Famagusta and Kyrenia (Cities in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus)

Hello again,
So the excursion this weekend was only a day long and occurred on Saturday 6/22/13.  We went to the Northern part of Cyprus, the occupied part that was taken forcefully by the Turkish military in 1974.  It was quite the experience to cross the border into the occupied territory.  We crossed through the buffer zone set up by the United Nations.  Basically, the buffer zone is a one mile wide area where no one lives and the soldiers of the South and the North watch each other night and day.  The gap was quite obvious and quite strange.  It was set up like an epic staring competition between two opposing forces.  We had the same tour guide for our trip as we did for Paphos and Troodos.  When we got to the border she stressed that our bus was being watched on all sides by the Turkish military and that if we took any pictures, we would probably be arrested and our cameras confiscated.  It's unfortunate that photos are not allowed, because it was quite interesting.  Anyways, we had to get off the bus and go to a booth where the Turkish customs officers had us fill out a visa.  They cannot legally stamp passports because the Northern part of Cyprus is considered an illegal state, so they stamp the slips of paper they give you instead.  It took several minutes for everyone to get through the line at the booths, but eventually we got back on the bus and out of the sweltering heat.  Upon entering the Northern zone, we had to have a Turkish escort on the bus at all times.  This is a requirement based on the border-opening agreements made in 2004 when Turkey agreed to open the borders between the North and South.  This Turkish escort did not interfere at all with anything the tour guide said or did, so he wasn't really noticeable.  It was just a strange reminder of the reality of the situation between North and South Cyprus and the lack of trust between the communities.
We entered a town near North Nicosia and made our way towards Famagusta.  Famagusta is incredible because of all of its ruins and history.  According to our tour guide, the ruins of 31 different churches could be seen in Famagusta.  Any churches in good enough condition have been converted into mosques, as Islam is the main religion of North Cyprus.  For instance, this church was formerly known as the Cathedral of St. Nicholas:

Now it is a mosque, as is observed by the addition of a minaret to the top of the church and the interior has been redesigned for islamic customs.  Here is a view of the glorious interior:

It was pretty big on the inside.  The architecture was gorgeous, as you can gather from these pictures.
After visiting this church, I visited several other ruins in the nearby area, such as this one:

It's pretty clear from the architecture that this was a church at some point.  While exploring the ruins, I tried to imagine what it used to look like and how magnificent it must have been centuries ago.  Yet the eery remains of this church were still quite majestic and surreal to observe.  Other churches in the area were more intact such as this one:

There were ruins all over the place in Famagusta, yet there was a modern street center used for shopping and tourism weaving in between the ancient, crumbling churches:

The juxtaposition of modern architecture and ancient ruins was strange but quite cool to experience.
We traveled next to the abandoned city of Varosha, Famagusta.  This is the famous abandoned city in Northern Cyprus.  It was once a tourist attraction and was full of busy hotels and beach resorts that were world renowned.  In the 1974 Turkish invasion, the city was abandoned and barricaded off to prevent reentry and has remained empty every since.  The buildings are crumbled and decaying, also bearing the scars of the bombings during the invasion.  It is a haunting monument to the horror of the violence that occurred.  We were able to go right up to the edge and gaze at the miles of empty, uninhabited coastline.  Here is what we saw at the border of the city:

All of the buildings in these pictures are completely abandoned.  The people you see swimming are tourists, but they only have access to the beach.  The abandoned resorts make for an eery background while swimming in my opinion.  The buildings have been left completely untouched for 39 years!  This is the definition of a ghost town.  The entire perimeter is fenced off and no one can get in.  The fence is watched around the clock by the Turkish military.  Everything inside the city remains frozen in a long gone decade.  I have heard reports that there are old car dealerships with old models that were at the time considered modern and state-of-the-art.  Belongings of tourists and residents lie amongst rubble.  Dirt and dust coat everything, as nothing has been cleaned or maintained.  Erosion has worn down everything and vegetation has overgrown onto everything.  Buildings randomly fall down at times due to lack of maintenance.  It is a strange place to say the least.  I felt like I had traveled back in time to the invasion while standing just outside Varosha, and I could imagine the mass evacuations and the horizon as troops entered the town and bombs exploded.  It must have been horrific to experience.  Our tour guide informed us that there have been talks to reopen the city, but all the structures would have to be demolished and the whole city would have to be rebuilt.  She told us that many Cypriots would view the return of Varosha as a good-will gesture.  However, she did not seem to think that Turkey intended to do this.  Maybe someday this forgotten city will be rebuilt.  Hopefully it will be, as it once served as main economic artery in the tourism sector and Cyprus as a whole could really use an economic boost right now.  For now, it remains as a de facto historical exhibit and a reminder of the invasion.
After this time in Famagusta, we made our way towards the Kyrenia mountains so we could cross to get to the town of Kyrenia.  On the south side of the Kyrenia mountains, the flag of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus has been painted.  It is visible from the free side of Cyprus, I see it daily on my walk to the University of Nicosia.  Here it is up close:

Next to it to the left, you might notice some words.  If I remember correctly it says something along the lines of "Proud to be a Turk."  At night, there is a light up flag that is visible from our apartments in Nicosia.  Basically, these flags serve as a reminder of the invasion of 1974 and the claim that Turkey has on the Northern part of the island.
By the way, as an aside, the flag of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus is different from the actual Turkish flag.  The flag you see on the mountainside is the flag of Northern Cyprus, the red flag with the white crescent and star is the official flag of Turkey, which is obviously not far from the island of Cyprus.
We continued over the Kyrenia mountains and came upon the town of Kyrenia.  The town is incredibly beautiful.  It is world famous for this harbor:

According to my tourist book about Cyprus, this harbor served as the main port during the period of Ottoman rule.  It does not function as well as a port today, but it was used in 1974 for the Turkish invasion of Cyprus.
Right next to the harbor is the beautiful Kyrenia castle.  It was built by the Byzantine empire and was used as a base to ward off Ottoman attacks.  People can enter the castle by crossing the bridge that was once a moat:

Upon crossing the moat, we entered this passage (the view is after I had already passed through it):

The passage opened into this courtyard:

After visiting one chamber with a bunch of pictures of the castle's history, we turned back through the passage and entered a new series of catacombs to get to the old byzantine chapel:

I really like the above shot, it really captures the complexity of the underground tunnels and corridors in this old castle.  There was quite an impressive network of these scattered throughout various areas of the castle, several that I found during my own exploration.  We entered the chapel after traversing the catacomb and this is what we saw:

There were four of the corinthian style columns that you see in the third picture, arranged in a square and connected by four wooden beams.  The dome was in the center, and is visible from the outside.  Our tour guide told us that the style of architecture in the chapel was very typical for the Byzantine period.  The floor in the fourth picture is destroyed pretty badly now, but it is a mosaic.  The dimly lit, tiny chapel was very pleasant to be in and a beautiful monument to the history of Christianity.  

After leaving the chapel, we entered the main courtyard in the center of the castle:

The picture does not the capture the whole thing, as it was quite large.  From the courtyard, we entered the part of the castle that has become the shipwreck museum.  Here lies the remains of an ancient Greek merchant ship, believed to have sunk in 300 BC, according to my guide book.  It was discovered in 1967 by a diver.  It is also believed to have traveled around the mediterranean islands carrying amphorae, almonds, grain, wine and millstones, a fact also provided by my lovely guide book.  This was the likely route of the ship around the mediterranean waters and was posted in the castle where the ship is located:

Note that I did not actually take this picture, I got it from the fount of knowledge known as Google! (By the way, if you click on the photos in this blog, they will enlarge and are easier to see) Perhaps my own photo would have been clearer but this picture gives a pretty good idea of the types of distances and places this ship was traveling to.

The shipwreck itself is kept in an extremely cold room, probably so the wood does not rot further and so that the ship is preserved as humidity would probably allow for growth of microorganisms that would eat the wood of this precious discovery.  Here are several angles of the ship:

It's truly amazing to me that this shipwreck survived so long.  My tour book explains that the shipwreck is now believed to have been sunk by pirates, based on the fact that the cargo of the ship was mostly gone and the fact that the ship has extensive marks in the body of the ship itself, indicating fighting.  Interestingly, a "curse tablet" was found at the site of the shipwreck and pirates would put them on sinking ships because they believed that the curse tablets would hide the wrecks and keep them in Davy Jones' Locker (the tour book DOES NOT use the term "Davy Jones' Locker, I just love pirate legends and wanted to put the book in my own words and that was pretty much the coolest synonym for "bottom of the ocean" that I could come up with hehe).

Being at the shipwreck jumpstarted my imagination, and reminded me of books I used to read as a kid.  A little known fact about me is that I love pirate novels and cross-ocean epics.  When I was in elementary and middle school, I often went to my local library and checked out all sorts of fiction books about pirates, mutiny, cannibalistic island societies, treasure hunting, war ships, and the like.  Being in Kyrenia castle and seeing this shipwreck brought a smile to my face as I thought of pirate folklore and how exciting these books were (and still are) to me as a little girl.  I am quite an adventurous person and so I always imagined myself if I had been born in the golden age of wooden ships, that I would be that rebellious teenage girl who would find a way to be on a ship going to the ends of the earth to discover new people and lost treasures.  

Actually, the whole castle had a legendary feel to it.  I was also a big fan of King Arthur and the Knights of the Roundtable as a kid, I still am but I don't read much fiction anymore.  I always loved reading about castles, knights, and quests.  I liked King Arthur himself too, because Excalibur chose him over all the other men in the town who were considered strong.  It reminded me as a child that those who appear to be unimportant can be destined for greatness and can change the world.  Being in the halls, courtyards, and towers of the castle brought back memories of my childhood as well.  I learned some important virtues from these books about medieval castles and stuff.  I still remember the bravery and honor of the knights, and the heroism and loyalty that generally existed in King Arthur (barring the affair between Sir Lancelot and Guinivere that if I remember correctly lead to both of them being burned at the stake).  Stories of the knights always inspired me.  I remember wanting to be as adventurous and uphold knight-like values when I grew up.  Hopefully, these legendary stories live on for many generations of children to learn from and enjoy!  If I become a parent someday, I hope I will be able to share this literature with my kids, and I hope that they would be equally inspired by it.  So, anyways, back to Cyprus and this castle, it was quite special to be in this place that connected me to my childhood and inspired my imagination of the old times.

Here are several views from the top of the castle:

The top of the castle permitted a view of the North part of the island for several miles.  It made sense to me from the top of the castle why this place was a valuable fortress for the ancient inhabitants of Cyprus.

One more point about this castle that I found fascinating was the architecture:

The pictures speak for themselves as far as the craftsmanship of the castle goes.  Architecture has really become a lost art in my opinion in most of the modern world.  The sites I have seen here in Cyprus, such as this castle and the various churches, reflected a concern for the need of the human spirit to appreciate beauty and fine details.  There was more pride and purpose put into these buildings.  I find modern architecture to be somewhat boring in general and not as skilled perhaps as these ancient stone-smiths were.  Now, we build multipurpose buildings that have short life cycles.  They are not usually made to stand as lasting impressions and symbols of progress as buildings once were made.  

Well, I hope this was an interesting look into the eery charm and history found in North Cyprus and my very cool experience traveling here!  If you want to see more pictures, look to facebook, as I have over 200 pictures from the North part of the island.  

For now, goodnight from Cyprus!

-Julia