Impossible to live in the midst of this history without thinking of those who were here before. Ubi sunt?
In the near past (as opposed to bronze age, or even neolithic) we have In an Enchanted Island, the account of William Hurrell Mallock, written in the 1880’s about his trip to Cyprus. He landed in Larnaca, stayed in Nicosia, and visited Kyrenia all before there were connecting roads, when journeys between cities and through the mountain passes were made with guides and by donkey, The house in which we are now living would have been about four hundred years old at that time, so the following excerpts are interesting, if not directly relevant. Transport from the coast of Turkey does seem extreme when rocky hills and mountains are near at hand, although moving heavy items by water is often easier than across land with no roads. But dismantling ancient buildings is not at all unusual, and in fact the older houses in the village of Bellapais east of Kyrenia/Girne were built using stones from the by then disused Bellapais Abbey.
