog.  The lady praised Norah for “being so gently”