Transport

The only carriage road on the island in 1878 connected the capital to the consular port of Larnaca. The road network was gradually extended but pack animals and horse-drawn vehicles continued to be used well into the twentieth century.

Asmalti Square in the 1930s was the starting place not only for camel caravans but also for public motorbuses.

The government railway, opened to the public in 1905, ran slow-moving trains, which stopped at every village. Nevertheless, it was an important development in communications between the newly-built port of Famagusta and the capital. The railway closed down in 1951, unable to compete with motor transport.

The arrival of the bicycle in 1890 was originally considered a dangerous luxury. As the roads in the city improved and bicycles became cheaper, they soon became a very common sight within the city. The teacher, Nafia Michaelides, was the first woman to ride a bicycle in Nicosia, causing many a head to turn.

By the 1950s, privately owned cars and women drivers were unremarkable though donkeys and even camels could still be seen in the city streets from time to time.

Nicosia International Airport opened in 1947, at its present site, connecting the capital directly with the outside world.