The Cyprus Blog at TripToCyprus.com

So, how do you get to the Double bridge in Trimiklini?

• If you are going from Limassol, take the road to Troodos from the highway.
• You will enter the village of Trimiklini after around 20 kms (not sure of the distance, but you cannot miss this village, as it is right on the main road)
• In this village, you will also find a shop advertising a “Waterfall”. Don’t go to this. This “waterfall” is just the trickling water from the kitchen probably. He even used to charge 1 pound for this sometime back.
• Just after the village, you will come across a small road bridge. If you stick (you or the car) close to the shoulder on the left of the bridge, you should get the view below.

This was how the stream looked like 4 years back, just before the best rainy season Cyprus had for a long long time. It was a very deep valley with just a trickle of water flowing at the bottom. We had even thought of carrying out a trekking expedition to the bottom of the river at that time.

This is how it looks now. Yes, it is the same stream. So full that it even overflows across the dam. Now, our thoughts were like “This would make a nice place to try kayaking”!

Don’t forget to visit this place when you got to Trimiklini. Perapedi dam is also close-by, but that would be part of another post!

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written by Rajaram S

There are many side effects to this move by the Cypriot Government

• I am not allowed to practice the 4th doctrine that i learnt from my wife in spite of the fact that I was forced to put it into practice once upon a time. I am surprised as to how the concept of cleanliness can change with a change in the available resources!
• Many Cypriot teenagers went on a party rally as soon as this scheme was announced. It seems that they no longer have to worry about their moms complaining when they shower with beer instead of water.
• More and more Cypriots are becoming sea-borne i.e. they go for a dip in the sea for their daily bath as they have used the bathtubs in their houses for storing water.
• According to an article by Patroclos in the Sunday Mail (Feb 10th, 2008) , people from Paphos are supposed to be small-minded, complex-ridden, self-serving and semi-civilised. It seems that an average Paphite has the inferiority complex that makes him want to prove that he is smarter than the other Cypriots. I don’t know about all these attributes attributed to Paphites, but the people of Paphos are having a ball of time now, laughing their asses off at other Cypriots , because the water cuts are yet to apply to Paphos!
• In Cyprus, as in many European countries, you may be asked for ID-proof if you are entering a bar after 6 pm. Nowadays, anyone purchasing cans of water have to prove that they are over 18 years old. This is to prevent underage Cypriots from wasting water.
• The Cypriot police have invented a new apparatus which is used in surprise checks on the roads. This apparatus attaches to the belly of the person and the person is then asked to jump up and down 3 times. This apparatus measures the amount of the water consumed by the person based on the frequency with which the contents inside the belly oscillate. The new laws state that the allowable limit is 427.5 ML of water per hour. The government passed the ruling that it should be 250 ML per hour late last year, but after the Euro conversion everything, including this, got multiplied by a factor of 1.71.

I hope that the water crisis ends soon so that i can wash my car!

On a more serious note, there is really a problem and the government is trying its best to solve it soon. The details below give the days on which a particular area will receive water.

written by Rajaram S

Technorati Tags: cyprus carnival limassol carnival brazil carnival limassol downtown

written by Rajaram S

Earth Hour 2007 was a great success in Sydney. Now, in 2008, a global event is planned.

About Earth Hour: From Earth Hour Website

————-

On March 31 2007, for one hour, Sydney made a powerful statement about the greatest contributor to global warming – coal-fired electricity – by turning off its lights. Over 2.2 million Sydney residents and over 2,100 businesses switched off, leading to a 10.2% energy reduction across the city. What began as one city taking a stand against global warming caught the attention of the world.

In 2008, 24 global cities will participate in Earth Hour at 8pm on March 29. Earth Hour is the highlight of a major campaign to encourage businesses, communities and individuals to take the simple steps needed to cut their emissions on an ongoing basis. It is about simple changes that will collectively make a difference – from businesses turning off their lights when their offices are empty, to households turning off appliances rather than leaving them on standby.

—————

Even in Cyprus, this movement has been initiated by the Green Party, who are calling all Cypriots to take part in the Global Blackout on Saturday night between 8 and 9 pm. Are you in ? I hope that there is no major football match going on at that time. If so, no Cypriot would participate!

written by Rajaram S

Last week, i organized a scavenger hunt in our office. Given below are some of the items related to Cyprus. If you want to see the full list of items from the scavenger hunt, go here.

• A movie ticket from K-Cineplex –> One team got a ticket from the bushes around K-Cineplex
• A completed Cyprus Weekly crossword
• A Cyprus flag bigger than 4*4 ft –> Few teams decided to draw the flag on a big sheet of paper rather than search for a big flag.
• A starbucks takeaway coffee cup
• A pine cone from troodos
• If you didn’t know, the euro coins have the same face on one side and a country specific face on the other. Get a set of 1 cent, 2 cent, 5 cent, 10 cent, 20 cent, 50 cent, 1 Euro and 2 Euro coins each from a different country in the Euro Zone.
• A bus ticket from Limassol to Nicosia
• A bill from Orphanides for more than 100 CYP
• A bill from Orphanides for less than 30 cents.
• The Cyprus 1 pound note has a serial number of the following format: 2 alphabets followed by 6 numbers. Find a Cyprus 1 pound note with all the 6 digits different from each other.
• A CYTA bill for a month more than 400 CYP
• A greek newspaper from the month of Januray 2008.
• An used Cyprus postage stamp
• A photo of the 2 team members in front of Kalidonia Waterfall.
• A photo of two of the team members with snowballs in their hands with the troodos white globe in the background.

The event was great. Few teams managed almost 90% of the items. For the full list of items, go here.

written by Rajaram S

written by Rajaram S

The grand parade is two weeks from now and is a marathon affair on Makarios Avenue. Here is a collage from last year’s carnival parade.

Enjoy the carnival atmosphere in Cyprus!

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written by Rajaram S

If you are reading this post anytime in Jan/Feb/Mar, then go for this trek! I assure you that this will be one of the best treks you have done in Cyprus. This doesn’t mean that you can’t do this trek other times of the year, just that you have the snow to wade through. If you are trekking in the US or other parts of the world, many of the trails would be closed because of the presence of ice/snow on the trails. I have experienced this in South Carolina where the best trails were closed because of slippery conditions. Probably, they don’t to get sued if someone slips and hurts himself. But, this adds to the adventure, right?
No such rule in Cyprus! The Kalidonia trail is open throughout the year, be it sun/rain/snow. This trail is at its best in late winter when the track is covered with more than a foot of snow and you have to predict the path and proceed on it. We have done this trail in peak summer, when it was raining, just after it had snowed and each time, the experience is different. I particularly like the snow trek and have been it doing this walk for the last 4 years now, each time introducing a new group of friends to this wonderful trail. Btw, this waterfall is also referred to sometimes as Calidonia

You can walk this trail in either direction or even half way. The bottom of the trail is at Platres, right next to the Psilo Dendron Trout farm (you have take a right where the exit to platres goes to the left). From this point, you can walk to the fall in under 30 minutes (one-way). This distance is about a km or so. You have many stream crossings, but this part doesn’t have much snow unless the snow has been very heavy so as to even bury Platres.

If you are planning to go the full stretch, some of the points to take note of:

• The trek can be done either from top to bottom or the other way. It is not a circular trek.
• So, if you are really in the mood, you can retrace your path along the trek to reach your starting point or if you have really nothing else to do, walk the 7 km stretch on the road instead of retracing the trail.
• What i do: We always go in n cars such that our entire grp can fit into n-1 cars. We leave one car at the bottom point of the trail (near Platres) and then all of us go (in n-1 cars) to the top of the trail. After we finish the walk, the drivers get into that one car and then go and fetch the remaining cars.
• The snow can be upto a foot deep and it can get very slippery at places, so it is a must to wear good shoes, not the kind which wet your feet after few minutes in snow or sneakers with plastic soles. I have knee-high rubber boots, so i just don’t care where i put my feet! Get one of these, they are great and pretty cheap too. I got mine in Festival Shoes for just 4 CYP 3 years back and I have been putting them to real bad use on the snow and also on the salt lakes.
• Even if it sunny, it can get quite cold towards the early part of the trek (you are warmed up later!) because you trek under the cover of the trees.
• Be prepared to fall often. So, gloves are a must, as even a few seconds of the snow/ice on your bare hands can be terrible. Of course, this means that you have the painful task and removing the gloves often to take photos of the beautiful sceneries you get to see.
• There are lot of stream crossing and some of them are a bit tricky. So, be prepared to put your feet into the water.

There is one steep downhill section. There are steps here, but they are covered with snow during winter. It is not a problem if the snow is heavy. You don’t see any of the steps, you just slide down the entire way. But, if there is not much snow and there is ice, these steps get really slippery and difficult to navigate.

After you climb down this section, the trail goes to the left, but if you go to the right, you can see a mini-waterfall. If you look hard, you can also the wrecked remains of car caught in the trees above.

There is also another area which stands out from the rest. This particular area has lot of boulders, all covered by moss and the green colour of the moss stands out from the white snow surroundings.

After this trail, depending on the mood of the fellow travellers, we go over to Mount Olympus. We don’t go to the skiing side, it is very crowded and there is nothing much non-skiiers can do there. So, we go to the ridge opposite to the ski station, where there is also a viewing telescope (though i don’t know whether it ever worked). Here, the crowd is less as it is open and much more colder than the other areas. If the snow is fresh, this slope provides a great opportunity for some crazy sliding.

If you want to see more beautiful photos from the trek (65 of them with comments about each photo), click here to go to the Kalidonia Trek Photo page for a flash photo presentation. Warning: The flash is 3.5 MB is size, but rest assured that the wait will be worth it.
Enjoy the beauty that Cyprus has to offer!

written by Rajaram S

In July, it was extremely hot, now it is extremely cold! The weather is going crazy. Hailstorms were a rarity in Limassol, but just yesterday, there were more than 3 or 4 hailstorms. But, the good news is there is LOT of snow on troodos, good enough to last for a few weeks.

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written by Rajaram S

Ayios Neophytos Monastery was supposedly found by a Cypriot Saint in the late 1100s. The monastery and its room were carved out of the mountain by the Saint and hence is also known as the cave monastery. It is just under a 20 minute drive from Paphos and is on top of a 900 m hill. The drive up to this hill is excellent offering good views of Paphos and its surroundings.

There is a chapel right across this monastery. There are many beautiful frescoes found here. If you are interested in mosaic work, you will find many of them (like the one below) in this monastery

To locate this monastery on the map, look to the north of Pafos and find a village named Tala. This monastery can be seen to the north-east of this village. If you want more details of this monastery and its history, you can check this page.

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written by Rajaram S