Green Line (north)

The Green Line (north) - The Green Line , the UN -controlled buffer zone between Greek Cypriot South Nicosia and Turkish Cypriot North Nicosia , can be seen from both sides. Those iconic stacks of sand-filled ex-oil barrels used as roadblocks, however, can only be seen in the south, but the north also has some aspects that make it worth checking out this last capital-city-dividing border from the other side. More background info: see the chapter for the Green Line in South Nicosia for general background. What there is to see: In North Nicosia the Green Line has a somewhat different character compared to the south side . Here you do not get to see those stacks of barrels, nor are there wire-mesh gates to peek through or any (visible) observation bunkers. And everywhere you hit the Green Line in the north you see those Turkish red signs saying “forbidden Zone” in a few languages plus a no-photography sign. So you have to be even more discreet here when attempting to take pictures. In the end, though, I was neither told off nor prevented from taking photos. I started my walk along the northern side of the Green Line (access to the inside of the buffer zone is of course indeed forbidden) at the eastern end of the Old Town. On the Flatro Bastion (called “Zeytinli” in Turkish) you can see a military post and the first of a series of pairs of flagpoles flying the Turkish and TRNC flags in parallel, as they do in so many places along the Green Line and beyond (in fact all across the TRNC). Instead of heading straight to the Bastion you should turn into Ertuğrul Ahmet Sokak. After a short walk there’s a right turn into Tuncay M. Salih Sokak. On this corner stands a ruin of a two-storey house whose windows have been bricked up while the entrance is blocked by a metal door. So this must be standing right on the borderline.