Sunday, January 30

The North Side

For those who aren't aware... The country of Cyprus is divided up into two parts, Cyprus and "The republic of Turkey". Cyprus controls the south while Turkey controls the north. It is very interesting because the city I am in, Nicosia, is the only shared capital in the world. There is much tension between the north and south because it wasn't always a shared island, in 1974 the Turkish invasion took place and it has been divided ever since. This short excerpt about the north and south is exactly that... short. There is obviously a ton of details and controversy over the situation that I could share about, however you probably should just research it on your own because it is in fact the most talked about issue here in Cyprus.--
Now that this back story is done, me and about eight other girls traveled to the north side yesterday to see what it was like. It was very interesting at first because you have to show your passport to get into the north. However, at the same time they aren't allowed to stamp our passports because the only country in the world who recognizes them as an actual "country" is Turkey! (So they stamp a piece of paper to make themselves feel important I suppose). Anyways, the first thing I noticed (besides the fact that we stood out like a soar thumb) was that the people were a lot like the people just across the border. I realize we didn't go very deep into the north and I suppose the further we went the more differences we would see, but from what I saw it was very similar, I really want to travel further into the north in the future to learn more about it and how different the two sides actually are--
So after that we went back to the south and went to eat at this small whole in the wall place where I ordered a pork kabob that was very good! Cyprus sells kabobs in most restaurants and there pork is amazing here!--Then we just took a bus back home and I started making a video that will probably be put up shortly! I am bummed because I forgot my camera for our trip to the north side so there is no footage! You will just have to take my word for it that there was some beautiful sights to see.

-Matty J

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