Nicosia is not a city with which you fall in love at first sight. It is a city to discover and live day by day. It is not easy to describe it in one word as it has many different faces, some of which don’t even blend into each other: you may be looking at an old, dusty, abandoned building but if you turn around there are modern skyscrapers looking down on you just on the other side of the street. It is a city in which past and present come face to face.
The Old City, surrounded by the Venetian walls, changes appearance from one road to the other. It is a lively place, most of the streets are brightened up by colorful graffiti. You can find different kinds of shops, from the famous clothes’ brands to vintage shops, handmade pottery ateliers, places selling local jewelry and other kinds of handicrafts. Alongside the famous coffee chains are also all the small local coffee shops and bars, full of colors and plants, where you can try the strong taste of a real Cyprus coffee and you can be sure to find cheese pies. If you are curious enough to wonder aimlessly through the Old City’s alleys, you will find many abandoned houses, destroyed inside, missing some walls or without roofs.
What never ceases to amaze me in this city, and what I appreciate most, is that Nicosia manages to tell her story from centuries ago to most recent times at a glance. It keeps firmly holding on to its past and to its traditions, proudly showing that even if times change and, unavoidably, modernity, new trends and globalization leave their mark, it does not completely give in. All the old, abandoned buildings and wrecked walls may not be aesthetically pleasing at first sight but you end up growing fond of them and understanding that what they are actually telling us is that time has passed and left its mark, on the city as it does on us.