Chasing Cats in No-Man's Land

Sunday – our day out.  Today we planned to visit the Nicosia Emmanuel Church - a family oriented, evangelical church (so the newspaper ad said).  This is our fourth and final church ‘sampler’ so that we know what exists around town and we can make a good decision about where we’d like to have some Christian community.  The kids have complained about going somewhere new and different each week although they’ve been absolute troopers bravely attending the tiny Sunday schools in which they know nobody.  So this morning we head for the Old Town.  The church advertisement said it was next to the Ledra Palace Hotel, right near the checkpoint.  So, having crossed the border once before, we boldly head off to the same area feeling pretty good that we kind of know the area.  However, when we get there and look around, there’s not a hotel in sight; just restaurants and souvenir shops. 

We start asking around, thinking it can’t be that hard, and find that most we ask don’t have a clue where it is but a few point in the general direction of ‘across town’.  So, with Anna in the stroller plus 3 kids in tow, we take a walk through the back streets of the old town and are amazed by the cross-section of humanity we encounter.  Old Greek men sitting in corner cafes downing their first ouzo or beer for the day, Sri Lankan and Philippino women cheerfully meeting up with one another on their one day off, Greek ladies dressed in black washing down their balconies (somewhat of a national obsession here), street-side ‘chefs’ cooking meat on spits, tourists of various nationalities, Lebanese Maronites on their way to mass, Catholics and Greek Orthodox coming out of their respective cathedrals, suspicious looking guys with tight-fitting Adidas tracksuits decorated with lots of bling (nationality unknown – we can’t pick them…where are they from?) and women dressed to the nines for their big day out (best outfit today was an African woman in tight lemon coloured levis, knee length white vinyl boots and a peacock hair style with lemon scarf to match).  All this combined with narrow one-way streets full of moving cars, ad-hoc slim footpaths and Sam getting tired legs:).  We were 40mins late to church but felt the adventure had been worth it before arriving.

We finally found the church, realising that it was actually located in 'no-man's land', ie. the UN-patrolled buffer zone between the divided Greek and Turkish halves of the city.  Nothing like a walk through a former war zone to get to morning prayers!  We were welcomed warmly to the congregation, not least because we doubled the Sunday school’s numbers in an instant.  A Cypriot gentleman by the name of Hercules was getting up to preach and we settled in to our chairs wondering expectantly what awesome Greek tales he might be able to throw in alongside the Parable of the Ten Virgins. Sadly, we were only to be disappointed, however Ross was having adventures of his own outside with Anna.  Being the regular 'almost 2 yr old', Anna is not all that great at sitting still in church (even if the preachers name is Hercules.....), so Ross took her out for a walk.  Anna has become somewhat obsessive about cats whilst we've been here, so she and Ross spent an hour or so walking around in no-man's land chasing cats.  A little surreal to say the  least.....  The Ledra Palace hotel also sits in the UN buffer zone.  A magnificant old building, it was heavily damaged during the war and is now occupied by the UN.  It was once used as the exchange point for prisoners of war between Turkey and Greece in the years immediately following the 1974 conflict.

The Ledra Palace Hotel in its halcyon days

Overall we are still finding that Nicosia is somewhat of a sensory overload.  It would be a stretch to say that it is an attractive city, but it is a really fascinating mix of new and old.  The division between Greece and Turkey is both tragic and compelling at the same time.  We are looking forward to further exploring the north in coming months. 

Better get to bed, ready for another week.  Thanks to all for your comments and emails.  We really appreciate hearing from friends and family.  love Sarah and Ross 

ps. a few recent pics of the kids below: Angus on the occasion of his 7th birthday last weekend, and Sam in his current preferred sleeping location (yes we are still trying to get him into a bed!)

Sam's current 'bed'.....

Kids in the old town