North Nicosia

Turkish Dancing in North Nicosia

Made another trip over the Green Line this week to the Turkish Occupied territory of Northern Cyprus. Had lunch in this square where we saw some turkish dancing. Interesting to compare with the Cypriot dancing previously, similar costumes and dance steps but with a more eastern influence. See what you think.

There are currently lots of talks going to to unify the occupied territory with the South, but things seem to be moving on and many of the checkpoints are relaxing, some aren't even manned anymore. The picture below is part of the venetian wall that surrounds Nicosia. The Turkish bit is on top, the Greek part, the other side. This is the part where there is virtualy no buffer zone, and you could talk to each other if you wanted to.

Many parts of both sides of the line are being restored and things are looking hopeful. A fascinating city...

Spring is in the air...

Despite having rained most of the day today, spring is at last in the air. Cyprus has gone from being dry and arid to green and alive with the colours of Irises, Poppies, Cyclamen, Gladioli, Aliums and lots of others yet to be identified(see picture)!

The frogs are still croaking their mating call every night (all night) and there are some pregnant cats around so the Cyprus College of Art wall will soon become a playground for kittens once more.

My sister Caroline is here to stay for a few weeks, so we have been off out exploring (hence there hasn't been much work going on!) It has been good learning more about Cyprus and we are off later in the week to try and find an old turkish village abandoned after the invasion in 1974. Will let you know if we find it!

Kite flying contest

Today was the end of carnival week and it was kite flying time! It didn't look promising on the way to the beach, as there wasn't a breath of wind but by the time we got to the beach near Paphos the wind had picked up and there were about 100 kites flying in the sky (see below). There was also some traditional cypriot dancing which hopefully you can view above.