Famagusta Off The Beaten Path

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As ever, there are bits and pieces of interest to seek out, easily missed when looking at the grand scale.........

..........a store of unused cannonballs.......

......a beautifully carved shield, presumably Venetian.......

.......another carved shield, half destroyed........

.......such skilful arches in the roof, with a stone boss holding all in place.........

I'm sure there is more, if you take time to seek it out.

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It would be easy to walk through the site of the Venetian governor's palace (opposite the cathedral), now gardens, without noticing the various Roman statues and carvings dotted about.

I imagine they all came from ancient Salamis, which is hardly any distance away up the coast.

The sarcophagus is particularly well-carved.

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It's worth spending a while poking about, because there are several interesting chunks of masonry dotted about the place, including a marble ?graveslab? which is propped on two small (possible ancient Roman) pillars. I couldn't read the inscription, as it is in Greek. I would not b surprised if some of the marble stonework came from ancient Salamis.

And if you look into the buildings adjoining the cathedral (used as storage areas) you'll see a wonderful wooden bier. I wonder if it's still used for funeral processions?

The building itself still has the remnants of some lovely Gothic carving.....much of that on the cathedral has been eroded away, or removed.

It's always worth poking about....you never know what you'll find! :-)

Maras (also known as Varosia) is Famagusta's the forbidden city - a city within a city, uninhabited, abandoned, deserted, closed off to people, locals and visitors alike. Once upon a time in this area of town there was a thriving and wealthy Greek community - then in 1974 before the advancing Turkish Army they fled to the south and never returned.

I'm not sure this is the real story behind it... the area is sealed off with barbed wire, photography is not allowed and its streets cannot be walked, but you can stand by the "allowed" side of the fence and look into it. We saw houses with plates and glasses seen on the tables, and an old battered suitcase left on a window, as if someone was leaving in a hurry and had decided carrying his/her own suitcase would have slowed their escape.

Maras has left me puzzled. We did not see anyone near the area, except a few children from a nearby house, an old man and three UN vehicles. Despite begin a safe place, I felt very much uncomfortable and was longing to get away from it... something in the recent present went awfully wrong there, and I have the feeling that the stories told, by both sides, are hiding something... something I may not want to know.