Cyprus!

I just got back from a five day vacation in Cyprus. I had a really great time overall. I went with my friends Puja and Kelly. We ended up meeting up with three guys who are also studying in Istanbul while we were there. We got there the first night and stayed in a town called Kyrenia. It is on the north side of Cyprus. A little background info- North and South Cyprus are separate countries. Turkey is the only country that recognizes the north as legitimate. South Cyprus is part of the EU and is recognized by most other countries besides Turkey. The capital city is the only left divided capital in the world. In order for us to travel between the sides, we had to have a passport and go through a checkpoint.

So- we stayed our first night in Kyrenia. We took a cab to our hotel which ended up being pretty far from the city. The hotel we were at was deserted. In fact, most of the entire country was pretty deserted because it wasn't tourist season. But, that just meant cheaper hotel prices for us! The next day, we got to visit a castle there and hang out by the pier.

The thing that really got to us pricewise was the transportation. There are so many different cities in Cyprus, but each can be seen in about a day. We tra

veled around both south and north Cyprus, spending most of our time in the South. I thought I'd post a few pictures to give a feel for what it was like.

This was the Tomb of the Kings. We got to see where

many of the burial places were for the most important Cypriots of the time period.

This area that we walked through is a United Nations Buffer Zone, not owned by any country. It was very interesting for me to see as an IR major. There were empty buildings that were used for UN officials during the war there.

It was a great trip. I even got to lay out on the beach for a day and got a little tan. I have my first class tomorrow! More later-

Kara