Been born in 2000 I don’t recall much of what it was like not to have everything you might need to know in the palm of your hand: I received my first smartphone already in middle school, so not be able to use my phone was definitely an adventure.
I spent three days on a trip with a friend discovering the Northern part of the island. We started our journey passing through the checkpoint in Nicosia and soon after we had to turn off our internet and try to manage without it. We could have found other solutions, but having to rely only on a paper map and road signals was a new experience for us and we wanted to give it a try!
So, first stop was Girne (in Turkish) or Kyrenia (in Greek), a small coast village just 40 minutes from the capital city. Perfect first attempt because it’s a road all straight and full of signs that ends directly before the city center, from where you continue by foot. After an aperitif at sunset, looking at the horizon over the sea and with behind the port and the old fortress of the city, we took the car back home. Here we had our first proble: once arrived in Nicosia we could not find the right checkpoint to cross, and after almost an hour roaming the same streets, a very kind Turkish-Cypriot student has shown us the way in detail by drawing it on a piece of paper torn from his notebook. Not the best start but definitely fun, and the city was absolutely worth it!
The next day we left for Dipkarpaz after noticing that our trusty map advised to take a road that leads directly from Girne to the extreme tip of the island: it was one of the most beautiful trips we have ever made. What is peculiar is the calm and emptiness that you find along these roads, for hours you only see the sea – in some places you literally drive a few meters next to it – and the Cypriot countryside. Dipkarpaz is a small town in the extreme tip of the island, we stopped there for lunch and being the only tourists, we entertained a series of very interesting and fun conversations with the locals, busy like us enjoying a pita with halloumi cheese in the tavern of the main square. Although hardly anyone spoke English, we managed to communicate, and there they headed us to the famous Golden beach: an empty and isolated paradise that we did not explain how it was possible to be available only for us.
After that we needed to reach the hotel we booked for the night, which is situated right in between Dipkarpaz and Famagusta – the stop for our last day. We decided to go back to the same tavern and ask once again their help, but unfortunately, they were already close. Right before panicking, we stopped at a gas station, where a lady was busy watering her plants, seeing our trouble with the paper map she called her husband and made him help us. Being grateful for the fact that our difficulties were obvious, and that they were attentive and kind, he traced with a pen the road we needed to take and again we hit the road. Arrived at the hotel, we enjoyed dinner and a wine tasting while watching the incredible view of the sea from the altitude of the hill the hotel is built.
After a great and typical breakfast, they explained to us how to reach Famagusta and easily we arrived in this beautiful city. Gazimagusa in Turkish is famous for its historic sites, buildings, and ruins from the period the city was a Venetian territory or from after the Ottoman Empire conquest in 17th century. Sadly, it’s also known for its ghost area, Varosha: a quarter of the city which has been abandoned after the Turkish occupation in 1974 and where all the resorts and touristic places from what it was the top destination on the island, remained empty, frozen in time for the past 50 years.
Finally, we hit the road for the last time to go back to Nicosia, without having problems neither to reach the city or cross the checkpoint right away this time.
It was an absolute fun to try not to use technology but go back to just 20 years ago, when all of this was the normality: it gave us the opportunity to engage random conversation with so many different and kind people, and to have our eyes only looking at all these incredible views and not at a screen.
