Cyprus

SteveOBHave said:
Terrible place - full of nasty tourists and naff English bars full of trash bags. It's really hard to find anything related to Cypriot culture or cuisine.

If you want to go to Cyprus go north - it beautiful and interesting.
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I agree that a lot of the South has become dominated by tourism, but there are still many pockets and areas that are untouched by tourism - that's where the locals hang out. :)

I don't like recommending people going to the north as I don't really like supporting the illegal occupation. It is however, very interesting to see the north part of the island and see just how very different it is. Some of my friends that I have taken up north have said (and I paraphrase slightly) "It's like stepping back in time...". I think it's a very poignant comment. The north has been decimated slightly by over development - building on land that doesnt' belong to them and ruining the landscape - IMO of course. I'm not bitter as I have a lot of very good Turkish Cypriot friends who also feel the same way. Since they've opened the border more, I don't know if it's helped or made things worse - the Cypriots certainly seem to be employing the poor Turks and Kurds for cheap labour, and the Cypriots go up north to gamble...


WRT holier than thou comments, I dont' get what you mean - people are just stating an opinion, and some (like myself) who have lived, and have Cypriot blood are just sharing thoughts on the holidays.

The problem is, ever since it's become a stronghold and stepping stone from the West to the Middle East, and the influx of Russians and Brits, it's changed the island somewhat. The Russians built lots of businesses and settled there whilst the Visa requirements were loosened, that in turn brought an establishment of Russian mafia, and in turn drugs - this was propagated by the influx of Brits as an alternative to Ibiza and that sort of holiday. And good on them, they've developed vertiable business empires - however, it saddens me. I remember when Ayia Napa was a few chalets, a hotel, and a quiet litte beach side resort where the locals used to go for their holidays. It's unrecogniseable now.

I know I know, things move on, get over it, accept it etc... and I do, by keeping well clear of such places. What I am saying, is that if you want to go for a clubbing holiday I get why you'd come to Cyprus, but I just dont' get why you'd come to Cyprus specifically FOR clubbing. Then again I have a different view on travelling to a lot of young people (I still consider myself young tyvm :p).
 
SteveOBHave said:
Terrible place - full of nasty tourists and naff English bars full of trash bags. It's really hard to find anything related to Cypriot culture or cuisine.
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You're talking about Pafos? It's just a base, we'll be hiring cars / 4x4s.

Regarding the argument about why not go further afield while you're young and air travel is still cheap...is long haul really worth it when you can only get two weeks consecutive holiday? I went to SE Asia for a month and it still felt too short, so for a two week summer holiday, 24 hrs on a plane to Oz just isn't sensible. We'll go further next year, when I've got more spare leave.

In any case, I'm not sure that long haul air travel will necessarily become prohibitively expensive as the price of oil rises further, as fuel price rises will drive new technologies such as larger planes, putting downward pressure on price per ticket. Also, more efficient engines, suborbital travel, alternative fuels...humanity will find a way, as long haul travel is so important.

In any case, air travel isn't the only way to see the world and when I retire at 40, I can spend my life seeing the rest of the world if I wish ;). I seriously doubt that long haul travel by whatever means will ever be a problem in price terms.
 
Freefaller said:
WRT holier than thou comments, I dont' get what you mean - people are just stating an opinion, and some (like myself) who have lived, and have Cypriot blood are just sharing thoughts on the holidays.
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I guess it's just the way your posts (in this thread) come across to me. Anyway, we'll leave it at that. :)
 
Got stranded in Protaras for an extra week with the ash cloud back in April. Was dead at that time of year but still good. Its a nice resort and I preferred it much more than Ayia Napa. Full of the usual rowdy english tourists with big red beer bellies and all kitted out in football tops.

The other end of the island is meant to be less commercialized and more authentic. Prices are said to be much higher across that way.

Either way, have a good time. You'll enjoy it.
 
Just be careful whilst over there.

We bumped into some hairy, quasi-french-cypriot body builder type who forced us to eat his BBQ'd concoctions.

He was paired with some Opel Manta owning freak who proceeded to bombard us with spider stories.

A truly harrowing experience.
 
Freefaller, what would have happened to the Turkish cypriot population in 1974 if the Greek's had got their way and annexed the island with mainland Greece?
 
Used to live there as a kid for three years. Our old house (one of them), is nothing but rubble now. Such fond memories. Really should go back :-) (Especially to ski lol).
 
SoSolid said:
Freefaller, what would have happened to the Turkish cypriot population in 1974 if the Greek's had got their way and annexed the island with mainland Greece?
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Your guess is as good as mine. However, I honestly think they'd have been welcomed to stay... why wouldn't they? I think the issues were with the mainland Turks rather than the actual Cypriots.

All I know is that the Turkish and Greek Cypriots I talk to aren't happy about being split... I still feel Cyprus should be indpendent of Greece, though there are a lot of short sighted Greek Cypriots that think it would be a good idea.

Von Smallhausen said:
Is there still much of a Turkish Cypriot stand off these days ?

You rarely hear of it in the media.
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Not really. Not been any fuss for years. There's this acceptance by the Greek Cypriots, and the Turkish Cypriots now just get on with their lives in the north.

The Greek Cypriots are wealthy and the south of the island is prosperous and doing well. We all know about the Turkish ecconomy...

Some locals say they dont' want the north back as it's been ruined. As the older generation dies out the memories and understanding of how things were will go away. I think the younger generation are just happy to get on with it and ignore and forget the fact it's split. There are of course, still a lot of anarchy-driven types.

I think it's sad and a shame that there's still an illegal occupation of an EU country. For that reason alone Turkey will never be part of the EU, furthermore, Turkey will never give it up without a huge concession - it's a pickle alright.
 
Freefaller said:
Your guess is as good as mine. However, I honestly think they'd have been welcomed to stay... why wouldn't they? I think the issues were with the mainland Turks rather than the actual Cypriots.
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not sure about that, I have done a lot of reading on the subject and as I understand it at the time of the invasion there was what was in effect "ethnic cleansing" of the Turkish Cypriot population being carried out
 
SoSolid said:
Freefaller, what would have happened to the Turkish cypriot population in 1974 if the Greek's had got their way and annexed the island with mainland Greece?
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Don't think the OP's holiday thread is the best place for political debate, but it's an interesting topic so I can't resist pitching in! :p

There is no way the Greek coup would've worked, even if Turkey had not invaded in response to it. Firstly, even though a sizable minority of Greek-Cypriots still viewed union with Greece as the ideal solution back then, Greece was, at the time, under a repressive Junta, and nobody would've wanted to become part of Greece under those conditions. Secondly, the Cyrpiot president was massively popular (among both nationalists and moderates), and his removal by force would NOT have been accepted. I'm convinced there would have been a popular uprising.

Thirdly, the Greek Junta was already in its death throes, facing massive popular unrest in Greece, and only lasted a few more months. Staging the coup in Cyprus was an act of desperation designed to buy them some more time. Even if it had worked, the regime's days were numbered, and what would've happened afterwards is anyone's guess.

Of course, this is all completely hypothetical , and I have a couple of historian friends who keep telling me that hypothetical history is intellectual masturbation. :) Nothing short of a direct meteor strike would've stopped Turkey from invading. If it had though, I'm convinced that coup would've failed, and the incident would've massively weakened nationalism among GCs and created a stronger moderate wing that would've been willing to make more concessions to the TCs.

I still don't think that would've kept the island from fragmenting in the long-term though. The TC leadership was already talking about a confederate state divided along territorial lines, something that would've been unacceptable to us. (Remember, there was no territorial separation of the two ethnic groups prior to the invasion, we were completely intermixed - our leadership have only accepted division along territorial lines now and are negotiating a reunification on that basis because that division has already been artificially enforced through military occupation for the past 36 years!) It was plain that Turkey's long-term strategy was partition, the 1974 coup just gave them a handy pretext to do it a bit sooner than they'd hoped! It was also slightly easier for them to justify it internationally. While it wasn't strictly speaking "legal" because the Zurich accords didn't allow for unilateral intervention by any of the three guarantor powers, they could argue that Greece (another guarantor power) had violated the accords first. But that didn't stop them before, when they bombed parts of Cyprus in 1963, which there was no way they could justify legally, and I'm therefore convinced that, if it weren't for the 1974 coup, theywould've found a pretext to invade on some other occasion.
 
Rotty said:
not sure about that, I have done a lot of reading on the subject and as I understand it at the time of the invasion there was what was in effect "ethnic cleansing" of the Turkish Cypriot population being carried out
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That's some really dodgy info man. Probably by the same people who dubbed Makarios "the Red Priest" even though he was a virulent anti-communist. :p Where'd you read this?
 
Had a good holiday at Louis Phaethon Beach in Pathos, hired a little car & went up the Troodus mountains & above the snow line, they even have ski lifts up there!
Lovely & green with wild orchids growing by the roadside in spring but probably dried up by the end of year

When we were there in April 2 years ago the hotel still permitted smoking & everywhere stank, seemed like smoking was compulsory amongst the Greeks,lol

Definitely going to return, perhaps up the other end of the Island :D
 
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