When we originally booked this cruise, one of the many highlights for us was a visit to Cyprus, a place we hadn't been to. Then the conflict in Israel and Gaza happened. In the first revision of the itinerary, the stop in Cyprus was eliminated in addition to the stops in Israel, Egypt, Oman, and Jordan. Then, in the second iteration, Cyprus was added back in and we were happy to see that. It softened the blow of all of the other missed ports a bit. To get the most out of our visit, we booked an excursion called Nicosia, "Building Bridges". It was a so-call Oceania Select and Go Local excursion.
We were docked in Limassol on the Greek Cypriot (or southern) side of the Republic of Cyprus. Going in to this, I knew that Cyprus was a divided island but I have to admit my ignorance as to what that really meant. We boarded a bus for the 1 hour ride to the city of Nicosia, the divided capital of Cyprus. As we rode along the countryside, our young guide gave us a comprehensive history of the island from 10,000 years ago to the present time. It's the contemporary history that is of most interest to me. So, let's see if I have this right. Cyprus was granted independence from the British in 1960. This was followed by continuing conflict until 1974 and the eventual invasion and capture of northern Cyprus by Turkey. At that point, 150,000 Greek Cypriots and 50,000 Turkish Cypriots were displaced to their respective sides of the island. In 2008, the Republic of Cyprus joined the European Union while northern Cyprus remained under Turkish control. And that's where they are today. All of that background is essential to our visit to Nicosia and what we experienced there. I should note here that our guide referred to the northern side as the occupied area.
Arriving in Nicosia on the Greek side, we walked from the bus to the checkpoint to cross over to the Turkish side.
We had to bring our passports to pass through the checkpoints on both sides. After passing through the Greek checkpoint, we entered the Green Line, the buffer area controlled by the UN.
From there, we passed through the Turkish checkpoint.
When we were on the Turkish side, our guide was careful to not refer to it as the occupied area. We did a brief walk on that side, passing the Agia Sophia Cathedral where we could not see much due to renovation work.
Then it was back to the Greek side after passing through both checkpoints again. Getting through the checkpoints was pretty quick and easy but we got a little nervous as it took a while on the Turkish side until they let Linda go through. We're not sure why but we all know that she is a somewhat suspicious character. After a stop for an included Greek coffee and Cypriot pastry and walk around rainy Nicosia, we went to visit the Leventis Museum, home to quite a collection of Cypriot artifacts, pottery, jewelry, clothing, books, and maps.
Then came the highlight of the day. We met with 2 Cypriot journalists, one Greek and one Turkish.
They talked about their personal histories which were sometimes tragic, the current situation, and their advocacy for reunification of Cyprus. It was a fascinating half hour that passed very quickly. Now these men were clearly friends and it was good to hear and to see that the two sides could work and get along together. The bottom line seemed to be that if politicians could be left out of it, reunification would have a chance. But, I did not come away with confidence that reunification was possible any time soon. While not completely analogous, in many ways the situation reminded us of the situation in Israel and Palestine.
So, it was a thoroughly rewarding day, the highlight of the trip so far.
Tomorrow, we go through the Suez Canal which should be very interesting and very different from going through the Panama Canal. Stay tuned.
Peace and blessings,
Linda and Larry
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