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| The barricades and the deserted houses |
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| Ledra street crossing point and Human Rights monument |
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| The street that leads to Ledra street crossing point |
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| A sad, beautiful building |
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| The entrance to the small street where carpenters work unstopably |
Cyprus, Nicosia, October 2014.
Close to Ledra street crossing point.
Green Line. Edited with vscoapp.
As we wandered around the small streets of old Nicosia, we happened to meet the barricades and the wires that separate this beautiful city. As we discovered ourselves the pain and tears among these yellow-stoned buildings, we couldn't stop thinking the people who can't live anymore on that building across the street we see from this point we stand. It belongs to the Buffer Zone. They cannot touch it, they cannot own it. They are only allowed to watch it and observe it. A small sample of the enormous pain these streets hide.
The deserted houses look that they have glimpses of life in them, only vaguely. The empty black windows are like mouths of ghosts lost in time. Cracks on the walls betray their history, but they don't seem to care. They will keep standing quietly for many years to come and those cracks on their corners will only get deeper and deeper.
We tried to take pictures having the barricades as a background but it only felt weird and wrong. Is it only a sightseeing now? Is it only a touristic attraction? The soldiers next to us were closely watching us. Young men who haven't even grown mustaches yet, are forced to serve their country when they finish high school. I could feel their eyes on us, laughing over our touristic ignorance.
Now you see only carpenters in those streets, working endlessly close to the crossing point where lines of tourists wait to go over to "the other side". Every step we took was a reminder of the war, the remains and the agony of the Cypriots who have to live with this every single day.
Vicky Griva Photography ©
The deserted houses look that they have glimpses of life in them, only vaguely. The empty black windows are like mouths of ghosts lost in time. Cracks on the walls betray their history, but they don't seem to care. They will keep standing quietly for many years to come and those cracks on their corners will only get deeper and deeper.
We tried to take pictures having the barricades as a background but it only felt weird and wrong. Is it only a sightseeing now? Is it only a touristic attraction? The soldiers next to us were closely watching us. Young men who haven't even grown mustaches yet, are forced to serve their country when they finish high school. I could feel their eyes on us, laughing over our touristic ignorance.
Now you see only carpenters in those streets, working endlessly close to the crossing point where lines of tourists wait to go over to "the other side". Every step we took was a reminder of the war, the remains and the agony of the Cypriots who have to live with this every single day.
Vicky Griva Photography ©
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