Thursday, the day of Famagusta’s weekly market. And have also made a dental appointment, with mixed feelings. Always a pleasure seeing Fehmi, our dentist but hoping that he doesn’t think there’s a need for extensive work, largely because cross border transportation is made, deliberately, about as awkward as possible. It’s easy to forget that the actual distance is only about 45 km, but buses don’t cross the border, except for some coach tours. Buses that go near the border aren’t Larnaca region but Agia Napa region. Crossing points are limited. Taxis overcharge for the hassle and extra insurance requirements, and car rental outfits usually don’t want their cars taken across. And therefore we have on a couple of occasions booked a hotel in the old city and stayed for a few days to simplify dental access. A pleasure in other respects, of course, as it’s a World Heritage Site with stunning ruins.
Today, for the first time there is a queue at the border, with several cars ahead of us waiting to have Turkish immigration check passports and vehicle insurance papers. Are they looking for a particular individual? Nobody smuggles goods into the North, do they? But J, who gets out with our documents says everything seems as low key as usual. About a fifteen minute delay, though, when there’s usually absolutely none. Happy stop at the dentist, with only minor work. And Fehmi sits down to have a cup of coffee and a chat with us when it’s done, always interesting, always unhurried, always the gentleman. Lunch in the old city at the place by the Venetian walls (15th and 16th century). Busy, but happily it’s virtually all local business.
Then the market. Flowers and plants outside, as well as fish and ice cream trucks. And inside clothing, jewellery, handbags, footwear, linens - but mostly food. Cheese, eggs, butter and pails of yoghurt. Nuts (although we do note that the enormous burlap sacks of walnuts say California), dried fruit, and pulses. Garlic is - as in most of the rest of the world - from China, but the olives are local. And a colour explosion of local fruit and vegetables - tomatoes, oranges, bananas, beets, artichokes, cabbages, carrots, peppers, lemons, and much more. Turkish lira currently just over 6 to the euro. We pay in lira but could do in euros. Scales now all modern and electronic, but still a little calling out the wares. At customs they do look in the trunk, but we seem to be legal - no cigarettes, no liquor, no bodies.