North Cyprus Day 3 and 4: Kyrenia

Girne Harbour with the castke 

Once we had gotten back to the hostel that night, Steph and I shared our stories and our pictures. We settled on tie on who had more fun (but for sure we were lonely traveler). We discussed our plan for the next day. We were taking the 8AM dolmus to Kyrenia (or Girne in Turkish).


Day 3:
Obviously we did not wake up on time so had to wait for 9 AM dolmus. Dolmus is a like a mini van. But once the dolmus started, we reached Girne in no time. We took a taxi to our hotel even though we knew it was too early to check in. But knowing that it was off season, they would accommodate us somehow. But once we got there plans changed. We paid for the hotel and left our bags there and instead of checking in, we asked for towels and headed towards the beach. It was surprising that after being in Turkey for about two months and a half and being in Cyprus for three days, we had not spent time on a beach.

Harbour from the top of the castle

After few hours of chilling we were ready for some food and some time in the touristy town of Girne. Everybody was taking so much about this place so I was getting very excited for it. Girne, long strip of land facing the Eastern Mediterranean Sea to the east and mountains to the west. The city is famous for its old harbor, a very famous castle since medieval age and churches. Also, the town has small streets providing an atmosphere for its shopping district. Not to mention there are numerous hotels and casinos like elsewhere in Northern Cyprus.

Inside the Girne Castle Museum.
Showing the Venetian torture styles 

We decided to walk around the city and learn a little bit about it by exploring. It was around lunch time and there were a lot of tourists walking around or sitting at the restaurants. The restaurant chairs are laid half way into the streets and the staff try to invite you to their restaurant. Then we went to the Girne Castle. The castle was build by the Byzantines around 10th century and had been passed through the Venetians, the Ottomans and the British. Every empire have left their mark but without disturbing its originality. It was a very big castle and the first one I have ever been to in my life. I was kind of disappointed when I did not find the drawbridge though.

The famous Girne Shipwreck of the Mediterranean
Discovered after hundreds of years

Afterwards we went for chay and then back to the hotel to check-in and take a shower. That evening we went back to the city center for dinner and walked around the town at night. It seemed very lively. I had still not given up on going to Karpaz Peninsula. So we went around few big hotels if they had a group going there (as per suggestions). We ended up deciding not going there because during low seasons there are not much people going there. Instead we decided to stay within the city and go to the St. Hilarion Castle up on the mountains.

Well I have mentioned Karpaz Peninsula many times and if you are wondering what it is, it is the peninsula part of the island. It has miles long golden untouched beaches, wild donkeys who stop your vehicles for treats, other flora and faunas, and just peace and calmness you deserve coming from the city of 16 million people (official number may vary). It sounded like a true bliss when I heard about it. but was disappointed after I could not go there.

The breathe taking view from the St. Hilarion Castle

Day 4:

On the way to the Snow White castle

St. Hilarion Castle is also known as the Sleeping Beauty Castle. People here say that Walt Disney got inspired by this castle in his story. A castle up on the mountains hidden by trees and matching stones found within the same mountain might have been the reason.

This is the Snow White Castle

Once we got off the road, we tried to hitchhike up the way. At first we were not getting successful. And later we saw a military vehicle passing by where someone shouted at us which sounded like "GO BACK". We had realized that there are military camps up there and you can only pass with a vehicle. We were thinking of going back if we did not find a ride in next few minutes which we did. A German man with Claus helped us get up there spent time with us and brought us back to Girne around noon.

We were flying back to Istanbul today but we had a lot of time to kill and nowhere to go. So we decided to go to on a walk again and try to find something. We walked for few miles and ended up on a beach. I liked this beach because it did not have sands but pebbles. The pebbles were warm and round. I probably fell asleep under the sun for a solid 30 minutes. It felt amazing, away from the city limit and under the open sky it was a perfect spring break (self created). Afterwards we walked back, took the shuttle bus to the airport, got there hours early and waited for the check-in desk to open and once we checked in we waited until we the plane arrived.

Claus, Steph and me! 

I had a very good four days in North Cyprus. It was a last minute plan and we had not planned anything in advance. The lesson from the trip is that if you have a company and are ready to do things at your guts, you will love the experience. And not to mention I got to go "abroad" while in Turkey and I did not have to get a visa in advance for that so that was cool as well. And I would recommend going to North Cyprus any time of the year even though most tourist come during summer (that is why summer here is expensive).

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Unknown 2:14 PM  No comment

North Cyprus Day 2: A solo day trip to Famagusta

The view of the walled city from the top of the wall
 above the main entrance 

So, for the second full day in North Cyprus, Steph and I had decided to part our ways and then meet in the evening and share the stories. It was my way of thanking her company and letting her to go to the Republic of Cyprus where I would require a visa to enter. We left our hostel in a decent time today and then walked around Ataturk Square.

It was a Saturday and a group of young people were putting up stalls for a charity fundraiser. They gave us free Turkish coffee because I think they were excited about my little bit of broken Turkish skills. With the objective of helping for the charity and filling our own stomach, we bought some Simit ( a special kind of Turkish bread with sesame). Then we went to a Turkish tea garden and had those simit with some chay.

Steph and I said goodbye to each other and then I walked towards the bus stop. I had located the bus stop the night before on our long walk. Once I got there I asked for the bus that would go to Karpaz Peninsula. Well, none of the bus would go there and I did not know much about the geography of this country. The ticket agent pointed me towards some bus but for me it was going to be like another go with the flow experience. The bus ride was nice and lasted for around an hour and a half. After I got off the bus I started to wander around the city which I finally know was called Famagusta (or Gazimagusa in Turkish). I walked towards a stone wall which seemed pretty interesting to me which apparently was the wall of the city of Magusa.

St. Peter and St. Paul Cathedral

The walled city of Gazimagusa is rich in history and culture. There are numerous churches, tombs, mosque, palaces, a sports complex and many other interesting places. It was so interesting that I was able to spend my entire day walking around the walled city and be amazed by its richness and the stories. I had gone into the tourist information office to learn what I could do there. Then I walked around to see everything that was located on the map. It was very similar to the city of Nicosia but with a different atmosphere. Also, it is on the sea side so the weather is much nicer.

A thing to note: I had not met a single Nepali or an Indian since I had left Cedar Falls in February. It was already middle of April. Luckily there was an Indian working in a restaurant and when I told the servers that I was from Nepal they immediately pointed me towards the Indian guy. He was very nice and we had a good conversation. He told me that there was a Nepali man working in a restaurant across the street.

With my first Indian friend in Turkey/Cyprus in front of St. Nicolas Cathedral
which is now converted to mosque known as Lala Mustafa Pasha Cami

I went across the street and then waited until the he was free. His name was Shankar Maharjan and was from the same area in Kathmandu where I had spend few years during high school. He is the manager at Ginkgo Restaurant. I am thinking about doing a separate post on the restaurant because I liked it so much. Especially because it served some Nepali cuisines as well. One thing to remember as a Nepali traveler is when you meet another Nepali abroad, you will go talk for hours and will be treated very well. It is mainly because Nepali people has this charm and feeling of nationalism that wherever you are, you will be reminded of who you are and where you are from. I had a nice lunch and some Nepali masala tea (Oh God!! finally in three months) finally decided to leave as I had more places to see.

Church of St. George of the Latins.
There is another church of St. George of the Greeks few steps away

I slowly made my way out of the walled city and decided to go explore the beach. I walked along the beach and it felt amazing. I had been walking the whole day so getting my feet wet was heavenly. Right by the beach was the part of the city called Varosha which I learned was abandoned since the Turkish invasion of Cyprus. The local people call it ghost town of Varosha since no body have been able to go back since 1974 which is when the 35000 residents had fled leaving everything behind with the fear of getting massacred. (I learned this as I overheard a woman talking about it to a group which I did not realize was a guided tour until they were ready to leave.)

Othello Castle. Nuff' said

It was around 6 pm by then and the last bus back to Nicosia was going to leave in 30 minutes. I made my way back and took the bus. On the way back, I was only thinking about how much I had seen and learned today. The next morning we were to leave Nicosia and then head to Girne, the best part of Northern Cyprus.

Tombs of the Turkish Cypriots killed during the conflict.
There are Greek Cypriots during the occupation as well

Posing (behind the St. Nicholas Cathedral, or Lala Mustafa Pasha mosque)

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Unknown 3:30 PM  No comment

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.

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Unknown 8:12 AM  No comment

How did the trip to North Cyprus Happen

Flag of Republic of Cyprus
(Accompanied by Greek Flag on south side)

Flag of North Cyprus
(usually accompanied by Turkish Flag)

If you had said that I will be going to Cyprus maybe six months ago, if not I had slapped you, id have frowned upon for saying something which was not likely. Being a Nepalese citizen, it is hard to travel to most of the countries due to visa restrictions. 

But this April, I would have deeply regretted if I had offended your for guessing my future. I was thankful that I was living in Turkey and for the fact that only Turkey had supported the independence of "Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus" 

As the name says, it is a territory Turkish speaking people in the small island of Cyprus. To provide some geographical information, the world knows Republic of Cyprus as the only country with its map on its flag, with olive branches under it on the white background. But some time after the independence from the British, Turkish occupation in the 70s created the "self proclaimed" independent territory "TRNC", or "KKTC" in Turkish. 

Please read the Wikipedia article or other sources for more political information. 

Planning the trip!

It was a spur of the moment decision. My flat mate Omar and I were planing to do something for he weekend on that Thursday afternoon. 

Finding cheaper tickets made easy

So I went to www.skyscanner.com and put "Istanbul" on the 'from' section and "Everywhere" on 'to' section with the departure date being the same day. To so much for our excitement we found the RT ticket for only $38 dollars. 

Our hyper excitement did not last very long when we saw the price almost double going into the booking page but it was my one chance to go abroad while at Istanbul. I decided to stay with it. Omar did not want to go but I talked Steph to join. Together we finished booking the 8:10 pm flight at around 4:15 from Sabiha Gokchen Airport, on the Asian side. We would come back late Monday night. 

The departure. 

We did not have accommodation but we didn't have time to plan for it. We decided to play it by the ear. We promised to meet in 45 minutes in Taksim square and I started  packing without realizing that in 5PM Istanbul traffic only a miracle could help us. Though we were able to meet on time, the shuttle driver honestly mentioned that it would be impossible to catch 8pm flight with the 6PM shuttle.

The Rush

After his suggestion, we decided to take a taxi from the man who promised us to get there just in time. 

We knew what we had put ourselves into. He took the longer route saying that the traffic pressure was low on that route. Having lived in Istanbul for two months now, I knew he was partially correct. Once we crossed into the Asian side through Fatih Sultan Mehmet bridge, and passed Kariköy, he flew the cab. We got to the airport premises an hour to the departure. I would usually NOT RECOMMEND reaching airport on a time crunch and absolutely not for "international" flight. The security, check in, and the emigration as very fast and smooth THANK GOD. 

So much legroom

The SAW airport runway was the busiest I've ever seen. There were 3 planes lining up for the departure each time and there were 1-2 landing between every departure non stop. Maybe 30 seconds between flights! We were on Turkish airlines, national carrier and I should say despite the complains of Nepali passengers, the flight experience was amazing. We had enough legroom, a sandwich snack on 1 hour long flight and were greeted nicely by the cabin crew. That made me think hard one more time. Maybe the service between Nepal and Turkey is the only bad service of this company.

So good that we took pics after
finishing the food

The arrival

Ercan (ERC) airport was a small airport like a regional ones in the US, bigger than the Waterloo (ALO) but much smaller then Cedar Rapids (CID). Apparently, this airport is not recognized by IATA or other agencies. 

The immigration officer was very nice and only asked me "how many days I was staying in North Cyprus." After I mentioned " we leave on Monday" he said " enjoy your stay" and stamped 90 days visa not on my passport but a paper slip (after I pointed towards it). It was my first time flying anywhere without a pre-stamped visa sticker on my passport. Could not believe I was in CYPRUS. 

Many miracles had happened to me in last six hours. Only eight hours ago, I was thinking of taking a bus to Ankara and now I was in a completely different country. But we needed one last miracle. Get a place got sleep for the night in our budget. It happened as well. At 11pm, we checked into "not so" good hostel for 20 lira for that night in the old walled city of Nicosia. 

The real "cheap" hotel. Survived the night

While going to bed a dialogue from the Bollywood movie Om Shanti Om came to my mind. Please pardon my poor translation my friends but it resembled to my life once again that day Thursday April 10th 2014. 

"When you desperately want something by all your heart the whole universe will come together to provide it for you." 

I'm grateful every single day of my life for getting all the love, support and the opportunities. My education at UNI ( not comparable to anything) or this moment of the spur trip would not have been possible without the greatness of many people. Thanks for being there

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Unknown 12:19 AM  1 comment