A short YouTube travel vlog by Kara and Nate Buchanan documenting a day trip to Nicosia in Northern Cyprus. The hosts explore landmarks (notably Selimiye Mosque), try local food (kebab, yogurt, ice cream), visit the Great Inn (restored caravanserai), note that many sites were closed because it was Sunday, and end the day watching sunset from their hotel in Kyrenia. The video includes historical facts about Nicosia (continuous habitation ~4,500 years; capital since the 10th century) and mentions specific dates for local landmarks (mosque conversion in 1570; Great Inn built in 1572).
Questions this video answers
Approximately 4,500 years.
Since the 10th century.
1570.
1572.
Chapters
Today we are going on another road trip adventure to the capital of Cyprus, Nicosia.
Go. North Cyprus has suggested that we visit two major landmarks there. I would tell you what they both were if I could pronounce them. And then, besides that, we have no clue what we're doing.
It's very interesting, though, because the capital is split into two parts. One part's in South Cyprus and the other part's in North Cyprus.
I'll give you some information we've gotten off of Wikipedia. Nicosia is the capital and seat of government of the Republic of Cyprus, and as such is the furthest city southeast of all EU member state capitals. It has been continuously inhabited for 4,500 years and has been the capital of Cyprus since the 10th century.
Let's go.
Hopefully they have good food now.
The trick is going to be getting out of these alleyways that we somehow made it through last night to get to our hotel. We definitely were not supposed to park where we were, but the people at our hotel were really nice. That's a parking brake.
We have arrived in Nicosia, found a good parking spot on the street right next to the first thing on our agenda, which is a mosque that I still can't pronounce the name of.
Selimiye Mosque.
We'll show you a sign.
This is the word that we have in been able to pronounce all morning.
Well, that was our first time inside of a mosque. We've been in a lot of churches since we've been in Europe this year, and I definitely have to say the mosque style of decoration is much more minimal than the churches that we've been in. Just an observation from our first time inside of a mosque. This mosque specifically was actually converted from a church to a Mosque in 1570.
Now that that's checked off our list, we are heading towards the market down the road to see if maybe they have something we can get for lunch.
This is the current state of the covered market.
Apparently it's closed on Sunday.
Should go find food somewhere else. Lesson of the day, if you come to Nicosia, Sunday is probably not the best day because a lot of things are closed.
Helps narrow down our decisions on what.
We'Re going to do.
We're not eating here. They just have really cool umbrellas as a roof. But if it rains, we'll come back.
Ha.
Is it Mil?
Maybe it's the milky yogurty stuff we had in the airport. It's definitely yogurt. She says it's good.
It's the milky yogurt.
Very strong.
We've been passing kebab shops left and right since we've been in Cyprus, and I've been craving one since we got here. So we finally got one.
Next stop is the Great Inn, which from what we can tell is kind of like an old school hotel. Travelers and like people who are traveling in big caravans could stop and stay. I think it says something about trading goats and storing their horses.
It was built in 1572 and now it's been restored and has like shops and cafes and souvenirs.
We looked in a few of the shops. Unfortunately nobody was trading goats today.
So now we're going to get some ice cream.
With.
Thank you.
We are calling it a day here in Nicosia and heading back to Kyrenia. To be fair, we probably should have done some more planning. Called a prayer.
Like we said earlier, we learned our lesson. Don't come to Nicosia on a Sunday because Turkish Bash were closed, the market was closed, the shops at the Great Inn were closed, and the church was closed.
But we still had a great time. And now we're gonna make it back in time to our awesome hotel that has a rooftop terrace for sunset.
We just got back to our hotel on the Kyrenia harbor and we have this whole rooftop terrace to ourselves.
We're gonna watch the sunset and call it a night.
Oh, let it rest like that and then move the camera up.
Oh, there we go.
I think it's good. I don't think it's gonna stay. Yes. Don't touch it.
I said don't touch it.
Can you describe it?
Oh, yeah. Don't touch it. Don't touch it. Don't move.
