Famagusta and St. Barnabas Museum

The girls getting ready to cross over to the Turkish side
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Friday, Febuary 1 a bunch of us all went across the "Green Line" into the Turkish side to visit a once flourishing town called Famagusta. Famagusta is now a ghost town and the buildings are starting to fall and crumble.

The city of Famagusta (MaÄŸusa in Turkish) is one of the finest examples of medieval architecture in the eastern Mediterranean. Joe, Jon, Scot, Devin, Laura and I went together and we visited Othello Tower. This citadel was built in the 12th century during the Lusignan period, to protect the harbour. The Sea Gate and the Land Gate were the two major entrances of walled Famagusta. We walked around the entire tower below and above. It was a lot of fun and really interesting. It was beautiful out that day and we had our own personal taxi driver that drove us around to all of the places we visited and waited for us...all day for less than 20 Euros a person. It was amazing!

The boys
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Then we were off to Salamis. Excavations have shown that the history of Salamis goes back to the 11th century B.C. Archaeologists tend to believe that the first inhabitants of the town came here from Enkomi after the earthquake of 1075 B.C. Traces of a necropolis and a harbour of this early period have been located. When the "Dark Ages" of the Mediterranean world came to an end in about the 8th century BC, Salamis appeared on the historical scene as an important trading center. The ruins make up seven parts: Gymnasium and baths, theatre, Roman Villa, Kampanopetra Basilica, Ayios Epiphanios Basilica, Stone Forum, Temple of Zeus, and the Water Reservoir. It was a HUGE place and took awhile to walk around it, but i loved it. I love ruins. It was great.

Our demand Turkish people and settlers out of Cyprus
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We also went to St. Barnabas Icon and Archaeological Museum in Famagusta. The building was really beautiful and there was a really cute courtyard in the middle with lots of flowers. :) And i guess that artifacts inside were kind of cool too. haha.

Hope you guys are enjoying my pictures and stories...