Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
kiosk in North Nicosia.
4
Entering the sparseness and silence of the magnificent
Selimiye Mosque.
5
Walking between watermelon mountains at the
Belediye Pazarı.
6
Checking out the fashionable new restaurants and bars on cosmopolitan
Mehmet
Akif Caddesi
in the New City.
7
Taking a twirl at the
Mevlevi Shrine Museum
, a former shrine of the fascinating
and mystic whirling dervishes.
History
Until 1963 North Nicosia, not surprisingly, shared much of the same history as its dis-
membered southern sector.
The capital was effectively divided into Greek and Turkish sectors in 1963, when viol-
ence against Turkish Cypriots by insurgents from the Ethniki Organosi tou Kypriakou
Agona (EOKA; National Organisation for the Cypriot Struggle) forced them to retreat into
safe enclaves or ghettos. The Green Line, as it has become known, was established when
a British military commander divided up the city on a map with a green pen. The name
has remained ever since.
The Turkish military invasion of 1974, which most Turkish Cypriots saw as a rescue
operation, formalised the division between the two halves of the city. A wary truce was
brokered by the blue-bereted members of the UN peacekeeping forces, who had been
guarding the Green Line since sectarian troubles broke out in 1963.
It is now easy for visitors (and Cypriots) to cross over the border but, despite this, the
city remains both physically and symbolically divided and many of the older generation
(both Greek and Turkish) still bear grudges and refuse to cross the divide.
CROSSING THE LINE
There are no time restrictions imposed when crossing the Green Line, so overnight stays (or longer) pose no
problem. Pedestrian crossings are at Ledra St and Ledra Palace Hotel in Nicosia (Lefkosia); from the latter it's a
10-minute walk to the Kyrenia Gate. There are seven access points linking the Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot
sides of Cyprus; the latest is the Limnitis-Yeşilirmak crossing in the northwest of the island, which opened in
October 2010.
Hire cars can only be taken from South to North, not the other way.
