Music, Art, and of course, History

Huggıng Aphrodıte
see all photos »

Mustafa and family has been treating us to some culture during our week-long invasion of his home.  (Note to Brits:  Americans invade lots of things too.  Sorry for snarky comments about Pafos retirement take-over.  Hi Ollie!)

Music:  Mustafa is a jazz double bass player who trained in Ankara and knows almost every musician on the island.  He took us to Famagusta to hear Ersen Sururi and the Music Ambassadors playing in the Arts Festival in the ampitheater of the Salamais ruins.  I had no idea what an evening I was in for.  We got to the ruins at sunset and they were stunning.  Without the blazing heat, we could run around looking at columes, posing with headless statues, and finding the Roman baths.  Mustafa and Nibel, a professor at Dogu Akdeniz Uni. have handy cell phones that can be used as flashlights--good for frequent power outages in the North and viewing mosaics at night.  And the music!  It was a fusion of traditional Turkish folk and new jazz with the lead musician playing violin.  He lead the band of sax, guitar, bass, percussion, drums, keyboard, and vocals.  Not only did Mustafa know the musicians, Tolga on keyboard was a former student.  I got to go backstage and shake hands.  Mustafa explained that it is a unique experience to hear an all Turkish Cypriot band play the festival.  They usually bring in talent from Turkey and the larger region.

cell phones double as flashlights--good for frequent power outages in the North and viewing mosaics at night

Mustafa on pıano
see all photos »

Art:  Selenya, Mustafa's niece, came to play with Chloe.  I've never met such a polite, well-spoken (in English and Turkish) sweet girl.  She played piano for Chloe and then the girls settled on the floor for a serious color session.  We all went for lunch at a plush ACed restaurant that had a play room, and she chased Chloe around the toys while we enjoyed calamari and huge desserts.

This was the day that we pretended to be rich, so we went to the Alcapoco beach resort to medicate ourselves against the heat and mosquito bites.  Gold sand beach, big waves, then a huge swimming pool too, followed by a playground.  How happy the baby was that day!  Good thing too, because it cost 15 Turkish Lira to get in.  In my new way of calculating currency, 15 TL = 5 Cypriot pounds = 12 US dollars.

Art sessıon
see all photos »

History:  In our journey to Famagusta for the festival, we went to the town center to see the Lale Mustafa Pasha Mosque.  This is a very dramatic half ruined cathedral from the 13 cent, and it was converted into a mosque when the Ottomans finally took the city.  That took a while and made them quite mad, so they had to do some extra cruel killing.  When you travel with Jimmy the tour guide you get lots of stories until the baby melts down.  We are balancing out this out with an equation of one history day to one beach day to keep all happy.

Famagusta mosque
see all photos »

Mustafa has been treating us too well.  Yesterday when we went to the beach he caught Chloe a fish with his bare hands and then found a piece of ancient pottery shard in the sand.  Jim says he's a true Renaissance Man:  musician, teacher, cook, hunter, doctor (treating a leg cut at breakfast).  Mustafa humbly said that he is a Middle Age Man.