First, for those of you who have left comments, I always read them and love them! They are sent to my email, so I can easily access them. However, it is challenging to comment back, but know I appreciate them and it is nice to have feedback.
Second, I will be away till Tuesday, so anticipate a post then. I am going to the city of Pahpos till Saturday and then Sunday is Carnival, so am heading to Limassol for the parade and celebration.
Now onto this post...These are pictures from the other city we visited in the occupied north. The city of Famagusta was Cyprus's' most treasured city and its main tourist attraction AND it has the deepest port in the entire country. Although the Turks had not planned on coming so far to this city (which was about an hour from Kyrenia-where the castle was), they decided to invade and then hoped to use the city as an advantage in negotiations. Unfortunately the Turks are not willing to negotiate in a way which gives Cyprus back its prized cities. Half of Famagusta is still funcitoing, but the main city is completely abandoned. Since it was such a significant place for Cypriots, the Turks agreed not to move anyone and no one is allowed to actually enter the abandoned city, just look at it from the beach. It is also illegal to take pictures, but people sneak them anyway, the fear is apparently of spies. The city looks so sppoky, sad, creepy, and brings on this senesation of pain and sadness, as if someone has died or something. The city has been left to the elements the past 40 years and is falling a part, slowly washing away with the sea and time. The buildings are beyond repair and would need to be torn down and rebuilt if Cyprus ever gets it back from the Turks. It reminded me of the movie Inception (how the buildings are abandoned and falling into the sea), or horror/thriller movies like "I Am Legend" etc. Imagine NYC completely abandoned, and that is what it looked like to see this in person. I cnanot capture the intense emotions that were spurred up from this experience, it was nothing like anything I have ever experienced before. Also, they told us that the lights were all still on for many years until they burned out and that once a photographer was allowed in, and he found that all the food and everything was still on peoples' tables, it was like time had been frozen there. Because the Turks invaded so quickly, Cypriots had to flee immediatly, leaving everything behind, those that didn't move quick enough were killed and there are still thousands "missing" which are presumed to be dead or in Turkish prisons.
These are Turkish Delights!
From below on are pictures from the abaondoned part of Famagusta.
Your narrative is so descriptive and demonstrates how deeply you observe your surroundings and think about what you are seeing and learning about this country.
ReplyDeleteIt just seems impossible that the city you are posting is abandoned. I expected to see old ruins not modern buildings. You are right that it's like NYC was abandoned.