CyprusVista

On your flight to Cyprus, take time to look out of the window just before you land at Larnaca airport. Below you is either the shimmering winter waters of the Larnaca Salt Lake, or the dry dusty lake bed dried out by summer sunshine. Most tour company coaches whisk you straight past this lake on your holiday in Cyprus, which is a shame, as you’ll be missing a hidden treasure, the Hala Sultan Tekke.

In AD649, an aunt of the prophet Muhammad fell from her mule on the shores of the lake, and died from a broken neck. She was buried in a tomb that today is contained within the pretty Hala Sultan Tekke mosque, one of the most holy of Islamic religious sites, after Mecca, Medina and Jerusalem.

Surrounded by waving palm trees and with its minarets and towers, from a distance the Hala Sultan Tekke seems like a vision from the pages of “1001 Arabian Nights.” It’s a very peaceful place, with channels watering the gardens (when there is water available) and the sunlight filtering through the palm leaves. In winter, when the lake is usually full of salty water, migrating flamingos stop over to feed on the brine shrimp that give the birds their characteristic pink colour.

The yellow stone mosque you see today dates from the early 19th century, and does not include a dervish convent, as the name ‘tekke’ suggests. Instead this group of buildings is a ‘marabout’, or saint’s tomb. The name itself is a mixture of Arabic and Turkish; ‘Hala Sultan’ meaning ‘the King’s paternal aunt’ and ‘Umm Haram’ meaning ‘Sacred Mother’. Leave your shoes at the door, and you can enter the mosque, decorated with medallions. Here, you will also find the tomb of the Turkish wife of King Hussein of the Hejez.

Larnaca Salt Lake was formed, as the legend goes, when Bishop Lazarus stopped a woman carrying grapes and asked her for a bunch. She rudely refused, so the Bishop turned her vineyard into a salty lagoon, which now lies three metres below sea level. In fact, settlers had been here much longer, as a Bronze Age village was discovered just a few hundred metres west of the mosque. Salt was collected from the shores of the lake as a commercial venture until 1986.

The Hala Sultan Teke is open daily, from 7.30am to sunset in the summer, and 9am to sunset in the winter. Donations are welcome to preserve this important shrine, and pay for the nightly police guard against vandals - sad but true.

photo by BR0WSER at flickr.com

Popularity: 13% [?]

The summer sunshine in Cyprus will be temporarily disrupted by a partial solar eclipse happening this Friday 1 August. The eclipse will affect a large area of western and central Asia, northern Europe and Greenland, but in Cyprus the sun will only have 3% of its visible surface eclipsed. This (very) partial eclipse should be visible between 1.30pm and 2pm on Friday, if visibility is good.

To see the total solar eclipse, you’ll need to travel to some far-flung locations. The islands of Resolute, and Prince of Wales Island in the Northwest Passage in Canada should experience a total eclipse for just under 2.5 minutes, before the effect passes around the ‘top’ of the globe over Russia. Almost in time for the Olympics (how auspicious is that?), the eclipse will end at the town of Pingdingshan in China’s Xian province (home to the famous Terracotta Army).

Remember, never look directly at the sun to view an eclipse. As the Nasa web site says, and they should know: “Partial eclipses, annular eclipses, and the partial phases of total eclipses are never safe to watch without taking special precautions. Do not attempt to observe the partial or annular phases of any eclipse with the naked eye. Failure to use appropriate filtration may result in permanent eye damage or blindness!”

All you need to view the eclipse safely on your holiday in Cyprus is two A5 pieces of white paper or card, to create a pinhole camera. Punch a small hole in the centre of the first card and position it so the sun shines through it. Now hold the second piece of card around three feet in the shadow below the first piece, so the Sun’s image is seen projected onto the second piece. As the solar eclipse occurs, you will see the whole process projected onto the second card in minature. For clearer visibility, you can stick the first card on a window, and then draw your Cyprus holiday villa or hotel curtains around it to increase the visible effect on the second piece of card.

Alternatively, just sit back and enjoy your Cyprus meze lunch instead. Solar eclipses happen up to five times a year, so there is probably another one due before Christmas - somewhere!

The partial solar eclipse visible in Cyprus will end in the Xian province of China, home to the famous Terracotta Army. Photo by Frenkieb at flickr.com.

Popularity: 23% [?]

It’s hard to miss the connection between the Greek goddess of love and beauty, Aphrodite, and the island of Cyprus. According to legend, the goddess rose from the foam created when the god Chronos threw the castrated parts of Ouranos into the sea. The goddess was said to have drifted ashore at the famous Petra tou Romiou rock near Paphos, still a favourite spot for lovers to watch the sun set.

You’ll find evidence of Aphrodite’s temples and sanctuaries all over the island, not to mention her image adorning everything from wine labels to boxes of Cyprus delight!

To help you discover more about the goddess on your holiday, Cyprus tourism has created the Aphrodite Cultural Route, so you can discover these wonderful places at your leisure (if you hire a car in Cyprus). The three main sites to visit are:

The Sanctuary of Aphrodite (the Palaepafos Aphrodite Cultural Route)
It has to be said, it takes a bit of imagination to see the Sanctuary as it must have once been, from the rather unprepossessing collection of broken walls you see today. There were originally 12 sanctuaries all over the island, but the one at Palea Paphos (present day Kouklia) was the most elaborate. Many of the amphorae and ceremonial bowls found at the site give clues as to the sexual rites that took place in the temple gardens. It is likely that young women came to offer themselves to one stranger in homage to the goddess. Curiously, the goddess herself was worshipped in the form of a conical stones - most unglamorous to modern eyes!

The Romans continued the tradition of worship, and the Sanctuary was visited by several Roman emperors, including Titus in 69AD. The cult of the goddess was outlawed in the 4th century AD, and the Sanctuary fell in disrepair, while the locals raided the site used for stones for their houses during Byzantine times.

The ancient city of Kition (Kition Aphrodite Cultural Route)
If you are on holiday in Cyprus in the Larnaca or Ayia Napa areas, then you can explore the ancient city of Kition/Kathari, with its close links to the goddess. In fact, most of ancient Kition lies buried under modern Larnaca, but you can still see excavations of a Bronze Age settlement, with a more recent Phoenician settlement sitting on top. The main shrine discovered at the site may have originally been to Aphrodite, but was rededicated by the Phoenicians to their own goddess of fertility, Astarte. Today the site is sandwiched between new houses, reminding the visitor how modern development is just the latest layer to be added to the rich history of Cyprus.

The temple of Aphrodite at Amathus (Amathous Aphrodite Cultural Route)
Established in the 11th or 12th century BC, the ancient kingdom of Amathus worshipped Kyprida Aphrodite in style. Legend says it was founded by a son of the hero Hercules. This prosperous and successful ancient kingdom easily blended the worship of Greek gods such as Aphrodite with Egyptian and Asian deities, making the site a real mix of influences. The city survived into the Byzantine era, but after Arab raids and further destruction by Richard the Lionheart in 1191, the town was largely forgotten.

Today, you can see the agora, or marketplace, and imagine it filled with traders busy selling their wares between the impressive stone columns. You can also see the remains of Greek period houses and baths, as well as the walls of the temple itself, jointly dedicated to Aphrodite and Hercules, alongside a Byzantine Christian basilica.

For more information on the trails, type “Aphrodite Cultural Route” into the search box at www.visitcyprus.com.

Sunset at Petra tou Romiou, Cyprus. Photo by Max Bisschop (Maxey) at flickr.com.

Popularity: 17% [?]

Cyprus Transport Minister Nico Nicolaides is not amused. Just weeks after visiting the new building works at both Larnaca and Paphos airports, the Minister has issued a warning to the two ground handling firms at the airports to “put their houses in order” - or risk being closed down.

Cyprus airport ground handling services are provided by Swissport and LGS (Louis, Gold Air and Service Air) Handling. However, the companies have made a series of embarrassing and image-damaging mistakes, such as bus loads of passengers being taken to the wrong plane and passengers waiting up to 90 minutes for their luggage. As a result, the government has not ruled out revoking the companies’ licenses if the situation does not improve rapidly.

Hermes, the owners of both airports and responsible for the improvements, are said to be unhappy with the two companies, although Hermes are not themselves responsible for the operations of the handling firms.

However, the two ground handling companies may be thrown a lifeline from cheap flights to Cyprus, such as those offered by easyjet. Since the airline, amongst others, now charge for every item of hold baggage, more and more passengers are flying with just hand luggage. This, of course, reduces the number of bags carried in the hold. With less bags to unload and load, the job of ground handling will be quicker and easier. Won’t it?

If you are coming this summer to Cyprus on holiday this summer, do bear in mind that temperatures have already reached 40 degrees in the past fortnight, and a further mini heat wave has been forecast. You can easily fit your swimsuit, shorts, shirts, sun dresses, flip flops, chic lit novel, sun hat, high factor sunblock, etc, in a hand luggage-sized bag of 55×40x20cm. In relaxed and laid back Cyprus, you probably won’t need a lot else…

Checking in at Larnaca Airport, Cyprus. Photo by sunshineandbeyond at flickr.com

Popularity: 11% [?]

The continuing saga of the shortage of water in Cyprus took another twist yesterday. As the container ship full of imported Greek drinking water spent its 15th day day moored off the coast at Limassol in soaring temperatures, government scientists confirmed that the water was no longer fit for human consumption.

The water chemical make-up has altered due to the levels of chlorine added to keep the water potable during its journey, and in addition, the water ’smells’ due to the time spent sloshing around in the ship’s tanks.

The much-needed water delivery should have been piped ashore last week, until it was discovered that the rapidly-constructed pipeline was just over 3m metres short.

The water shipments are costing the Cyprus taxpayers a massive Euro45 million. While the Greeks are only charging Cyprus Euro0.67 per cubic metre, the final cost to the Cyprus taxpayer is Euro5 per cubic metre.

Therefore, over 86% of the final cost of the imported drinking water is accounted for by transportation and distribution costs. In contrast, water from the country’s existing desalination plants costs just Euro1 a cubic litre. (Did somebody actually bother to do the maths on this one before ordering the water?)

However, the good new is that the shipload of water will not be wasted. The precious cargo will be pumped to the Yermosoyia reservoir for agricultural use only - when the pipeline is fixed…

Popularity: 5% [?]