Cyprus: in the citadel of Famagusta

Traveling through Famagusta, be sure to visit its historical part, surrounded by a fortress wall with many surviving buildings.

Inspection of the city will begin near the fortress wall next to the "Sea Gate" - one of the entrances to the ancient city.

At the foot of the wall the Venetian lion watches, recalling that during the Venetian period Famagusta was a significant trading center of this Mediterranean region.

The city itself appeared already in the 3rd century BC!

And even the notorious Richard the Lionheart captivated him, declaring himself the king of Cyprus.

We rise to the wall.

Now it is clear why the gate is "sea".

This is the entrance to the bay of the same name to the city.

Famagusta is a port city.

Dozens of ships are moored daily here.

And if you look back, we will see the ruins of the old city, which we now and will bypass!

We get down from the wall on a steep staircase and go to ... excavators.

That's how hard-working Turks preserve the historical and tourist heritage.

Soon there will be a road, "paved at the time of the Lusignans."

Bastions of the fortress.

Everywhere "tablets" with a Venetian lion. The copyright is immortalized!

Still, those comrades knew how to build. The height of the fortress walls is 17 meters, and the width is 9 meters.

They survived many earthquakes and also artillery shelling, but at the same time they were perfectly preserved.

By the way, one of the works of Shakespeare, whose action took place in him, is associated with Famagusta.

Othello.

According to legend, it was here that Christopher Moro, the then governor of Cyprus, suspected the betrayal of his wife, killed her and threw her into the sea. Moor in Italian is just "moro", so it is quite plausible that Shakespeare described this story.

In short, one of the towers of the fortress is called - the Tower of Othello.

Here it is.

Directly across the road are the remains of the church of St. George of the Latins, built before the Venetians - during the Lusignan period.

These stones are more than 700 years old ..

How do you want to return at that time and see how it really was ...

We went to a large area, here again there are ruins.

Once it was a beautiful Venetian palace ...

Here, even the columns - one in one repeat the ones I saw on St. Mark's Square in Venice.

The most magnificent building in the historical part of the city is St. Nicholas Cathedral.

Famous and ficus to his left - he was put, according to the plate, in 1299 ...

This Gothic temple was built in the 14th century, and 200 years later, after the siege and capture of the city by the Turks, it became ... a mosque.

The Turks took and stupidly built a minaret. Well, even the decoration was smashed and smeared.

So take off your shoes - you are in the mosque of Lala Mustafa Pasha.

For the sake of justice, not all pogroms in the city must be attributed to the Turks.

Frequent earthquakes destroyed this temple, as well as all other buildings. A strong place.

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