Konya

Konya is now a huge city with extensive suburbs but in the 13th century it was home to the Mevlevi (Muslim mystics, the Whirling Dervishes).

This is the Mevlâna shrine. It's been turned into a museum but is still a very holy place to many people.

My new friends showed me around and took me out to another huge meal.

But the best part of the day was playing hide and seek with these kids who were following me around a train station.

Girne to Konya via Silifke and Turkish hospitality

Girne has a charming little crescent shaped harbor sheltered by a huge fort. This is the new center for tourism in the TRNC. The harbor is completely lined with resturants and all the boats are tour operators. At night it's really pretty, and to it's credit it would be a great place for a romantic dinner.

After a quick wander through in the morning to take pictures, I walked to the New Harbor where the passenger ferry departs for Turkey.

It was a fast ferry this time, only 3 hours. I had a great time in Cyprus but I was really happy to be back in Turkey! It's a very rewarding country to travel in, because of little things like the clean drinking water from fountains all over town, the total absence of any other tourists, the efficient easy to use public transportation, the delicious cheap food, and the best part the Turkish people, who are simply amazing.

Places like this always seem to be home to weird homemade motorcycle hybrids.

The first town I wanted to see today was Silifke which has a big fortress on a hill and the ruins of a Roman temple of Jupiter.

Wandering around town kids would spot me and yell out to their family and friends "turist!" and then either everyone comes out and waves and says hello or you get mobbed by kids who want you to take their picture. It's really nice and I never get tired of saying hello or stopping to chat for a little while. One thing I was dreading, that I had heard about from other travelers and always managed to avoid until now, was being offered çay (chai) tea by almost everyone. It's the national drink here and impossible to refuse. Now I don't usually like drinking tea or coffee but the first time I was offered çay on this trip I reluctantly accepted and it turned out it was pretty good. Now being offered a glass of çay is something I actually look forward to. One other thing that the locals make me drink is Ayran, some kind of salty milk drink. I think it might be goats milk or something.

From Silifke I travelled by bus to Konya. At the bus station I met these students from Konya and next thing I knew I had a place to stay when we got there, and one of the best meals ever.

The last divided capital

The old city of Lefkosia (the Greek Cypriot part of the city) is filled with expensive shops, trendy resturants, and cafes. It's pretty much like every other EU capital city in that respect so I didn't intend to stay there too long. At night I walked along the "Green Line", the dividing line of the city. The buildings along the line are all abandoned, so walking around at night was pretty spooky. The next day I headed back across the border for a look at the TRNC part of the city (known as North Nicosia). It's much more interesting.

First I walked along the Venetian walls that overlook the UN buffer zone and then made my way through twisting streets into the heart of the old town.

North Nicosia is like Havana, it's filled with crumbled and decaying buildings but also with real people going about their daily lives. They are currently getting a lot of money from the EU to improve things so I'm glad I got to see the city while it was still loaded with charm. Buildings near the Green Line on this side are also abandoned, and some places appear to be frozen in time.

Looking through the window of an old cafe you get the feeling that the customers abandoned their game 30 years ago and it's been waiting there ever since. I tried to poke my nose into as many windows as possible. I looked into one where they were running a printing press.

I was invited inside and found out that they were making a childrens book.



All through the city there were kids playing in the streets.

This is what happens when you let them play with your camera.

Besides being a unique and interesting place just by existing at all, North Nicosia also got the bulk of the historic sites in the city, including this medieval caravanserai called the Büyük Han.

And this 17th century caravanserai.

And a huge Gothic church that has been converted into a mosque. After a full day of exploration it was time to get to my next destination, the port city of Girne (aka Kyrenia. Divided or not most cities here are know by a couple names. I assume one is Turkish and the other Greek, but it seems like the Turks will use the Greek name and vice versa so it gets kinda confusing). I just assumed there would be frequent bus service throught the day considering that it's an important city just a half hour away. But I found out that in Cyprus there is no bus service in the evenings at all. Refusing to be stuck I blew all the money I saved by hitching and not paying for attractions the previous day on a taxi ride to Girne.

Around Famagusta and on to Lefkosia

From the ferry terminal I started with a quick exploration of the old walled city of Famagusta and then I had to figure out how to get to the ancient ruins of Salamis that are 9km north. There is no public transportation to Salamis and taxis are a rip-off so I decided to hitch hike for the first time, since it's a perfectly acceptable way to get around here. I started walking out of town to find a good hitching spot, and when I found one I was too embarrassed to do it so I just kept walking. About 7km out of town there was a sign for a public beach and I decided to go for quick dip in the Mediterranean to cool off after all that walking.

Then I figured that since Salamis is by the beach I could just follow the beach until I got to the ruins. This turned out to be a good idea because by entering the site from the beach I avoided paying the 6YTL entrance fee.

After wandering around the ruins I made my way back to the road and stuck my thumb out. Within minutes someone stopped who was going to Varnavas. I didn't really know where that was, but whatever, it sounded fine to me. Turns out Varnavas is an old Greek Orthodox church about 2km away that has been turned into a museum.

When my ride (who either worked there or knew people that did) saw that I wasn't interested in paying the 6YTL entrance fee he told the ticket lady to let me in for free. After wandering around in the museum for a little while I thanked my new friend and headed back out to the road. Again I got a ride within a few minutes and this time it was straight into town where I then caught a mini bus to North Nicosia, the divided capital city of Cyprus. After crossing one of the weirdest borders ever, with a UN patroled buffer zone in between the two sides, I was now back in the EU.