Nostalgic Walks Within the Inner City of Nicosia
Hodge’s voice is beautifully married with Christian hymns and children's laughs
Book Top Experiences and Tours in Cyprus:
If youʻre booking your trip to Cyprus last minute, we have you covered. Below are some of the top tours and experiences!- From Paphos: Troodos-Venetian Bridge-Millomeris Waterfall
- UK/Europe: eSim Mobile Data Plan
- Paphos: Choirokitia & Famagusta Guided Tour with Transfers
- From Nicosia: Famagusta and Kyrenia Circle Day Trip
- Cyprus: Troodos Mountains Villages and Wineries Tour
If you are an irrevocable lover of wandering around the historical part of Nicosia either on foot or by bike, the following article is dedicated to you. If you cannot recall much about Nicosia, find herewith illustrated depictions of our capital city; not included in travel guides. Though it brims real enchantment, it sadly remains unknown to the majority of both locals and foreigners.
Setting off on your inner-city journey during the afternoon hours is highly recommended, when the (rather hot) weather becomes sweeter and the colours of the sunset flood the Nicosia sky over the old decayed roofs.
The most acknowledged starting point is near Tafros Ntavila, so you can walk across the remaining Venetian 16th century walls. Ignore the traffic caused by road works and all the restoration procedures near Plateia Eleftherias (meaning Liberty Square), pass over the Cypriot Library and crawl the multi-coloured narrow streets of the so-called Laiki Geitonia. Amid wooden tables with cheerful tourists enjoying tasty Cypriot dishes and cold beer, you may select from a variety of handmade Cypriot souvenirs for your loved ones.
A feeling of nostalgia combined with pride arises in this area because the essence of abandonment dominates the narrow back streets. This sentiment is generating; Nicosia remains the sole divided capital city, and its pure melancholy is inherent, it is an integral piece that everybody carries inside themselves. However, during the past few years, a communal effort to revitalise this region is inspiring: cute shops spring up next to abandoned synergies, galleries are inaugurated next to bordellos, coffee shops offer lemon sodas to students or to retirees playing Backgammon,âtavliâ, and Cypriot wine to young artists who photograph (in an illegal yet fetching way) crumbling, half rotten stairs or windows in the neighbouring forgotten, vacant homes.
Continuing through the neighbourhoods of AgiosKassianos and Chrysaliniotissa, observe the big blue, green or red windows and the matching coloured doors (which have the inscription of the year that they were built on the upper part) and the courtyards with flower pots. In some of these neighbourhoods, in the so-called Taktakala for example, Hodgeâs voice is beautifully married with Christian hymns and children's laughs. However, the checkpoints and the young soldiers guarding the area, their presence conjuring an aura of nostalgia, collides sharply with historyâs consequences. The interrupted and fragile beauty is all over you but you cannot touch it entirely. The abandoned houses of 1974 are next to you, yet remain ever distant.
If you head to the side of the Archdiocese district, you may undergo the city's history in a museum-manner glance. Apart from the Museum of Folk Art in the courtyard of the Archbishop area, there is the Byzantine Museum, with the wonderful collections of paintings and religious objects. Next to the National Struggle(EOKA)Museum you may find the small Museum of the Pancyprian Gymnasium, which is another great historical school. Lovers of contemporary art will wander in the halls of the Nicosia Municipality Arts Centre, housed in the old Power Station building, which has hosted modernist art exhibitions since 1994. The Nicosia Municipality, wanting to comprise the old and the new, decided to erect the New City Hall Megaron opposite the centre. This action is thought to reimburse the (formerly) breathless area of Nicosia.
Seal the end of your walk with tasteful appetizers in the taverns near Famagusta Gate, sipping a glass of wine in order to honour the mixed up city of Nicosia, this beautiful but barefoot and fearful city left half forgotten in a corner, the suffering and the wars failing to blur out her pure glory.