The Cyprus Blog at TripToCyprus.com

Went to the wine festival at the municipal gardens on the opening day with very high expectations. Came back very disappointed!

No, the wine festival didn’t come up short on the free wine. But, there was no fireworks display nor there were any games to play. These are the only two reasons i go to the Wine festival and both were absent, making me very disappointed! It was amazing how misinformed the officials were. We got three different times from three different people (including the cops on the scene) for the fireworks display.

Okay, there was this cancer society stall where you “donate” 1 pound and then choose any number corresponding to which you may get anything from a vermicilli packet to a bag of toffees. Vidhya won a hat, the only win of this year’s wine fesival. I also bought a wine festival t-shirt, which has become quite a practice for me every year. Though they are pretty cheap (2-3 CYP), the quality is surprisingly good and they last long.

Check out some photos from the festival.

The Wine Festival in Limassol is an annual affair which started in the year 1961. The festival is staged inside the Limassol Municipal Gardens. It usually goes on for a fortnight with fireworks displays on the first and last days. This year, the festival is from August 28th to September 9th. It is a very popular event with thousands of visitors, some even coming from outside Cyprus especially for this event.

All the local manufacturers of wine come to this festival and give free samples to all the visitors. So it is heyday for all those in search of free booze. I visit this festival every year though I am a teetotaller. The festival not only has wine stalls, but also has shows of many local dances and lots of games to play. I go these especially for the games. I have been lucky at times too. Below are two pictures (from pre-SLR days). The first one shows the statue of the man synonymous with the wine festival which is the first thing to go up leading to the preparations for the wine festival. The second photo was taken by me and the stuff held by the guy on the left (a stuffed dog and the Red Indian Wall Hanging) were won by me in a raffle.