Today we woke up early to go to Northern Cyprus, also known as the Turkish Republic of Cyprus, which is a de facto state that only Turkey recognizes. The “border crossing” was actually easier than I expected it to be as we only had to give our passports and we didn’t have to leave the bus at all. Our first stop on the northern side was part of Famagusta where people once lived. It’s a ghost town that opened back to the public two years ago. I’m still trying to wrap my mind around my experience there many hours later writing this blog post. Walking through it was sort of a harrowing experience to say the least. The buildings were dilapidated and slowly falling apart. However the real kicker is that all of the destruction happened a little less than 50 years ago. The destruction that happened is less old than both of my parents. Being an American, I really didn’t think of the destruction war brings, it was just something that happens elsewhere if that makes sense. I really don’t know where to go from here. We got lunch afterwards so that was nice?

We then left Northern Cyprus to go to the beach. I didn’t go into the sea this time mostly because I didn’t want to. I went to the souvenir shops there instead just to browse. It was basically a normal souvenir store. We then went to some sea caves and saw a natural bridge (we weren’t allowed onto the natural bridge). It’s amazing to see what nature can do over enough time. Overall, I had a good day.