Agios Sozomenos

Agios Sozomenos

We went to a Turkish ghost town on Friday called Agios Sozomenos. It's in the UN buffer zone between the Turkish and Greek sides of Cyprus, and the whole area is completely deserted. Back in the 70's, a Greek town attacked Agios Sozomenos over water. They were met with the Turkish military, and the two sides skirmished. Most of the villagers were annihilated and the rest fled.

The town is completely in ruins. Its only been 30 years, but the town looks like it had been deserted for hundreds of years. In some places, the buildings have been worn down to the foundations. Rusty military trucks sit abandoned in the hills. Everything is perfectly silent, except for the wind and our voices. Its very creepy.

We saw a cave up on the mountain/hill behind the town, and someone decided it would be a good idea to climb it. I think it was Lain aka the bionic woman. She powered up the mountain without even sweating, while Abbey, Claire, and I crawled up at the back of the line. After we had gotten halfway up one of our supervisors shouted "watch out for the vipers, they live in those kind of bushes!" Thanks a lot. We didn't run into any ssssnaakess, but it turned out that the cave was more of a hole filled with tarantulas and snake holes. Rori crawled into the hole to get a funny picture, and then we saw the tarantulas. So that was fun.

Because Cyprus is so small, not many non-Cyprians (no that is not the correct term, deal with it) know much about it. Here are the answers to some of the questions I've been asked:

• No Cyprus is not in Spain. Its an island off of Turkey.
• No Turkey doesn't border Spain.
• No it's not next to Italy.
• It's spelled Cyprus.
• It's pronounced Cyprus.
• Yes it's a real country.
• No it's not filled with terrorists.
• Yes I have seen Taken.
• Yes I have seen Hostel.
• No, there aren't any cannibals there.
• Of course, I always watch out for slavers and bombers.

I have researched Cyprus extensively for several minutes on wikipedia, and am prepared to answer any other questions you might have about the country/island of Cyprus.

Leaving for Cyprus on Sunday. Everything finalized (kinda). Am looking up "fun facts" about Cyprus. Example:

• fun fact #1- Nicosia is the capital city of Cyprus.

Wow, that fact is fun. Yet still informative.

• Main currency is the Cyprus Pound.
• Main currency is the Euro
  
• National Anthem is "Imnos pros tin Eleftherin"
• National Anthem is "Hymm"
• "Aphrodite is from Cyprus. He is the god of beauty"
• George Michael was born in Cyprus

I hate the internet.