The Cyprus Blog at TripToCyprus.com

Anthestiria sprint flower festival at yermasoyia, limassol

Rajaram S — Thu, 13 May 2010 07:10:17 +0000

The annual spring flower festival happens in the yermasogia area near the parking lot. The parking lot is converted into a flower show and there is a parade (a smaller version of the limassol carnival) on the the beach road, with flowers being the theme

The tradition is for the kids on the float to throw the flowers to the onlookers. The people on the side of the streets are very eager to catch the thrown flowers. Probably, they are owners of flower shops and they just want to stock up on the flowers :-). Even Anith managed to catch some flowers. More photos from the parade…

800 year old giant oak tree on the way to troodos

Rajaram S — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 05:27:29 +0000

When i came to Cyprus in 2001, the first year was spent on visting all the regular touristy places like the Baths of Aphrodite, Rock of Aphrodite, Polis etc. After that, i started googling about Cyprus and started getting info on off-beat places like Avakas Gorge, Kelefos bridge etc. After a few years, i realised that Cyprus had something to offer in every nook and corner and hence i started visting every place marked with a brown board: A brown board is used in Cyprus to signify something of touristic interest. This “Giant Oak tree” was on one such board.

On the way to troodos from Limassol, around a 100 metres beyond the laneia police station (the only police station on the route), you will find a brown board saying “Giant Oak Tree - 400 m” pointing into a small lane towards the right. You can take your car inside this line and will be surprised to find big apartments built a little further down this lane. After few metres, the board points towards the left. It is better to park the car here and walk the final stretch as taking the car down this part would be a little difficult.

We went during Spring and the whole area was filled with all kinds of colurful flowers. We spent around 15 minutes at this place taking photographs from various angles. Anith even tried, though unsuccessfully, to climb the tree.

Photo collage on a Cyprus Map

Rajaram S — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 13:22:05 +0000

Harish and Anith took many of my photos and put them on top of a Cyprus Map as a collage. Must have been lot of work. This is the photo which is currently the wallpaper on my laptop. You can find a higher resolution picture (2.5 MB) here.

Earthquake in Limassol and Paphos, Cyprus

Rajaram S — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 13:30:25 +0000

An earthquake of magnitude 4.5 on the Richter scale shook Cyprus on August 25th (Tuesday). The epicentre was pretty close to Limassol, occurring near Amathus. But, nothing much happened because of this, just that people were shaken up a bit!
In fact, Cyprus is very close to a highly seismic zone. There is a major fault running through (or very near to) Cyprus. You can actually see the fault. If you go to lady’s mile beach (on the road from My Mall), you turn right at the T-junction to go to Akrotiri lake whereas to the left, the road stops. If you wade into the beach from just to the right of the t-junction, you should see a drop of a feet or so on the sea floor within a few metres from the shore. This is a faultline. This goes in a diagonal direction towards the sea , so goes further in as you go on lady’s mile beach towards Akrotiri. I accidentally noticed this. Once i was snorkelling close to the shore (close - very close as i dont know the ABCs of swimming) and i drifted off a bit. Suddenly, i saw the sea floor much deeper than i would have liked it to be. I panicked and waded towards the shore. Then i noticed the sharp drop on the floor.
Cyprus has had its share of mild earthquakes before. In the late 90s, there was a medium intensity earthquake, the effects of which can be seen on some of the old residential apartments on the beach road. I hope that there are no after-shocks of this earthquake, except the artificial ones to be created by the Israelis!!

Tiffany shopping mall opens in Limassol

Rajaram S — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 13:20:49 +0000

Finally, Limassol has its own mall! No, it is not called the mall of limassol or the limassol mall. It is called the Tiffany shopping mall. Originally planned to be opened on 8th August 2008 (08/08/08), the Tiffany limassol mall finally opened on 30th May 2009. It is located in Zakaki area just a few hundred metres off the new port. You can approach this mall from the mercedes benz/Bank of cyprus signal proceeding towards Paphos.

Photos of the mall during its various stages construction.

Now, what is going to happen to all the hang-out places in Limassol like Starbucks, costas etc? Are people going to flood the mall preferring it over these places?

Update: Got the below info in an email
Cyprus on Ice, Skating rink at My Mall, Limassol.
Cyprus on Ice will offer various forms of “ice entertainment” such as ice shows and events and ice hockey demonstrations in addition to ice skating familiarity sessions by instructors on site. Skates and ice hockey accessories and apparel will also available to be ordered at the rink, as is the booking of “Parties on Ice.”
Cyprus on Ice: Hours, Open Daily from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m.
Location: Level -1, “My Mall Limassol” 285 Franklin Roosevelt, Zakaki, Limassol
Phone: 00357 25713305, mobile: 00357 97691601.