18 December 2013

Cyprus Tourism

Cyprus still enjoys a high number of tourists arriving on the island each month. The state statistics service reports that in November 2013 – 81,542 tourists visited Cyprus. The biggest increases were from Russia (7.9% increase) with 11,665 arrivals and the British (3.5% increase) but still a whopping 30,413 number of tourists. The island of Cyprus still sees almost 2.5 million tourists each year.

Some people will claim ‘The Russians have taken over Cyprus’. Well there are a fair number who stay here. Many have homes here and leave ‘The wife and kids’ here usually together with the ‘wife’s mother’ to enjoy the warm weather and safe environment. The good thing is that the Russians appear to behave themselves in Cyprus. I actually saw a young Russian man finish drinking a can of beer and walk a few metres off the beach to place the empty can in a waste bin. No way would he have done that back home, it would have been thrown to the ground immediately.

The British are everywhere in Cyprus. Some of the ‘British Pubs’ in Cyprus are so much better than any British Pub you will find in the UK. The Brits can enjoy ‘English style food’ here. Many Cypriots have spent time living in England and they know the score. There are a few nice places in Limassol which I can recommend. One such place is ‘The Woodman’ a sports bar/restaurant where they have over nine (9) TV screens inside and six(6) screens outside. The place is always packed when English and/or European league games are being played. Another ‘British Pub’ is the ‘Shakespeare’ where they serve some excellent meals. Unfortunately the owner is a Chelsea supporter but his wife is an Arsenal supporter. But there are also many other places providing a great service in Limassol.

Most restaurants/cafes have menus in Greek, English and Russian. The Greek Cypriots know what service is all about. You will not be kept waiting long for anything.

The streets are clean. The pavements are clean and easy to walk along but the main benefit is that there is NO SNOW (apart from up in the mountains). Cyprus is a great place to escape the European winter.

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