Keeping it in the family

Sabir restaurant in north Nicosia

North or south, Nicosia’s Old Town is history in a bowl. A stone-walled container crammed with churches, mosques, museums and other landmarks all proclaiming a deeply human, multi-layered and complicated past.

Once a hive of interlaced streets and alleyways, visitors or residents today traverse the divided city via the filtering chute of the Ledra street pedestrian crossing. Whatever their destination, however urgent their trip, they must first contend with the tourist-congested lines and one-at-a-time procedures that increasingly clog up the checkpoints.

Forge beyond the cluster of souvenir shops and displays of Gucci and Prada clones in the north. Here is where you will discover Old Town authenticities. Visit north Nicosia’s Old Town to learn about the older, family-run businesses that resolutely maintain, sustain and build on generations of traditions and skills honed with pride and an abiding love of the walled city environs. Amongst these are Sabir Restaurant (surely one of the island’s very first slow food venues), Özerlat (one of the oldest coffee shops in Cyprus), Resa Budak (a bakery with variants on traditional recipes with a twist), and Halva Shop (one recipe since 1830).

Source: Agnieszka Rakoczy for Cyprus-Mail

About Sophia Söderholm 2779 Articles
At the age of ten Sophia moved from Sweden in 1998 and has since lived in several locations around the world including Spain, and has been residing in North Cyprus for four years now. Her educational background is in marketing, hotel management and real estate, and she now works as a real estate agent and is editor in chief for New Cyprus Magazine. If you any questions for Sophia, please write to: sophia@newcyprusmagazine.com.