Naked Romans dripping in oil...

Yesterday we went back across the border to visit Salamis and Famagusta again.

The road to Famagusta is an interesting one. It runs along the Green Line, and so most of the journey was spent staring at the no-mans land on our left. The line itself is not demarcated by fences or walls, which seems unusual as no one crossed it for 29 years. This is because after the ceasefire line was drawn both the Greek and the Turkish Cypriots laid down extensive landmines along its length, as this is cheaper and more practical than building a giant fence and manning it every few metres. Thus Cypriots were discouraged from crossing.

Along its length you can see Turkish outposts, which are painted completely in patches of red, green, yellow and black paint. But they don't look as comical as the UN outposts, which are basically just one-man huts on top of giant sticks!

We crossed over the border again, and I got my first experience of driving in North Cyprus. It's...interesting, lets say. It's like driving through Rusholme on a Friday evening. Road traffic rules do not seem to apply at all, so it was a little stressful!

We made it in one piece to Salamis, however, and parked up by the sea.

The ancient city-kingdom of Salamis was founded around 1100 BC by the Homeric hero Teucer, who fought in the Trojan War. He was exiled from his homeland by his father, the king of the Greek island Salamis, for not avenging the death of his brother, Ajax. Instead, he came to Cyprus, and set up the city of Salamis.

Over the years, despite being ruled by many different parties, same as the rest of the island, Salamis grew wealthy, due to its prime position for sea trading. But it was in the Roman era that Salamis really prospered, and it was during this time that much of the building work was done.

In 674 AD, however, Arab raids brought about destruction of the city, and the residents fled to what is now Famagusta. There then must have been an impressive change in climate, as the whole area was flooded with sand, until only the tops of the columns peeped above. This did stop some of the destruction by natural forces, but unfortunately did not stop the looters. The area was extensively looted until 1952, when the Department of Antiquities began excavations. These stopped between 1974 and 1998, when international sanctions prevented excavation parties going into Northern Cyprus.

So, what is there left to see in Salamis? Lots! The ruins we see today are from the Roman period, some of which were rebuilt by the Byzantines after the earthquake of 331 AD.

The first area we saw was the latrines, which catered for 44 people at a time! Imagine the smell... Then we walked out into the columned courtyard, a spectacular gymnasium surrounded by huge columns. This was built in 76 AD, but was largely destroyed by the 331 AD earthquake. When the Byzantines rebuilt it, they dragged columns from other areas of Salamis, not caring if they matched or not, so the columns we saw were all different sizes and styles.

Around this area are many headless statues. They are headless because when Christianity was adopted as the official religion, these Roman symbols were abhorrent to them, and they broke off all their heads.

Of course, this prompted many photos of me and Bernie pretending to be headless statues.

Around the courtyard the Roman's obsession with baths became apparent. There were hot baths, mild baths, and cold baths, some with elaborate multicoloured sides and complicated under-floor heating systems. This was where the Roman warriors went to relax after a hard day wrestling each other naked covered in olive oil.

We also saw an impressive amphitheatre, which has been partially restored to 18 rows of seats (originally it had 50 rows). It was here that we pretended to be headless. We also saw: sweating rooms, stoking rooms, an aqueduct, Byzantine walls, and a (very straight) Roman road.

Sadly, we didn't get to see the mighty Temple of Zeus, as it was too warm to walk the 3km down there. The thermometer in the car said it was 38º, but I don't know how reliable that is. Much more reliable, however, is the Ashlea-ometer, which measured the temperature as 'Too Frickin' Hot'.

After a quick cold-drink-and-factor-50-suncream stop, we headed back down the road to Famagusta. We had a picnic in the shade of a tree, then wandered around the walls of Famagusta.

Under Venetian rule Famagusta had great wealth, and impressive churches and walls were built. The city is surrounded by these walls, which are up to 8m thick in places. Unfortunately these great walls did not keep the Ottomans out, and much of the walls, bastions and churches were blasted with cannonballs. They have never been rebuilt, so ruins are just scattered about the modern day city.

The most interesting thing about Famagusta, however, is that it is supposedly the city in which Shakespeare's Othello is set. This is based on the stage instruction from the play 'a seaport in Cyprus'. Also, the description of Othello as being a moor may be a misunderstanding on Shakespeare's part, as he never went to Famagusta. The Venetian ruler of Cyprus in 1506-08 was called Christoforo Moro, whose surname means 'Moor', though he himself wasn't a moor.

The second most interesting thing about Famagusta is Petek's Patisserie. I said in the previous blog I would talk about the treats today, and here we go.

Turkish Coffee

Taking a sip of Turkish coffee is like being punched in the face. Its rather extreme potency comes from the preparation process. First, one teaspoon of coffee is boiled in one cup of water in a small long-handed pot called a 'cezve' until it froths up. A small amount of the froth is then poured off into the cup, and the cezve is returned to the heat. It is boiled again, and then served.

When you order your coffee you have to specify how much sugar you would like: çok şekerli (with sugar - 'sweet as love'), orta (medium-sweet), or şekersiz (unsweetened - 'bitter as poison'). As it is so intense it is served with a carton of water, to prevent the inevitable dehydration.

Baklava

Just one word – amazing! I don't even like honey, and I gobbled my portion down pretty damn swiftly, and returned to buy more to take back to the UK (fortunately everywhere in Famagusta accepts Euros as payment, performing a rather informal 2:1 conversion from Turkish Lira for us).

Turkish Delight

I do not like the Turkish delight I've had in England. Especially the rose flavoured stuff, its pretty revolting. However, the counter at Peteks is a smorgasbord of brightly-coloured, coconut-covered cubes, and I couldn't resist. They have pieces containing hazelnuts, pistachios, even carrots! And it tastes nothing like that gelatinous rubbish we have at home.

I wish I could show you pictures of all the exciting things I've seen/eaten, but sadly it is not to be :(

In other news, North Cyprus is the only country I've been where homosexuality is illegal. Attempted to look straight for the visit but probably failed miserably.