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On Day 5 in Nicosia, @lillysharples created a Gemini Notebook, listened to it for…

2026-07-27 · 20:58 UTC ·@lillysharples ·2 min read

Brief

Lilly Sharples spent Day 5 in divided Nicosia researching esoteric Cyprus history, focusing on the 1950s Greek nationalist rebellion and her family’s RAF connection from the 1970s. She favored the Turkish north—visiting a 16th-century hammam and Büyük Han bookshop—reported a large migrant presence and an asylum route via the northern airport, and managed a 3-hour drive despite a blown car charging fuse.

Why it matters

On Day 5 in Nicosia, @lillysharples created a Gemini Notebook, listened to it for an hour while walking and getting coffee until museums opened at 08:00, and dug into Cyprus history—especially the 1950s Greek nationalist rebellion against British rule; her grandfather served in the RAF during the 1970s, so her father grew up in Cyprus.

Key details

  • She spent most of the day on the Turkish side of Nicosia, finding it more lively (visited a hammam operating since the 1500s and bought a 1950s English copy of The Odyssey at Büyük Han). She observed empty, graffiti-covered buildings on the Greek side, noted a large migrant population, and described an asylum route via the unrecognized northern airport—Cyprus reportedly has the highest asylum applications per capita in the EU and the government accuses Turkey of weaponizing migration.
  • Experienced travel/tech trouble: the car’s charging-port fuse was blown, so she drove ~3 hours with her phone at 20% while running Google Maps and Spotify and arrived with only a few percent left after stopping for dinner in a roadside herb garden as the sun set.
Source evidence

Day 5

My goal for the day was to download as much esoteric Cyprus history as possible. And I think I succeeded. I started the day by creating a Gemini Notebook and listened to that for an hour as I walked around and got coffee until the first museum opened at 8.

Learned a lot about the Greek nationalist rebellion against the British in the 50s, the first major modern conflict here, well before the Greek-Turkish territorial disputes of the 70s. A big part of why I’ve been wanting to visit Cyprus is because my grandfather served in the British Royal Air Force during the conflict in the 70s, so my dad grew up here while he was deployed. Maybe I’m too young, or maybe we just don’t cover it in American public schools, but this is a history I knew almost nothing about. UNTIL NOW!!

Spent most of the day on the Turkish side of Nicosia. In my possibly-not-politically-correct opinion, and honestly to my surprise, the vibes are better over here. The Greek side feels like everyone got up and left. Blocks of beautiful buildings sitting empty, covered in graffiti about oppression and fascism and freeing Palestine. There’s also a shockingly large migrant population.
Did a bit of research and turns out there’s a popular asylum route: flying in to the unrecognized Turkish airport in the north of Cyprus, sneak across the UN buffer zone, then claim asylum on the other wide. Because of it, Cyprus has the highest number of asylum applications per capita in the EU. The government actually accuses Turkey of weaponizing the migration to destabilize the country. Absolutely wild 5D chess if true🤯🤯

The Turkish side, by contrast, just feels like Turkey. Went to a hammam that’s been a working public bathhouse since the 1500s. Spent an hour in a bookshop in Büyük Han where I scored a 1950s English copy of The Odyssey😃. Hit a few more museums, then started the drive toward the northwest coast.

I know this has read very Type A history nerd and not as chaotic as promised, but don’t fear. I didn’t charge my phone last night, then found out the fuse is blown in the cars charging port. So I drove 3 hours on 20% battery with Google Maps and Spotify both running the whole way. Miraculously I made it with a few percent to spare, thank you Apple. I stopped for dinner in a roadside herb garden and finished my drive as the sun set over the coast 🌅