Visit ex-St.Barnabas Monastery in Northern Cyprus

Visit ex-St.Barnabas Monastery in Northern Cyprus

[ Apr.2015 ] We went into the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus.

Our destination was Famagusta, so we went through the checkpoint near the city.

We got out of the car and showed our passports at the checkpoint.

We filled in a simple form and had it stamped.

This paper is needed when you come back, so you must not lose it.

There were long queues at the checkpoint in Nicosia, the capital of Cyprus, but it was very quiet here.

The appearance of the land did not change after entering the North, but I noticed people of colour whom we had not see in the South.

Apparently, Northern Cyprus, which does not have any industries, advertised their university education as a selling point and invited many foreign students to come.

Also, I noticed a few middle-aged women wearing shalwars like in the countryside in Turkey.

They use Turkish Lira instead of Euro there.

The first place we visited in the North was the place which used to be St. Barnabas Monastery.

In the 5th century, St. Barnabas himself appeared to the bed of the then archbishop and told him where his tomb was and that is why this monastery was built.

Currently, the church is an icon museum and the cells make up an archaeological museum, both of which did not seem to be looked after very much.

We also went to see the catacombe.