Night tour of Nicosia

On our last night in Nicosia, we were given a very insightful tour of the city. While walking along the Greek and Turkish Cypriot border, the sight of the barbed wire, the bullets on the liberty statue, the military guards, the provocative signs, and the different flags waving in the air was surreal and at the same time unsettling. Our tour guide was an anthropologist and his perspective on the Cypriot issue, as well as all other internal social and cultural difficulties eroding the democratic status quo of the state, was truly unique, something that we could never experience and gain meaningful knowledge on in a classroom setting and on textbooks. It is still hard for me to even imagine what living in an occupied territory would involve on a daily basis, but I am more than thankful for this unforgettable experience through which I was able to expand my knowledge and interest in the political and social peculiarity of Cyprus.