Famagusta

Famagusta, on the east coast of Cyprus, has been a victim of the differences between the factions in the island, and part of it which was alive with hotels and lovely beaches is now a no man's land which no one is allowed to enter. It is said to look as if it has been frozen in time with department stores still full of clothes, now many years out of fashion and hotels still fully equipped, but it can only be viewed over a fence.

Apart from that sad aspect, the rest of it is a vibrant town and has many fascinating buildings.

The town has had various names from its first known one of Arsinoe, then Ammonchostos (meaning "hidden in sand") which developed into Famagusta and the Turkish name of Gazimagusa. It seems to have had its heyday in the 13th century when Christians fleeing from Syria and Palestine settled there and developed it into a wealthy city. It declined after a riot in the 14th century and by the 15th when the Venetians took over, it had seen better times. They redeveloped it, building a massive wall round the old town, still mostly remaining. The Martinengo bastion is an example of very expert military architecture providing, as it does, protection for the walls on either side of it: it reminded one tourist (no expert!) of a similar protection to be seen far away in the walls of Berwick-upon-Tweed, England. The Ottoman forces took over after that, converting churches into mosques or using them for secular purposes. The Cathedral of St Nicholas became the Lala Mustapha Pasa Mosque.

In later years the British demolished many buildings to provide material for Port Said and the Suez Canal.