Nicolai de Marthono, an Italian notary, visited Cyprus and described his journey from Famagusta to Nicosia:
Being desirous of visiting the spot where is the blessed cross of Cyprus whereon hung the body of the good thief, on Wednesday, the ninth day of December, I went first to the city of Nicosia, where resides the king of Cyprus. I hired at a certain sum a cart to take me to Nicosia. The owner of the cart, who was a Greek, made me drive the cart with the oxen which carried me, and often quarrelled with me because I did not drive them properly, and because I beat the oxen too much. I did not know what to do, because I had never practised this art. With which quarrelling I travelled all day to a village where I slept that night on a rug on the ground, for in those parts beds are not to be found for money, and nearly every- one sleeps on the ground; and throughout the island there are so many fleas that a man cannot sleep at night, and this on account of the pigs which they keep in their houses. In the morning I rose early, and continued my journey to Nicosia on foot, being unwilling to squabble with the owner of the cart who was always complaining about my beating the oxen and my bad driving.