Cyprus, the island that copper’s named after
The legendary birthplace of Aphrodite, once at the heart of the Mediterranean world, now divided
(This post has now been expanded into a book called CATCHY CYPRUS: ONCE WAS THE ISLAND OF LOVE. A clickable cover image at the end of this post leads to a sales page where you can read more about the book and buy a copy, if you want.)
AFTER Israel, I decided to visit Cyprus, the large island tucked up in the north-eastern corner of the Mediterranean Sea.
Cyprus is an island state with a historically mixed population of Greeks and Turks, plus other smaller minorities. It passed from the Republic of Venice to the Turkish Ottoman Empire in the 1500s, came under British administration in 1878, and was annexed by Britain in 1914.
The Republic of Cyprus became independent from Britain in 1960, under the leadership of its first president, Archbishop Makarios, more formally Archbishop Makarios III, who ruled as president until his death in 1977. Britain hung onto two small bases…
