First day in Cyprus – Nicosia

When Mau began planning our trip, he never thought about the adventures expecting us.

We knew Cyprus was a popular vacation spot mostly for the summer and thinking about it being March and more sunny and warm than at home, it was a deal. We wanted to stop there for 3 days. So we landed in Cyprus on a Thursday morning.

Larnaca – 9 AM – too early to go for the hotel check-in so we took the bus to Nicosia.

With our small backpacks on and Gri hanging from a pocket we began our walk through the narrow streets. And while we were wondering and looking around the shops, admiring the historic buildings we reached some sort of a border: the border between North and South Cyprus that runs right through the heart of the old walled city, separating the Greek Cypriots from the Turkish Cypriots.

We completed some papers and there we were – on the other side of the city and in another country. The market place atmosphere was great – exactly like we heard it is in a Turkish bazaar! Colorful shops selling clothes, souvenirs, food and typical Turkish sweets.

After browsing a bit, we visited the Big Mosque while a service was performed – very beautiful prayer rugs – and then we ended having a Turkish coffee at Buyuk Han – an Inn build in 1577 which today hosts a restaurant and crafts and workshops with products for sale.