North to Turkish Cyprus

Early start - 7 am alarm as today we’re off on an excursion to Famagusta, Salamis and Varosha. So early breakfast and outside the hotel by 8:15.
Our tour guide Eva grew up in Northern Cyprus and became a refugee in the war of 74. So interesting to hear her perspective, she must be 60ish - the last generation of Greek cypriots born in the north.
She told us tales of the invasion ( during which her father was killed) and a potted history of the island up to that point. All horrifying and interesting and subtly anti muslim biased - the comments about the Ottomans etc. i suspect it plays well to about half the coach population who are reform types!
Also she quoted numbers ( of turkish settlers in the north, snd greek cypriots remaining in the north) which were surprising and wiki suggests were questionable. Obviously the Turkish invasion was an act of aggression and many people were killed or displaced. Eva’s father was killed and she was separated from her family. Awful.
But little nuance in her telling of causes and / or the ottoman history of Cyprus. Reading to be done!
Mostly ( entirely ?) cauli heads on the coach and some entirely expected fun overhearing to be done ( complaints about building noise at hotels, husband / wife interactions that were amusing and the worlds worst hat!Anyway first stop after a wee stop and crossing through into the North via a British military base ( much less exciting than it sounds) was Salamis, which I remember as a big site but we just had a flying visit to the theatre and the gymnasium.
Then to Famagusta, the walled city, we had hoped to walk the walls but there was were only a few access points not an accessible circuit. We looked at the former cathedral of Famagusta a classic gothic build which when the ottomans took over in the 14th c was converted to a mosque. So flying buttresses and pointed windows but the bell tower was replaced with a minaret, various dide buildings removed and the interior was stripped out.
We had an interesting walk around Famagusta looking at old buildings and a very interesting short chat with a woman from London who was a Turkish Cypriot who asked if we were being told how terrible the turkish people were…..
Then on to Varosha / Varossi which in 1974 was a tourism hotspot favoured by the ruch and famous but became a bargaining chip in the post ‘74 discussions on Cyprus’ future. So now it is an abandoned town with crumbling hotels and shops .
Then back to the bus and the long haul back to Paphos - we got to the hotel around 7:20 pm.
Long but fascinating and left us with many questionsRead more