LEDRA/LOKMACI CROSSING POINT

Located almost in the center of Nicosia, this crossing point (Lokmacı Kapısı, Οδοφράγματος Ληδρας/Odofragmatos Lidras, Ledra/Lokmacı Crossing) is the only link between the south and north of the old town. Opened in 2008 and reserved for pedestrians, it is one of nine crossing points across the "green line" that cuts the country in two. It is controlled to the north by the border police of the self-proclaimed Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, to the south by the national police of the Republic of Cyprus, and in the buffer zone by UNFICYP peacekeepers. Formalities are generally swift: in prefabs, Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot police officers check and sometimes scan passports. Controls in the south can be more thorough: the duration of a stay in the northern zone is limited to ninety days, and the quantity of goods you can bring back is restricted (40 cigarettes and a liter of alcohol, for example). In the North, the checkpoint is located at the end of Girne Street, but this stretch is nicknamed Lokmacı. The name comes from the old Lokmacı Krikor store, which was run here in the ^19th century by an Armenian Cypriot family selling lokmas, small round doughnuts coated in honey or syrup. Called lokmades in Greek and lokması in Turkish, their name is derived from the Arabic lokmat meaning "mouthfuls".

No man's land. After the northern checkpoint, there are several streets. On the left, you'll find Atatürk Square. On the right, the pedestrian shopping street Arasta leads to the Selimiye mosque. To the south, the crossing point leads to Ledra Street (Λήδρα/Lidra), the main pedestrian and shopping axis of the entire old town, which connects with Eleftherias Square. It is named after the ancient city-state of Ledra, the ancestor of today's Nicosia. Between the two checkpoints, a stretch some 30 m long is under United Nations control. Day and night, you can stay there as long as you like, and even take photos. But it is strictly forbidden to use the more or less blocked cross-alleys to the no-man's-land, which is still in ruins and in some places mined. There are two other crossing points outside the old town: Ledra Palace, near the fortifications, to the west (for pedestrians and diplomatic vehicles) and Kermia/Metehan, some 4 km to the west (for vehicles and pedestrians).