North Cyprus Day 1: Nicossia, the last divided capital of 21st century.

The map of the divided city. It is divided somewhere through
the middle from NW to SE

Not forgetting the memories of the previous evening, two of us (me and my friend Steph) left the hostel and headed out to discover the capital city of the island. The hostel we had stayed overnight was affordable but was probably not worthy of staying. It had two beds, in a spacious room, smelly lobby area, and a bathroom that I probably would never want to go. And to make our worries worse, it did not have WiFi (the most essential thing for me while traveling). Our first aim was to find things to do and a place to stay while we were in the city.

Ataturk Square; the symbol of Turkish inspiration
and the marker of center of the city

The capital city, Nicosia (Lefkosa in Turkish) is the last divided capital city of the world. The northern side is the capital of Turkish Republic of North Cyprus and the Southern side is the capital of Republic of Cyprus, the Greek side. I am abstaining from the political conversation here but since I went to the North Cyprus, I will talk extensively about the Turkish side of the island.

So, our first goal was to find WiFi so that we could do some research for things to do and also find a place to stay. After some hard work and with the help of some good Turkish people we ended up at Gloria Jean’s coffee. They did not bring us there but they took us to few places which they thought would have internet but coming from Istanbul, we did not want to pay to use the internet (we would have liked to pay for nothing if it was possible). But only these Turkish people would lead your ways and bring you to places rather than point from a distance.

Our first project was to find things to do. We did not have any idea about the country, city, people or culture. Reading different reviews on the internet and looking at pictures we decided to stay our last night in Girne (Kyrenia) and next two nights here. So we made a hit or miss plan for Girne and booked the hotel. However we had no luck in finding hostel in the capital city online.

Steph is Couchsurfing

Call it my Nepali hunch but I talked her into walking around the city and see if we can find a place that way. In the meantime we had sent some requests to host us on www.couchsurfing.org where you can stay at other members shelter through their generously. So we walked around the city to explore its greatness and rich cultural history.

The entrance to Selimiye Cami, a cathedral
turned into mosque during ottoman period

Similar to the story of Istanbul the island of Cyprus has gone through Roman, Byzantine, Venetian, Ottoman and British dominance. Each of these “empires” has left their mark on its territory while trying to preserve the richness of its predecessor. There are magnificent architectural examples.

Buyug Han, the Great Khan: One of the landmarks of
Ottoman History in Cyprus

Within this time I had also made a failed attempt to go to the Greek (or European) side. Passing the Turkish side was very easy and smooth. Right after reaching the Greek passport control side, my slight pessimism had turned into reality. I obviously did not have a Schengen Visa and I did not have a passport that would allow me to travel without a visa. I like to call it the west (white people) being racist against us brown people and make myself feel better. If you already do not know, it is very easy to travel if you do not need to apply for visa in advance and go through all the hassles. So we turned back and started looking for hostels again. We have had received some help to take us to some hostels already but they were beyond our capacity. But during that time we learned that the Turkish word for hostel or dorm was “Pansiyon”.

Our Room

We noticed some pansiyons and eventually gave this one a try. Anatolia Pansiyon is right next to Buyug Hamam, the famous Great Bath in North Cyprus. Our hostess was a lady, originally from Bulgaria, who insisted us call her “Mami”. We checked in and relaxed for a while and went out to get a late lunch. After lunch we walked more and saw more things, places, people, etc.

Buyug Hamam:
One of the famous Turkish Bath House since Ottoman Period

In the late evening, we decided to go find the bus station for the city thus giving us a chance to explore the non- touristic side of the town. It turned into a long walk to which only a good meal could do justice.

My interpretation of this flag made of lights.
First you see the crescent moon and the star representing Islam
Then you will see the outside rectangle representing Turkey
Finally you will see the stripes making the flag of North Cyprus

Before calling it off for the night I offered Steph if she wanted to go to the Greek side alone since she was an American Citizen for which she hesitated a little bit but eventually agreed. For myself, I planned to go the peninsula part of the island, the “Karpaz” peninsula. I might actually have done a little bit of studies that evening before going to bed. It was becoming a very productive holiday.