On Saturday, I drove to Girne/Kyrenia to join Gul and her mother at a fashion show for charity. What a treat! Held at the Dome, one of the beautiful seaside hotels, the show was sponsored by the Girne InnerWheel Kulubu, similar to the Assistance League or Junior League in the States. Featured were treasures from family wardrobes, women's clothing heirlooms from weddings, boudoir, and special occasions. Most of the clothing was worn by the granddaughters of the original owners--or perhaps the great-great granddaughters, as the first embroidered dress was from 1895. After the show, a group in costumes performed traditional Turkish Cypriot folk dances. Highlights were the water glass maneuvers. I was impressed when the young men did acrobatics with one glass of water on their heads. When the numbers kept mounting and one fearless guy waltzed around with five cups teetering, we were all amazed.
The air was clear in Kyrenia on Saturday. I stood, marveling at the sites, standing on the vast patio of the hotel, with the swimming pool glimmering in the bright sunshine. Across the sea we could see the stretched out shadow of Turkey, 40 miles away, tucked under the clouds. On one side of the hotel, the Saturday afternoon crowds gathered at restaurants and coffee shops or paraded down the narrow street in their automobiles, a ritual drive-by everywhere, it seems. However, next to the hotel on prime beach front property was the "military land" where the Turkish army is headquartered. Again, it was an ever-present reminder that fantasy and reality live side-by-side in Cyprus.
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