Where's Johnny Jet? Making a Run for the Border in Cyprus

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This week, we finish off our trip to Europe's southernmost country, Cyprus. Things get exciting when I try to escape my tour group and cross the "Green Line" border to the northern part of the island, which has been occupied by Turkey since 1974.

Mediterranean Beach Hotel

The last few nights I spent in Cyprus were at the four star, (though I would rate it 3.5), 291-room Mediterranean Beach Hotel. It's located on the waterfront in Limassol and is much nicer inside than it looks from the busy road it is connected to. The lobby was packed with business travelers and tour groups mainly from the UK and Russia. What I liked most, besides the friendly staff, was the location. It's near lots of attractions and caf?s and is situated on a black sand beach with a breakwater that people fish off of. When I was there in late March, beach season hadn't quite begun (it usually begins April 1) so the pool and beach were desolate. The hotel offers free wireless Internet but unfortunately, its service is patchy and I had to continually call down to the front desk to ask them to restart it. Room rates begin at CY£45 (US$103) a night for a single and includes a decent breakfast buffet. Mediterranean Beach Hotel; Amathus Avenue, Limassol; tel. +357/2531-1777.

Istorikon Restaurant

A 10-minute drive from the Mediterranean Beach Hotel takes you to Istorikon Restaurant which is where I had my best dining experience in all of Cyprus. Istorikon is located in the center of Lemesos, in a 19th century wine cellar. It's the perfect place to go for a fun night out with friends and family; they have a band playing both Greek and Cypriot tunes, creating a fun and festive atmosphere. On top of that, the restaurant serves an exceptional Greek meze (short for mezedhes which is similar to Spanish tapas) for CY£12 ($27). You definitely won't leave hungry. Istorikon Restaurant; tel. +357/2537-7700.

Choirokitia Neolithic Settlement

The following day, I left for the 45-minute drive to Nicosia (locals call it Lefkosia). Halfway there, I stopped off at the Neolithic settlement of Choirokitia. It's been included on UNESCO's world heritage list and is described as one of the most important ancient sites in the Eastern Mediterranean. It's the oldest Neolithic settlement so far discovered and dates back to about 5800 BC. The Choirokitia people were small, with flat oval heads and died young (around the age of 40). Their livelihood was hunting wild animals, farming, raising livestock (sheep, goats and pigs) and trading with nearby countries. They lived in igloo-shaped huts made of stone, pebbles and sealed with sun-baked mud bricks. It doesn't sound like they had a good time so I'm just thankful God waited several thousand years to pop me.

Nicosia

My final stop was Nicosia, which has been the capital of Cyprus since the 12th century. Below are a few of the city's major attractions and points of interest.

Cyprus Archaeological Museum

The Cyprus Archaeological Museum was founded in 1882 during the British occupation. It has 14 galleries of original art pieces that range from 8000 BC to the end of antiquity. What I found most interesting is that all of the Cypriot statues are made with limestone because Cyprus never had marble -- it was imported from Greece. Also interesting, some of the 9th century Phoenician pottery had symbols that looked like swastikas. My guide informed me that this symbol originated in Asia and was meant to represent unity and power; no wonder that bastard Hitler used it. CY£2 ($4.60) entry. Cyprus Archaeological Museum; 1 Museum Street, Nicosia.

Byzantine Museum

The Byzantine Museum is located next to St. John's Cathedral and has some of the richest collections of Byzantine artwork. The pieces hail from all over Cyprus and the main collection consists of 48 icons that date back to 8th or 9th centuries. The icons are made out of cedar wood and wax and the colors are so well preserved because they were made from water and egg yolk. I learned that gold colors depict light while dark colors were used to portray sad faces. When standing in front of God, the people in the icons were always painted with serious expressions and many of the icons have smaller people drawn at the bottom of them. These were the people who had paid for the icon to be created. Cost of entry: CY£1 ($2.30). Byzantine Museum; Archbishop Kyprianou Square, 21269, Nicosia; tel. +357/2243-0008.

Border Crossing Attempt

Nicosia is currently divided by a UN buffer zone called the "Green Line". It separates the Government-controlled Cypriot Greek south from the Turkish-occupied north. (I wrote about the 1974 Turkish invasion in Part 1 of my story). When the Turks invaded, they used part of the Venetian-built 16th-century high walls as their boundary -- good thinking because it makes for an easy area to protect. At present, there are five places to legally cross the border. (Here's more info on the legal border crossings.) I really wanted to see what life was like on the north side of the island but I was on a trip sponsored by the Greek Cyprus Tourism Board, so it wasn't really appropriate for me to just say: "Oh, I'm going to visit your arch rivals; catch you later!" On sponsored trips, you don't get a whole lot of free time, so I planned an escape with one of the other journalists I was traveling with ... we'll call her Agent 99, to keep her identity safe. Foolishly, I thought that the Byzantine Museum was just a couple of blocks away from one of the border crossings, so during our museum tour, I looked at Agent 99 and gave her the old "It's time to go now" look. She mouthed back, "Now?" across the circle our group had created around the guide. I quietly walked by her and whispered in her ear that we had 30 minutes before lunch -- now or never. The next thing you know, she's following me out the door and we are running down the street like we're in the final episode of The Amazing Race.

Of course, it was a spur of the moment trip, I didn't have a map and, like all men, I was too stubborn to take the time to ask for directions. To make a long story short, we didn't end up making it across the border because we got lost and ran out of time. However, we did come across an old part of Nicosia, called Laiki Yeitonia. This is the pedestrian quarter and was really cool. It has been restored to its traditional character and is full of churches, shops and tavernas (small Greek restaurants). Of course, Agent 99 wanted to stop and shop; it's tough to find a good secret agent these days, isn't it? It's just as well, because I desperately needed a new Skype headset, which I purchased for CY£8 ($18).

Observatory Tower

At the end of our fine buffet lunch at Evochia Restaurant (99 Arch. Makariou Ave., Nicosia; tel. +357/376219), we found out that we weren't going to back to hotel as originally planned but instead, were given free time to shop for a few hours. The most popular place people can buy authentic lace and other souvenirs is from the Cyprus Handicraft Center (Athalassa Avenue; tel. +357/0230-5024). Agent 99, who was sitting across the table from me, gave me the, "It's time to try it again" look. "Like, duh!" I responded and on our way out the door, we picked up another (wiser) agent ... I mean travel writer. We'll call him James. He recommended that we make a quick pit stop at the Ledra Museum and Observatory Tower, which is on the 11th floor of the Shacolas Tower and cost .50 ($1.15) to get in. It was a great idea and not just because it displayed photographs and descriptions of Old Nicosia but because it offered a birds-eye view of the city and we could properly map out our course of action. TIP: For better pictures, head to the men's bathroom, which is located two or three floors below and has a clearer view because the window opens, so there's no glare. Oh yeah, it also saves you on the admission fee. Ledra Museum and Observatory Tower, Corner Ledras & Arsinoes Streets; tel. +357/0236-9369.

The Great Escape

We walked at a fast pace down the paved streets. Once you get close to the border, there are signs saying no photographs. There is thick, coiled barbed wire lining the walls that separate the north from the south. Leading up to it, I had mixed feelings of fear, excitement and guilt. I heard from a Greek Cypriot that there was a lot of Turkish propaganda and to be careful ... but the only propaganda I found was on the Greek side -- a dated sign (photo by Lorraine Williams) just before one enters the UN buffer zone that warns travelers and depicts mass murders of Greek Cypriot civilians by the Turks in Cyprus. Walking to the border, we could see on top of the roughly 20-foot Venetian wall, Turks sitting at an outdoor café and looking down through the fences as they sipped their coffee. It didn't look too bad at all and although we were just a few feet away, it looked like a whole new world.

A UN truck passed by as we neared the border. We were in the UN buffer zone, which is an unpopulated area with overgrown weeds and a tired building that used to be the island's finest hotel prior to the invasion. Since 2003, crossing the border is no big deal. Visitors and citizens from both sides can travel freely and many do so daily, either to work or shop. There's no fee to walk across (though there are restrictions and fees to drive across; here's more info) but visitors are required to show a passport and fill out a three-question form (name, passport number and nationality). I crossed at Agios Dometios, also known as Metehan, which is considered the main crossing point. The Turkish guards were friendly, which eased my nerves. The sign above one of their passport control stations read, in huge letters, "Northern Republic of Turkish Cyprus FOREVER." I thought that was mighty bold but with the call to prayer blasting over the PA system and the well-dressed uniformed guards, I was just concentrating on restraining myself from whipping out my camera and taking pictures. Actually, one of the guards on the way out surprised me by saying that I could take a picture in front of the sign.

Northern Republic of Turkish Cyprus

It took about two minutes to get my passport processed and I was on the other side. Note: They don't stamp passports because their occupied territory is not a recognized country by anyone but Turkey, but they do stamp the three-question form. Obviously, I didn't have time to really explore which I would've liked to do because this side supposedly has the best beaches on the island. It also had beautiful churches, which contained the finest mosaics. But sadly, after the 1974 invasion, most of them were removed and the churches were transformed into mosques. We walked to see the old Cathedral of St. Sophia, which was the biggest landmark that we spotted from the observation tower. It's now called the Selimiye Mosque and the towering twin minarets now wave Turkish flags. This side of the island has a totally different feel from the Greek Cypriot side and although I have never been to Turkey, I felt like I was there. My colleague, and partner in crime Agent James, who had been to Turkey before, agreed. Just as I imagined, there were bazaars with plenty of people selling carpets. After purchasing a couple of postcards I stopped at the post office to grab some Turkish stamps. The clerk was very friendly and they accepted all kinds of currency, including Cypriot Pounds (though the Cypriots don't accept the Turkish Lira). Eventually, our time ran out and it was time to head back across the border.

Departing

From the Mediterranean Beach Hotel, I was picked up in an old Mercedes stretch limo. The driver, who was probably in his late 60s, didn't speak much English and drove like he was in a Formula One race. I quickly put on my seatbelt and held on for dear life as he passed one car after another. When he started swerving because he was paying more attention to his cell phone's keypad than the road, I yelled at him. I think yelling is a universal language. He slowed down a bit but continued to make phone calls on the 45-minute trip to the Larnaca airport. He didn't get a tip.

Cyprus

Cyprus is a small place but packs a lot of history. It's a safe island, with nice people and incredible food. Of course, I would have liked to relax a bit more and not run around going from one site to the next but that's what happens when you go on a trip sponsored by the tourism board. I'm not complaining because I saw much of the island that I otherwise would not have had the opportunity to see. It's kind of like taking a college course but it takes place abroad and only lasts a week -- but you learn so much. The organizers were gracious and put together a fun group to travel with. They left me with a reason to come back and do nothing but enjoy the beaches and explore the whole island at my leisure.

Note: This trip was sponsored by the Cyprus Tourism Board.

John E. DiScala (aka Johnny Jet), is the founder of www.johnnyjet.com, the ultimate travel website and weekly newsletter. He logs over 150,000 miles a year, has been featured in over 850 articles (including Frommers.com, USA Today, Time, Fortune, the New York Times, CNBC and MSNBC), and has published the book, You Are Here Traveling With JohnnyJet.com.

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