Cyprus

It was beautifull,
however i went when it was not fully developed,
so i bet it is magnificent now.
The scenery is spectacular.

On of the most beautiful places I have been to in my life, I liked Limasol, Paphos and Larnaka. Very quite Island.

but i wouldn’t want to live there.

I worked in Cyprus for 3 months in 2006. It’s a beautiful country with VERY diverse landscapes (mountains with vineyards a 20 minute drive from beaches filled with European tourists), but if you want scenery, go look at pictures! Let’s talk about the people. . .

The Greek Cypriots are different depending on which town you go to. In the beach towns such as Larnaca, Aiga Nappa and Paphos, the people are very warm and friendly. The #1 activity is sitting in a cafe socializing and drinking coffee. The #2 activity is attending a wedding. I swear 4 out of 5 people on the island are going to a wedding each weekend. There is still that small town/small island charm. You will have no problem making friends.

In Nicosia, which is where I worked, the locals have a reputation for being a bit snobby… but I found it to be shyness that comes off as snobbiness.

In discussing this with other Cypriots (from the beach towns where the locals are more out-going) I’ve concluded many of the locals in Nicosia are a bit xenophobic—especially to white guys like me. This is partially because of the trouble they have had with the white men from England. And they’re not too warm with white women either. This is partially because of the trouble they have had with white women (from Russia, the Ukraine, etc) in the cabarets breaking up marriages! But, of course, this is a generality. The people of Nicosia might have a little ice you have to break through but at their heart they are as warm as all the other Cypriots. Just get to know them a little bit and you’ll be okay.

THE GIRLS: I never figured out how to consistently start a pleasant conversation with a Cypriot girl. Just a different breed of woman, I guess. Even the Cypriot men continued to advise me to give up my quest for a decent conversation. Typical conversation:

Me: “Hi, how are you?”
Her: “Good” . . .
Me: “I’m Jason. What’s your name?”
Her: “Helena”
Me: Insert question OR Insert interesting story
Her: Insert one-word answer

That was the typical conversation. After a lot of meditation, I figured out it was due to one of three things:

1. Because it’s a small island, everybody knows everybody. There is a lot of pressure that Cypriot girls stay “pure”. They don’t even want to be seen flirting with strangers. They are much more friendly if you are introduced by a friend or family member. So, although it’s usually a bad tactic, I would actually advise making friends with a group of Cypriot guys and work into a social circle. Even then, you’re probably hopeless.

2. The Cypriot girl could just be unsure about her English. In case this it, you should know at least a little bit of Greek. “yassas, olakalla, etc”... Learn some Greek jokes or something.

3. They’re married or engaged. The Cypriot girls wear their wedding band on their right hand, so you can get thrown off. But even if they’re not married, they probably plan on being married soon. (Remember, it’s the #2 activity in Cyprus) Marriage is a big thing in Cyprus, which is probably a good thing.

My single male advice: Before you scratch Cyprus off your list of places to go, remember that it’s a HUGE tourist destination. And even if you’re not there during tourist season, a lot of foreigners stick around all year. If you’re a single male visiting Cyprus, don’t go through the humiliating experience of hitting on Cypriot girls. Just talk to other foreigners (especially Russians and Eastern Europeans) and you’ll do JUST fine! Trust me.

Visit Paphos!
We have a house in Kouklia, near Paphos, en when we’re over there we drive up to Paphos every day. I love it! Especially the 24/7 bakery just up the road from the harbour.

i am from cyprus, was born and raised, lived here till my 17th and then mo0ved to the uk.
Cyprus is,believe me, one of the must-go places on your lists. Not only the nightlife, the wine, the beaches, the people, the history, the language, the beauty and nature are great but remember is the homecountry of Aphrodite, the Greek Godess of Beauty!
that must means something :)

I have been to Cyprus about 4 times now and am going again this july. My nan has a place out in a little village near Larnica which is beautiful, the beaches are wonderful especially in Connos bay where the sand gets hot enough to melt your sandels and the sun is hot enough to melt your sunglasses. There are so many different sports to try as well, like jet-skiing, banana boat riding, paragliding, scuba-scooting and loads more!
Nicosia is a great place to shop but is also very sad because it’s the last divided capital. you can go to the boarder and look through the wholes at the turkish side, armed gaurds either side of you.
Cyprus is well worth the visit because there is such a wide range of things to do and see

i’m going in about 6 weeks. looking for wardf to it, but mostly looking forward to who i will get to see there. and what i hope to do in CYprus i can’t write about here.

Part of a cruise tour of Cyprus, Egypt and Israel =)

I got bk from nothern cyprus a few weeks ago now, I loved it soooo much. Cyprus as a whole is such an amazingly beautiful country. I went to the south last year and was so happy when we decided to go bk this year, but to the otherside. In some ways I think I prefer the north because it is even less built up than the south and it’s just so traditional and I s’pose rustic. We went to a little family run cafe in a small town when we were trying to find Kantara (the drive to kantara is so scary, it’s a long was up the mountain, spesh to the castle), the cafe was the friendliest place ever and the price of the food was very resonable. They even gave up some traditional turkish food when we left (free), not sure what it’s called but it is made from grapes. We were talking to them while we were in there about cyprus and spoke to the son about studying psychology at uni, it was like we had known them forever, very cool. I will most certainly go bk to cyprus (both sides) the scenery is to die for and once u try their fresh fruit and veg,it’s hard to go bk to the stuff we get in the UK.

The pic shows me at Kantara castle (over 2000 ft up)