The immediate impression of the visitor from the south is shock at the vastly different ways the two sides have been developed over the past 26 years of partition. On the south side, the Greek Cypriot state, enjoying an era of economic prosperity has taken measures to preserve and even restore the medieval structures and winding cobblestone streets in the center of the old city, most of which date from the Venetian (1473-1570) and Ottoman (1570-1878) periods of the Nicosia?s history. Meanwhile parts of the north side of the old city have been developed in modern concrete and glass as other corners have been allowed to deteriorate into piles of rubble.
Without crossing the Green Line, any visitor will realize that Nicosia is a city of walls. The enormous medieval walls that surround the old center of both north and south Nicosia were constructed? complete with moat?by the Venetians in 1567 to guard the city from the Ottoman attackers who finally triumphed in 1570. Of the four centuries that have passed since those walls were built, the last one has seen the most strife culminating in the erection of the Green Line?s walls and barbed wire. The future may see a peaceful solution to the Cyprus question, but for now the barbed wire is still up and fists are still clenched, and only travelers?not those who?ve lived their entire lives in Nicosia?who can see it on both sides.
