Traveller's101

Welcome To Guzelyurt (Morphou)

Known to the Greeks as Morphou, the city of Guzelyurt means ‘beautiful country’ in the Turkish tongue.  It a market town in the area controlled by the Turkish in northern Cyprus and it was supposedly founded by a group of Spartans who worshiped the goddess Aphrodite.  More than half of the island nation’s citrus fruit production is grown in and around this city. 

The regional capital of the Guzelyurt district, citrus groves around the city has given it the name of the ‘fruit-bowl of Northern Cyprus’.  It is an agriculturally rich area with oranges, lemons, grapefruits, and strawberries growing well in the fertile red soil that makes the land here distinctive. 

Most of the fruit is exported, and the rest is used in Cyprus to produce a variety of fruit goods that are additionally exported or used in local consumption.  Apples, melons, and other vegetables are also grown here.  If looking down upon Cyprus from above, the area around Guzelyurt can easily be spotted as the citrus groves makes it the greenest part of the island. 

This city was one of the prominent stops of the Cyprus Government Railway between 1907 and 1948 when it shut down due to financial problems.  The make up of the city then was mostly Greek Cypriots with a little over one hundred Turkish Cypriots and less then fifty Maronites mixed in. 

All of that changed in 1974 when the Turkish military took the city and forced the Greek population from the homes.  The population went from over 6,000 to just fewer than 200 in the blink of an eye.  Since then, the city has grown under its Turkish Cypriot residents and now has a population of over 12,000. 

Photo by Wikimedia commons

If visitors time their tour of Guzelyurt properly, they can be in the city for the annual Orange Festival.  The festival originated in the city in 1977 and it originally celebrated the harvesting of the oranges during the next two weeks.  Since then it has been expanded into a full blown festival with concerts, competitions and art events.  All of the schools, business, civic organizations and clubs are decorated with an orange theme and it is kicked off with a parade through the town.  From folk dancing to art exhibits, beauty contests and music recitals, seeing this town light up in a festive atmosphere – and eating some succulent oranges – is something everyone visiting the island should experience. 

The Green Line demarcation crossing in Guzelyurt was one of the first to be opened to civilian use, allowing both Turkish and Greek Cypriots to cross the line since 2003.  Passport and identification is done at both sides of the crossing, and residents must pass through the United Nations buffer zone which is patrolled to prevent any attacks from one side or the other.  Recently, the crossing on Ledra Street in Nicosia was completely removed and this could be a sign of better things to come for all of the citizens on the island. 
The city itself is not a usual tourist destination, like Famagusta or Nicosia, but there are some interesting things in the city that would attract a tourist.  The city itself is tranquil, so if you are looking for someplace quiet to relax, then Guzelyurt may be what you need.  The island’s history and archaeology museum can be found here with exhibits ranging from prehistoric artefacts through the Byzantine era of the island.  Tools, pottery, and other items found throughout the excavation sites on the island are all displayed here.  There is a covered market in the town for those visitors who wish to do a little shopping, as well some of the most wonderfully preserved ruins outside the city at Soli and Vouni. 

Guzelyurt has an interesting patron saint tied to it in St. Mamas.  There is a monastery in the city named after him that houses one of the nations many icon museums.  As a matter of fact, there are two legends about St. Mamas that are tied together with the city’s history.  Supposedly, St. Mamas was a hermit who lived in one of the many caves near the city.  He was very poor and he evaded the tax collectors at every turn.  One day when he was lead into the town by soldiers, he saw a lion attacking a lamb.  St. Mamas came to the rescue of the lamb, jumped on the lion’s back, and entered the town in that manner.  Because he was so brave, the town government exempted him from paying taxes and made him the patron saint of tax dodgers. 

The legend continues in the building of the monastery that is dedicated to St. Mamas in Guzelyurt.  When St. Mamas was buried he was placed in a sarcophagus.  The legend does not go into detail as to where the sarcophagus was.  Sometime in the 18th century, a peasant man found the sarcophagus washed up on the shore of Cyprus.  He was given a vision of St. Mamas telling him to bring the sarcophagus to Guzelyurt and build a monastery in his name on the chosen site.  The chosen site happened to be on the ruins of a Byzantine Church.  It is rumoured that St. Mamas sarcophagus is still buried in the monastery-come-museum there in Guzelyurt.