CYPRUS

ΚΥΠΡΟΣ ΕΥΟΙΝΗ, ΕΥΕΛΑΙΑ, ΕΥΚΑΡΠΗ…

Cyprus of good wine, good oil, good fruit  …

This is how Strabon describes Cyprus in his Geographika – the geographical file.

The island offers something for everyone. Families with small children as well as lovers of nightlife will find something. Wide sandy beaches, 64 of which have a Blue Flag, alternating ancient sights. Resorts – especially in the Southeast of the island, live 24 hours a day.

But if you go inland, you will find seemingly sleepy villages, hidden settlements, and especially the breathtaking scenery of the mountain massif Troodos.

There are still mysterious, deserted, quiet places where you do not have to drag for a place in the sun.

Small  boutiques hotels, traditional houses, farms, refurbished Cypriot villages provide cozy space and atmosphere for relaxation, exercise and meditation.

And if it is too much of rest and calm, nothing is easier than going to a secluded beach and to swim in the warm sea,  or to go to the traditional farmhouse – ktima, try to cook and bake some local delicacy, to make a herb mixture with a local herbalist, to taste honey, to take some of  the marked footpaths for cycling or hiking, to exercise, to dance, to create something, and after to relax again.

If the weather allows  then one day you can ski in the winter resort of Chionistra, under the highest mountain Olymp (1951 m.), in the afternoon you can swim in the sea. But maybe that would be hard for you.  The sea has a temperature around 16 ° C in the winter.

Cyprus is the mythical birthplace of the goddess of love and beauty, Aphrodite. To Latin, Venus, if you like.

It lies in the Mediterranean, about 80 km south of Turkey. And even geographically it belongs to Asia. The Mediterranean climate does not limit island life and it is possible to do anything throughout the year. Although in January it may be rainy sometimes.

Cyprus was in the 13th century. B.C. inhabited by Greek Achaia of Mycenae, who gave the island the name of Cyprus, perhaps by copper – the Latin cuprum. But it is also possible that the  name derived  from the Umbrian word Cubrar which means love or beloved, and then the name of the island could be interpreted as “Beloved Island” or “Island of Love”. We prefer that.

And then the Phoenicians, Assyrians, Egyptians, Persians, Romans, Byzantines, Franks, Venetians, Turks, Englishmen were inhabiting the island. Why?  Just look at its very convenient position. And all these “nations” left something here.

Between 1878 and 1959 Cyprus was a British Crown Colony. Only in 1960 the independent Republic of Cyprus was declared, and it was not allowed to join Greece. In 1974, the coup took place in Cyprus and the Turks in the Northeast of the island of 1983 declared the Turkish Republic of the Northwest. The country is still divided into two states and the Greek part of Cyprus became a member of the EU in 2004.

That’s the beautiful island in a nutshell.

Sylvi Georgiou