Cyprus: The Mystery of Androuliki (solved)


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Originally uploaded by JP1984.

Captain Zorba was to be found on the waterfront the other evening, and he joined us for a drink after our meal at The Village Tavern. Typically he was on good form (“almost perfect”) and we enjoyed a good chat. He no longer does boat trips, nor does he play his bouzouki in the local restaurants anymore, but he has instead seen a business niche and set up a chandlery shop and boat care scheme for the new ‘marina’. Shrewd.

We took the opportunity to ask him about Androuliki, and he was indeed able to shed some light on it. Unsurprisingly, it turns out that it is a Turkish Cypriot village, abandoned at the time of the 1974 invasion. Some such villages were used to house Greek Cypriot refugees from the northern part of the island, but Androuliki is apparently just that little bit too remote.

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