Crossing over

Last Saturday we went for a walk in the old town of Nicosia and were able to cross the 'green line' into the Turkish half of the city.  The green line basically demarcates the border between the Greek part of Cyprus and the Turkish part.  This has been in place since the cessation of fighting between Greece and Turkey over Cyprus in 1974, and effectively operates as a national border and divides the country in two.  Nowhere is this more apparent than in the old town of Nicosia, which is divided by a UN patrolled border zone right through its heart.  Fighting between the Turks and Greeks over the country has long since ceased, but the issues that caused the original conflict remain open. 

A view of the north from Nicosia

The giant Turkish flag painted onto the mountains overlooking Nicosia serves as a constant reminder of the unresolved territorial dispute in the country.  Since 2002, crossing the green line is now relatively easy, with standard passport controls on each side. 

So off we went on Saturday, passports in hand and crossed into northern Nicosia.  The contrast is immediately striking - mosque minarets instead of Orthodox churches, turkish coffee houses instead of starbucks, and the ever present drone of haunting Turkish pop music.  We walked for a while but alas the kids were not entirely engaged with the experience and spent most of the time whinging about a) food b) tired legs or c) a notable lack of skateramps in Nicosia..........  Alas we continue to hope that they may be able to absorb some of the cultural significance of their experiences here in time!

Those of you who know Sam will be pleased (or somewhat perplexed) to know that his interest in female clothing items continues unabated.  Whilst in northern Nicosia he succeeded in persuading his parents to buy him a smart belly dancing shawl.  He's been busily dancing with it ever since.  He did want to wear it to school but we had to tell him that his classmates were not quite ready for this.