Today was my favorite day yet. It was rich and history, perfectly mixed with a beautiful, refreshing beach day. We started the day heading an hour and a half to Famagusta, which is a Turkish occupied city in Northern Cyprus. It kind of threw me off guard that my Verizon device and bank considered this city as “Turkey,” since that is far from the truth. On the bus ride, our lovey tour guide, Georgia, gave us a deep history lesson into Famagusta and Northern Cyprus in general. It is truly a devastating topic. She told us how the Greek and Turkish Cypriotes used to live in peace amongst one another in villages and communities despite religious differences. They did so with not only cooperation, but also with fondness, and they often were friends. It is a shame that it is not this way anymore. The Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus is ONLY recognized by Turkey themselves, and the main population of the North is actually mainland Turks who moved to Cyprus illegally. There is a diaspora of poor people from Antalya, Turkey. The Turkish government claims that there are 300,000 people living in the north, but it is very hard to believe since they take up food and electricity that is enough for 1 million people, and there are also over 500,000 cars within the occupied area. It is not possible to do census though, due to the occupation, so Turkey can lie all they like. There have been many resolutions proposed by the UN to end the occupation, but unfortunately Turkey will not cooperate. For now, Cyprus will continue to be a country divided, but I hope to see a free, united Cyprus one day. One more lighter, slightly funny fact from our drive that I found interesting is that Cypriots do not each much beef at all. This is because many years ago, bull was worshipped as a god, and ox was always used by farmers for cultivation of land, so that is why previous generations would refuse to eat beef and drink milk. While it became more common to eat beef during British rule, today in Cyprus, people prefer pork, chicken, lamb, and surprisingly, rabbit (due to it being on the healthier side and having much less cholesterol than any other comparable meat).

When we arrived in Famagusta, we started off visiting Varosi, which is a ghost town. This tour was a very eye opening and devastating experience. Our tour guide was actually from Varosi, which made it all the more difficult to think about, but easier to imagine such an unbelievable period of time. Varosi used to be a popping, successful coastal town favored by celebrities and tourists from everywhere, now it is the picture as seen above. When Turkey invaded, everyone in this city was pushed out and their livelihood was destroyed. It was violent and brutal. Everyone lost everything. Georgia showed us some of the staple locations of her childhood and young adult life, including the place where she got graduation photos, the disco club called Parrot that students were not allowed to go to, and if they did, they would risk being expelled, and she even pointed out the location of the house she was supposed to move into on the coast after her marriage, which she never got to live in. She told us that even doing all of these tours, it never gets easier, and to this day, she cannot visit her childhood home, and she probably never will, as it is simply too painful for her. I almost cried. It truly is a shame this is how things went, because I can tell it was such a beautiful place. My heart aches for these people who lost everything, and I wish more people were aware of this situation. While this is a very sad experience, I think it has been my favorite historical tour on the whole trip… it was heart wrenching and personal and I can’t help but feel confused as to why this had to happen in the first place. After this, we went to walk around a populated a section of Famagusta, which was very lively, and I also had a delicious fresh lemonade, which is apparently something that this area is known for. We ended the day with a trip to Fig Tree Bay, which is one of the most beautiful beaches I’ve had the opportunity to go to. The water was incredible, the food was good, and the sunburn is in fact bad. The aloe I bought at a corner store this evening was the most expensive thing I’ve purchased this entire trip (yes, mother, I did wear sunscreen, but you know my track record:( ).