Wednesday, February 11, 2026

3 February 2026 Paphos: A Visit to Pyla in the Buffer Zone




Cyprus has been divided since the war in 1974.  The north part of the island, commonly known as Northern Cyprus, has the official name Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, TRNC.  Turkey gets top billing because they invaded and still occupy this area.  Turkey is the only country in the world that recognized the TNRC but that is enough recognition for us to put it on our list.  Since we were driving a rental car we could not drive into the TRNC without purchasing an additional insurance policy.  However as the picture below shows we were within the dotted line on the map and certainly within the prying eyes of the Turkish observation tower.  This brings our recent travel list to 43 countries in 45 months.  The town boasts a Venetian era watchtower and some other towers.  We had a 1 hour 45 minute drive to make it back to Paphos so we did not stick around for long



One serious looking watch tower


Palm tree row


In town and passing a church


Even the small towns have large churches


A  very of watchtower from 


A pointy tower


Another tiny church


A huge pig in a truck


The highway stretches out in front of us


Made it to Limassol



It was been 3 years and 243 days since we began our Migration