We now live in Nicosia, capital of Cyprus. Nicosia has one of the most curious city maps of any place in the world.

Nicosia Old City

The city wall, built by the Venetians in 1567 and still largely intact, has the shape of an 11 pointed star. In this picture from Google Earth the wall's outline is easy to see along the bottom, because of vegetation in the former moat. But the 11 pointy ramparts are visible all the way around. Notice a ragged, darkish line across the star from 2:00 to 8:30; the dots are trees. This is the "green line" or no-man's-land dividing the city between the southern Republic of Cyprus, a member of the EU, and Turkish controlled northern Cyprus. The UN separates the two sides, and the UN special envoy reports recent progress towards resolving the 35 year separation. Our building is the square in the lower right corner of the picture.

News & Notes

• We've been in Nicosia for 10 days now. We're moved into a third floor 1 bedroom apartment, complete with an excellent balcony with a view of the mountains of northern Cyprus. We have our car rented, refrigerator stocked and a new set of wine glasses, so we're settled. (Cypriots claim to have invented wine making, and we give thanks with each bottle.) See the Contact page for details.

  

  Find J peering from our top floor balcony

• L has given 3 lectures in the Computer Science Department of the University of Cyprus.

  

  Blah. Blah. Blah.

  Cyprus has endured several years of drought. Water restrictions are in force, and most residents get water service only 4 days a week. But rain was forecast for the day of the first lecture, so L joked he'd brought rain from Seattle. Indeed, it did start to rain and continued for most of the lecture. Day 2, heavy rain at the start of the lecture. Day 3, rain of Biblical proportions. An offer of permanent rather than visiting professorship followed, although it was in Meteorology!

• Crossing the Green Line in Nicosia, means going from a Greek city to a Turkish city in only a few meters, although you need your passport. We spent a sunny morning ambling around northern Nicosia, enjoying the neighborhoods and visiting some of the mosques.

  

  The Arabahmet Mosque