The world's last divided capital — where meze runs for three hours and a UN buffer zone cuts through the old city's cafés
Nicosia (Lefkosia in Greek, Lefkoşa in Turkish) is the world's last divided capital — the Green Line, a UN-monitored buffer zone held since the Turkish military intervention in 1974, cuts directly through the walled old city, splitting it between the Republic of Cyprus to the south and the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus to the north. In the Greek Cypriot south, food is meze: not a course but a philosophy — grilled halloumi, lamb kleftiko, koupepia stuffed vine leaves, taro in wine, fresh cuttlefish, and a slow succession of small plates that can last three hours without anyone at the tab…
Nicosia has been the capital of Cyprus since the 10th century, though the island's recorded history extends to Neolithic settlements of 9,000 years ago. The Venetians built the remarkably intact circular defensive walls in 1567, precisely 3 years before the Ottomans took the city and held it for three centuries. The British colonial period (1878–1960) left English-language administrative systems and cricket grounds. The 1974 division, following a Greek nationalist coup and Turkish military intervention, froze the city's development along the Green Line — some streets remain exactly as they we…