The split realities of Nicosia

Since Christmas the downtown area of the Nicosia is going through a resurgence of sorts. It seems that new cafes and restaurants are opening up each week, along with a plethora of frozen yoghurt shops which are a current craze. Restoration and gentrification is changing the face and character of some areas, and there is a growing sense of economic optimism on the back of the old city's newfound popularity.

However you don't have to walk far from the bustling tourist areas to find a very different reality. As with the whole of Cyprus, Nicosia continues to be a divided capitol and the line of division (known as the green line or buffer zone) runs right through the middle of the old city.  In the old town itself, the UN controlled buffer zone is only 5-10m wide in parts, with Turkish and Greek Cypriot soldiers manning posts on either side.  It has been this way for the last 40 years, and positive progress towards any meaningful resolution of 'the Cyprus problem' seems more distant than ever.  

Arabahmet neighbourhood in the Nicosia old town

Even after three and a half years here, it can still feel surreal at times to walk the bustling streets or sit in one of the many new chic cafes drinking a 'cyprus (not Turkish) coffee' or frappe, whilst just metres away armed soldiers on both sides of the divide keep a watchful eye from their posts along the buffer zone.  We often walk in the old city, and a particular favourite for Ross is to enter the north at the Ledra Palace crossing, and then wander through the rundown streets of 'Arabahmet' (the Arab quarter) and then along the buffer zone to re-enter the south at the main crossing in the centre of town. Especially in summer people live very much outdoors, and as you walk down the narrow streets you can find yourself immediately outside the open entrance to someone's living or dining room as the family sits together drinking tea or playing cards or backgammon.

The clip below is filmed in the old city, and shows something of the 'other reality' of a divided Cyprus.

And the following pictures give some more perspectives from the Arab quarter in the old town.

Football pitch between Arabahmet and the Ledra Palace
crossing point.  Angus has friends who live nearby so
they have enjoyed the occasional game here

Near the Armenian monastery under restoration
in Arabahmet

A view to the 'Pentadaktylos' in the north

Beautiful Ottoman architecture

Just in case you forgot which country controls the north!