Walking the back alleys of LEFKOŞA

Last Thursday we took a trip into Lefcoşa with Sheila and Phil, just to have a relaxed day walking around with no actual plans. Started with a cup of coffee at Gloria Jeans while Sheila had an appointment adjusting her hearing aids. Thereafter drove into the inside of the walled city, parked the car and started to walk about in the city’s back alleys. These back alleys are tranquil narrow streets with little traffic and interesting building structures. Some maintained and modernised and used, some derelicts and left to its own.

Lefcoşa (in Turkish), Lefkosia (in Greek) or the common international name Nicosia. It is the only city worldwide that is the capital in 2 countries, RoC (Republic of Cyprus) and TRNC (Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus)-

Lefcoşa (the northern half of what was, before 1974, Nicosia) is the capital city of north Cyprus. As with its southern counterpart, the old town is hemmed by Venetian walls, with the majority of Lefkoşa’s modern buildings and administrative machinery located outside the walls, and most tourist attractions to be found in the old town within the walls.

While walking around, we stumbled across the Dervish Pasha Mansion, now turned into a museum. The Dervish Pasha museum is located in Belig Pasha Street in the Arabahmet area of Lefcoşa. The house was bult in early 19 th century. The owner was Dervish Pasha, the editor of Zaman, the first Turkish newspaper in Cyprus. The newspaper was first published on the 25th December 1891, and as time passed, it was widely read in Mainland Turkey. Dervish Pasha, whose actual name was Tuccarbasi Haci Dervis was a leading figure in the Turkish Cypriot community, and a member of the assembly that ratified  the decisions of the British colonial administration.

The mansion is a fine example of Ottoman architecture with whitewashed walls, plain yellow-stoned arches, terracotta roof and blue woodwork are all typical. It is built on two floors, the first in stone and the second in mud brick.

The L-shaped mansion has a spacious inner yard which has a well, a washroom, an outdoor oven, and even a bathhouse.

Oh, by the way, entrance to the house was at the cost of 10 tl per person, quite affordable

After coming out of the mansion, we stopped in the nearest side street and had a look around. We were approached by and elderly gentleman who expressed great satisfaction of seeing people with interest in old buildings and culture. He explained that we now was exactly in the middle of Nicosia. The area to our one side was what was called the selamlik. This was the portion of Ottoman house reserved to men. To the other side there was the seraglio, an area reserved to women and forbidden to men.

Lefcoşa also has a lot of street arts. Below is a few example of new ones i found.

A trip to Lefcoşa also allways leads us to stop for lunch at a restaurant. This time we ended up at the El Sabor latino restaurant just beside the Selimiye Mosque. The restaurant has an interesting way of serving skewers of grilled food.

The resident cat population adds entertainment and unbearable cuteness to the dining experience, they say. I do not agree

After lunch, heading back to the car we visited the new water hole, the Walls Inn Brew Pub.

This new water hole is established and run by Orcun Cananoglu, a person I met several years ago when he had started the O-live organic food store, close to the Metehan boarder crossing. He was also then running a tiny beer brewery with more or less the same equipment as I do back home.

Quite interesting to see how far he has got now. I had a discussion with him about beer brewing. Will pop in another time to see the production localities. Based on the pictured he showed me, quite a big leap forward.

Every time I go into a brewery pub, I ask for a porter. I am a porter lover, and this will clearly tell me quality of the beers being made. Last time in O-live, I was not that impressed. Now my point of view was changed. The porter was well beyond expectations. I will definitely return.

Also had a glass of American Pale Ale. This always brings back memories as it was the ever first beer I brewed myself.