Crossing the Green Line

 The past few days have been a mixture of relaxing and sigtseeing. Dear Old Crispy has been so excited that she has  eventually got to spend several hours walking around some "rubble". It's the highlight of her trips although she will no doubt deny that.

Close to the modern town of Paphos lies the Unesco world heritage sights of Nea Pafos. A sprawling collection of ruins dating from the 4th Century BC. It was later added to by my favourite guys the Romans and houses an amazing collection of well preserved Roman (and Greek) mosaics. We had a few hours walking around the site in the glaring sun. 

My Greek history is at best sketchy but if the Romans are involved then count me in. Crispy loved it so much that it was about 3 hours before she gave up the ghost and found a bench to sit on whilst I continued around the site. That must be a record as at best I get an hour to regail her with tales of the past before her eyes glaze over and she seeks out a tree to hide under.

"Rubble"

Crispys favourite part. The Roman Pro Council's house. Mine too.

Yesterday the weather was a little cloudy. There's been a storm over the Sahara and it's thrown a lot of dust into the sky that has made it a little unsettled.

We decided to drive Nicosia and have lunch in the Turkish North. It was a long three hour drive over the mountains but the scenery was amazing. 

I didn't want to drive over the border into Turkish controlled Cyprus which is possible but involves buying additional Turkish Car insurance. We wanted to walk through the pedestrian border control in Nicosia just for the experience. 

Nicosia is a big city but does not hold much interest for us. There is some rubble there but nothing that flicked Crispys switch. I wish I had taken a photo of the tourist information signs. They are in every city and are usually brown. They guide the willing tourist to particular sights of interest. The most prominent in Nicosia directed the crowds to "The sewerage authority of Nicosia" it was tempting but we decided against it. Instead we made our way down. Ledas street to the border crossing. 

No photos are allowed at the crossing so this is the best I got.

The crossing is easy and simple. Passport check on the Greek side. A short walk through a wooden walkway and passport check on the Turkish side. It was quick and everybody was very friendly on both sides.

There is a noticeable difference in atmosphere on the Turkish side. More vibrant, colourful and friendly. That's not to say the Greek side wasn't friendly it just felt " lighter" . We were really surprised how different it felt. To me it was more like the back street soukes of Marrakech than a turkish seaside town like Dalaman. The price of things like food and drink was noticeably cheaper too. We decided on a late lunch and had shish and Donna kebabs. It would be rude not to. The food was authentic and very reasonable.  The sights here are really interesting. A huge medieval church is being renovated and converted to a mosque. It is being done very conservatively and will be something to behold  once completed in a few months time. The other thing of note is the Khan. An Ottoman caravansirai that is now a collection of craft shops and eateries. We loved it and are so glad we made the effort to go and see it. 

These caravan stations were the premier inns of the Ottoman empire. Upstairs is bedroom accomodation and downstairs garages for the pack animals usually camel or donkey. The building in the centre is a mosque for the travellers with a water fountain.

This morning i was on the patio writing this when Crispy came out of the downstairs shower room whispering " there's a baby snake in there". "A snake, are you sure ?" I asked.  

There are snakes here as we are rural and there is even a warning about them in the villa welcome pack. May is the most prolific times for snakes to be seen in Cyprus as it is the mating season. There are eight snakes in Cyprus of which 3 are venomous. The blunt nosed  viper being the most dangerous. 

As such I took Crispys warning very seriously. I crept into the bathroom to try and see the deadly creature and try to catch it. "Where is it?" I said. " Up there" she whispered  whilst pointing dramatically to the top of the tiles. She brought a chair so I could see better. I climbed up and peered into the small gap below the top edge of the tiles. Sure enough a small long thin creature emerged. 

It was a caterpillar! I gave her one of my looks. 

Bare and Crispy signing off Argaka, Cyprus