Comments on: wandering in the market in turkish nicosia

By: Carnival of Cities | Mother of all Trips

Carnival of Cities | Mother of all Trips — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 01:23:32 +0000

[...] Explore the recently-opened Turkish areas of the Cypriot capital Nicosia. WanderMom presents wandering in the market in turkish nicosia. [...]

By: wandermom

wandermom — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 07:11:43 +0000

@L Solonynko: The waiter who served us for our first coffee in TRNC was an older man who got quite flustered when we offered Euros to pay. I’m not actually sure if it was us or our Euros. But, he fetched a younger person who came and helped out immediately.
Language was not a problem per se, just markedly different to the level of “english everywhere” which we’d experienced in the Paphos area.
I didn’t mean to imply that service was substandard – it certainly wasn’t. Again, just different.
The soldier we spoke to must have been a National Guardsman. When I wrote this post, I had totally forgotten that UN Peacekeepers are unarmed.
I understand the difficulty and support the work of the UN in their many peacekeeping missions in Cyprus and elsewhere. Thanks for pointing out my inaccuracies. I hope your husband stays safe in his current mission.

By: L Solonynko

L Solonynko — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 19:44:36 +0000

This was a very good blog entry. I am wondering however, when you visited the TRNC (Turkish Republic of North Cyprus)?

I have been living in Cyprus for almost 2 years and my husband is a UN Peacekeeper. We visit north Cyprus almost weekly. I wonder when you visited Cyprus because the TRNC has been accepting Euros, American Dollars, British Pounds (and until January 2008, they accepted Cypriot Pounds) for longer than I have been here. They have actually been accepting the Euro since its introduction in Europe. The reason they accept British Pounds is because they have a huge British ex-pat community.

Also, 90% of the shop keepers and cafe owners speak enough English for the tourists to get by quite comfortably. I do not speak any Turkish, and I shop and eat there regularly. They have been catering to tourist for a number of years now and are quite good at it. In many cases better customer service is found in the north opposed to the south. It is a shame that you did not experience this.

Also, I am not sure if you asked for directions from a UN Peacekeeper or a Greek Cypriot National Guardsman since UN Peacekeepers are not permitted to carry their weapons on their person (certainly not a sub-machine gun).

I am glad the you got to eat at Buyuk Han. It is my favourite restaurant for fresh ravioli.

I would not have commented except for the part of you entry that talks of the UN Peacekeeper holding a sub-machine gun.

It is very difficult for the Peacekeepers on the island. They are trusted to keep the two sides at arms length, all the while having no protection for themselves. It is also very important that citizens of Cyprus, and all of the other participating Nations who send Peacekeepers, know that the UN’s mandate is being upheld. This kind of misunderstanding could lead to issues for everyone involved.

It is so wonderful that you had the opportunity to visit Cyprus when you did. We are very optimistic that a resolution will be found in the very near future and the island will change rapidly.

I wish you luck in all of your future travels and I am glad that you take the opportunity to inform others of these very interesting places.