Today was our first full day in Cyprus! After a much more restful night’s sleep than on the plane, we were off on several walking tours and cultural experiences.
Our day began off with a small breakfast in our hotel. I do not usually eat breakfast, so it was nice to have a lighter fare. I had some bread with halloumi and turkey and a cappuccino. It was lovely.
We took a walking tour around the new city first. It was interesting to see how the older Cypriot culture influences the newer parts. The Freedom Square, the main square that bridges the new city to the old city, was newly renovated. It was designed by a British-Iraqi architect who really meshed old with new. The old Venetian walls of the city sit side by side the new, sleek, modern rails and benches. There are fountains, trees, and a little park in the area a moat used to run through. I love the combination of architectural styles. The old brick walls juxtapose the smooth white and grey designs of the new square.
In the new city, there were still remnants of older parts, and the culture was pretty prevalent despite its almost western appearance. The coffee culture was very present as well. After the tour, me and a few friends grabbed coffee and lunch. I shared a little warm halloumi bread pastry with my friend and it was delicious.
We then went to the University of Nicosia for our orientation. We walked around the campus for a little bit and went inside a classroom. It was very similar to the way a campus could be laid out in the United States, which is not surprising to me since it is a university that caters to the same age group as me, obviously.
After our orientation at the university, we did a walking tour of the old city. I am a sucker for architecture, so it was really interesting to see all of the different influences. You could see Greek pillars, Orthodox churches, mosques, mansions with pillars and arches, and different types of houses. One thing I thought was cool was that our tour guide explained windows through the ages. According to her, when the Ottoman empire occupied Cyprus, women were very unsafe, so people made the windows very small and very high up with things slanted downwards so people, especially women, could see outside but the soldiers could not see in.
A final thing I found interesting in the old city was the divide between the Turkish part of the city and the Greek part. In the main Greek part of the country, men have to serve compulsory military service, and one of the posts is on top of buildings at the divide line. We ran into a few soldiers who were playing music and waved to us from their window. It is also cool to see how part of the city the divide is. The restaurant we ate dinner in was right across the street from a checkpoint to cross the divide. I could literally see through the entrance to the other side of the country while I was stuffing my face with pita bread.
We had a family style dinner filled with Cyprus cuisine. I loved the pita bread. My personal favorite thing though was sesame seed and honey coated feta cheese. Mind you, I am not a feta person at all, but this was very good. There were also stray cats roaming at dinner, and one of them jumped onto my friend’s lap because he was trying to offer it food. Good times!