The Geckos of Bellapais: Memories of Cyprus

The history of the island of Cyprus is in many ways a world history. Its strategic position has seen it coveted by one foreign power after another; they all came here and they all left their mark. Aside from the Roman and early-Byzantine ruins of Salamis, the most impressive monuments date from Frankish and Venetian times; the Abbey of Bellapais, the fortified harbor of Kyrenia, and the magnificent cathedrals of Nicosia and Famagusta—the setting for William Shakespeare's Othello. Joachim Sartorius tells of Cypriot culture and legends, sifting the sediments of the island's history, including its division after the Turkish invasion of 1974.