Coffee Shop Shooting Funny Indeed Funny indeed, searching for coffee shops around the Old Town of Nicosia, on a spring afternoon. Elizabeth revealed herself to be a fascinating hunting mate. She’s my enthusiastic British friend, who carries around an impressive “luggage” of experience and mysterious international adventures. I am tickled and allured by her funny way of approaching life and work. Slowly Slowly In this relationship, I find a rich humus which enriches me daily. We slither though the narrow, labyrinth-like streets of Nicosia, the capital of Cyprus, seeking out coffee shops. I cautiously follow her lead and am filled with an overwhelming spirit of vitality in this controversial, violent city. “Slowly slowly,” as they say here in Cyprus, we get closer to our first coffee shop. I feel light and manage to detach myself from my standard professional cloak. We are in a world so unfamiliar. We enter the coffee shop and act “low profile”, seeking implementation of our “Cultural Heritage in Old Nicosia” project. We are vulnerable Elizabeth has an eye for danger as this is not her first contact with a war-cut scenario. We receive strange glances by locals, followed by numerous inquisitive questions by the coffee shop owner, a man who spent thirty years giving information to the secret police about underground social movements in Old Nicosia.

confrontation in a coffee shop This is the universe of coffee shops, of wooden chairs and controversial discussions of relations and intrigue, politics and sexism. We openly expose ourselves, violating the “low profile” code, seeking to share and learn from this full immersion. Surprising experimentation provides us with wild new perspectives on life. Crazy Searchers We are “crazy searchers”, united by a common fundamental inspiration and dedicated to constructing cultural links between the two sides of our divided city. Together, we find Nicosia’s hidden treasure, the core of the social and cultural identity of this town and this country, Reaching Bujuk Han Finally, at the end of this unbelievable journey, both excited and tired, our eyes meet and we smile inside the Bujuk Han, the most renouned coffee shop in Nicosia. We enjoy a delicious Cypriot baklava and lemonade, following of course, by a strong coffee. The coffee they call Turkish or Cypriot in North Nicosia (o Lefkosa), Greek or Cypriot in South Nicosia (or Lefkosia) is the same, just like the divided town we live in, the “last divided capital in Europe,” much more united and unique than can be imagined. - Gianmarco Pisa, March 14, 2006 “Dialogues of Peace” Project in Cyprus