Famagusta – Is this really in Northern Cyprus?

By Kate Cornwell….

Recently I had my family over and they wanted to go to the Karpaz and then the following day down to Famagusta to see Salamis and the Walled City.

I haven’t been to Famagusta for many a year and was absolutely blown away with the infrastructure as the roads were second to none and the city centre was buzzing.

We left the Karpaz the following morning,  after spending a wonderful day and evening, seeing the donkeys and the beautiful beaches and the unspoilt countryside and made our way down to the pretty harbour of Bogaz and then to Salamis. Most of the family did the ruins whilst my sister and I had a glass of wine and sat on the beach in the beautiful sunshine as we both had done the ruins many a time!! After all of us had a lovely swim we made our way into Famagusta centre. The centre was just full of people shopping, in cafes and restaurants it really was so different to Kyrenia and surrounding areas and I kept on wondering if I was in Northern Cyprus. It was just so uplifting to see so many people coming and going and to see the cafes and restaurants so full with all ages and nationalities.

My sister’s husband kept looking at me inquisitively, as I kept shaking my head as I was so pleasantly surprised with what I was seeing, this absolutely active and buzzing city centre.

We then went into the walled city – parked the car and walked through to where the big mosque is situated near the centre of the city, again the place was heaving with people in shops and cafes, the last time I was in the walled city I think I saw only a few people milling around! Not the case anymore – so many more shops and cafes than before!

We made our way past the mosque going down on the left hand side and at the end was Petek Pastanesi. I am not really a cake lover but we all went into the place.  Most tables were filled and we had to wait for a few minutes for a table to become free. You then can choose from SO many different cakes and sweets the displays were just incredible. I had a piece of walnut cake that was huge and really thought that there would be no way that I would finish it but didn’t worry as I knew one of the family would definitely have it! WELL, it was delicious succulent, moist and I did finish it all, much to probably my brother in law’s brother, who has a great appetite and was looking at me expectantly when I had said that there would be no way that I could finish this – sorry Roger!!

I will be going back to Famagusta definitely in the New Year and will probably spend a couple of days enjoying the atmosphere of a very busy and cultural city centre. Well done Famagusta!