crossing the border: turkish nicosia

crossing into the turkish occupied half of nicosia was a very bizarre experience for me.


on new years day, ben & i grabbed our passports and set out for old nicosia, where we could walk down ledra street to the place where you can cross the border on foot.  my anxiety about crossing this border was pretty crazy.. worried about all of the stories i'd read about how intense it is to cross over and how serious the hatred is between the two sides, etc.  i decided to suck it up because to be in cyprus, living in the only divided city left in the world and to not venture over would be a shame.


after we passed the end of the greek side, we found ourselves in a united nations buffer zone.  this is basically an area where no country has jurisdiction... empty space.  as you walk through, you see tall buildings that are completely devastated from the past war when the turks invaded the island.  in the past, this was an area where united nations officers were on guard with guns, patrolling the area.  photography was (technically still is) off limits, and anyone caught attempting was arrested.  thankfully, things have calmed down a lot since then.  if i had only known that ahead of time, i would have been fine.


currently, people are camping out in the buffer zone in an attempt to unite the two sides.  i'm not sure i know enough about it, but i don't really understand how they intend for this to work.  regardless, it's pretty cool.  there are tons of tents between buildings, people huddled around a fire in a garbage can, and reggae music playing as they just hang out, chat, and enjoy themselves.  to be honest, it kind of reminded me of something you'd see in the musical "rent."


i didn't take pictures of the people or the tents because i wasn't sure how they would respond to it, but all over the walls, on the tarps separating the street from the crumbling buildings are drawings, inspirational sayings, peace signs, names, etc.

i think overall, the buffer zone was my favorite part of the day... it was a really hippie-ish and just so... cool.  can't really come up with a more creative word.


after crossing through, the rest of the day was pretty strange.  the clouds rolled in and it started raining on & off.  not only was it new year's day, but it was also a sunday, so most of the shops and restaurants were closed, and there weren't really many people around.  we decided to take it for what is was and just wander around taking things in and making the best of what we were given.


as we got down towards the outskirts of the walled city (nicosia), there were more people out in an area kind of like a town square, for lack of a better way to explain it.  we were walking and checking out our surroundings, and i couldn't help but notice that people kept looking at me.  at first, i figured it was because ben & i stood out as tourists.  on second notice, though, i realized all of a sudden that i was the only woman in sight.  the only one.  as in there were NO other women.


i can't really describe the way it made me feel.  i've never felt like such a minority before; i was the odd one out.  here i am, in a foreign country, walking around a part of the city i've never been to, and realizing that there are only men out and about in the city.  talk about feeling out of place!


i've spent hours googling and trying to research why i could have possible been the only woman out that day, but i really can't come up with any answers.  are they not allowed out on sundays?  is it standard that they be inside on sundays cooking and cleaning?  was it just irony that at that point in time none were out?


i have a feeling this is a question i will never be able to answer, and yet never be able to fully put to rest.


any answers/ideas/thoughts are toootally welcome....


xox k

a go with the flow kinda day

sunday was amazing.  benjamin had the day off, and we slept in pretty late.  when we woke up, we looked outside and it was gorgeous (it had been cloudy the day before). because it was already about noon and we hadn't even showered or had breakfast, we ruled out any big extravaganzas.

without any plan in mind, we hop in the car & head out for a coffee.  we order our coffee "for here," and go find a seat.  coffee shops in europe are much more restaurant-like than they are in the states.  there are tons of outdoor seating areas with couches and coffee tables around, some in the shade, some in the sun.  if you order your coffee "for here," you are served with big mugs just like you'd snuggle up with at home, and when you're done, you leave your dishes on the table and the waitress comes to clear them for you after you've gone.

we must have been sitting there for an hour, enjoying the warmth of the sun and the briskness of the chilled breeze; much longer than it took us to finish our drinks.  the two of us were so baffled, though, as for what to do next!  it was a gorgeous day, but there wasn't enough time to do any real exploring, and we had just been to old nicosia yesterday.  

we wind up heading down there again for another wander, regardless of the fact that we've done this a million times now.  i'm livid with myself for not bringing passports with us so we could have a wander around the turkish side, as i'd promised myself i would not forget them the next time we headed that way (in my defense, we didn't know that was the plan).  

we start off on a stroll through old nicosia, and decide to explore the streets less traveled, if you will.  what began as a right turn where we normally would have continued straight or turned around led us into all kinds of desolate back street areas where people live high above the street in old buildings very much in need of renovation, or at least a paint job.  it was like time stopped somewhere between 1960-1970 and kind of was just at a stand still.  it was both beautiful and devastating at the same time, and i couldn't decide if i would love to live there or hate it.  one building would be adorable and quaint and show so much character, and then the next would be missing the windows and tagged with graffiti.  so bizarre!

after a bit, we head home because i have to start cooking something to take over to eboni & kevin's for dinner.  they had invited us all over, kyle too, which ended up being a really great night out of the house.  we got there for about 7 and left after midnight, following dinner, chatting, and card games that turned into drinking games that turned into lots of laughs.

it was a lovely end to a great, completely unplanned day, and i wouldn't hesitate to do it all over again!

xox k

on the border

on saturday, we decide to take kyle into old nicosia to show him a bit of what this place is all about.  we parked in "our" lot, and headed across the street into the quaint little area we are so beginning to love.

after wandering down the main strip a bit, we continued past the part where we've typically turned around. things changed in style from the clothing shops and restaurants we had come from to more of a souvenir shop type feel.

i looked across the street and saw a "police station" tucked into the corner of this tiny little nook in the cobblestone streets.  it was such an unlikely place for a police station, not to mention it seemed kind of pointless - like what are they going to do in an emergency?  i decided i had to take a picture.  i pull out my camera, and just as i'm about to lift it to focus for the picture, i look literally 5 meters in front of me and realize we're standing at the greek/turkish border.  guess the police station makes more sense than i thought.  if i had taken the picture, i probably would have been in big time trouble.

i explain the border to kyle, how it's the last divided city in the world, and that the two sides despise each other.  at first, i was under the impression that only E.U. passport holders could cross the border, but i'm now reading things that insinuate that i might be able to as well.  at one point in time, the hatred was so intense between the two sides that if you were, at any point in time, on the turkish side & had the stamp in your passport, you were no longer allowed back to the greek side.  ever.  to this day, they do "passport" stamps on separate pieces of paper, rather than in the passport itself.  i wish we had our passports so we could have tried to cross the border!!

...next time.

xox k