CyprusVista

If you’ve ever fancied learning to salsa in the sunshine, take a holiday in Cyprus this autumn!

Renowned LA-style salsa teacher Francisco Vasquez is holding salsa dance classes at the La Excelencia Dance Studio in Engomi, Nicosia, over the next four months. Top pupils will have the chance to compete at Salsa Combat 2008, the second Cyprus Salsa Championships.

Vasquez is credited with creating the LA style of salsa, which involves fast moves, flashy footwork and the art of making it all look incredibly easy. Vasquez and his brothers formed the Los Rumberos dance troupe and have toured all over the world, as well as appearing alongside big name pop stars such as Jenifer Lopez in videos and films.

Vasquez told the Famagusta Gazette that he was impressed by the “Passion and vitality” of Cypriot salseros. “Our four months together will be an amazing and catching experience and will spread the energy of the quintessentially Latin beat across the entire country.”

Other venues offering salsa classes in Cyprus include the Casa Argentina Carlos Gardel in Nicosia, and Los Amigos club in Old Limassol. See the Latin Dance Cyprus website at http://www.latindance.com.cy for more details.

Photo by Ivan C at flickr.com

Popularity: 56% [?]

It’s not often that football teams from small nations such as Cyprus get a crack at the big time. Yet UEFA seems to be embracing the idea with confidence as from next season, the UEFA Champions League has guaranteed five slots in the group phase of the competition to any champions in leagues rated between 16 and 53.

However, Anorthosis Famagusta won their place in the Champions League by a 3-1 aggregate victory over their Greek rivals Olympiacos CFP. Anorthosis Famagusta’s team moved south in 1974, and are now based in Larnaca. They may draw small crowds compared with their Champion League opponents, but they do have a few aces up their jersey.

Their top scorer is a Polish player, Lukasz Sosin, their manager is the former Newcastle United striker Temuri Ketsbaia (Georgian by birth), plus they can call on the skill and experience of former Brazilian star Savio.

Coach Ketsbaia was under no illusion, however, about the task ahead of them. Speaking to reporter John Leonidou on the UEFA website, he said; “In football, you don’t achieve your dreams by going to bed at night and waking up in the morning to discover that you are in the Champions League. You need to work and that’s what we will continue to do now that we are in the group stage.”

Defender Andreas Konstantinou was equally pragmatic; “For a lot of us, this could be our one and only chance of playing in the Champions League so we need to savour this moment. I think celebrations are in order but we will then need to get our feet back on the ground and concentrate on our upcoming league game.”

And chairman Andreas Pantelis would go to any lengths to support his new heroes; “Some people have told me that they were surprised that the chairman of a club would travel in the coach with the players. Never mind the coach; I will go by bicycle if need be.”

Anorthosis are in group B, playing against Werder Bremen, Panathinaikos (in a Greek speaking derby) and  the legend that is FC Internazionale Milano (Inter Milan). Their fixtures are as follows:

16.09.2008    v    Bremen                (A)    20:45
01.10.2008     v    Panathinaikos    (H)    20:45
22.10.2008     v    Internazionale    (A)    20:45
04.11.2008     v    Internazionale    (H)    20:45
26.11.2008     v    Bremen                (H)    20:45
09.12.2008     v    Panathinaikos    (A)    20:45

Photo by hasan_e_beton at flickr.com

Popularity: 51% [?]

Cyprus Olympic skeet shooter Antonis Nikolaidis narrowly missed out on a bronze medal at the Beijing Olympics on Saturday, when he lost in a final shootout to the Frenchman Anthony Terras. Both competitors finished with a score of 144 points, just behind the gold and silver contenders who both scored 145, setting a new Olympic record.

The bronze medal shootout saw the French holding the medal on the podium, and the Cyprus duo of Nikolaidis and reigning world champion Georgios Achilleos in fourth and fifth place respectively.

The winner of the  men’s skeet gold medal was 19 year old Vincent Hancock from the USA. Hancock won the world championships in his first year on the circuit aged just 16, and won in another nail-biting tiebreaker with Tore Brovold from Norway.

Women’s skeet shooter Andri Eleftheriou also missed out on medal glory, but secured a highly respectable seventh place in her final. Athletes Anna Fitidou (pole vault) and Alissa Kallinikou (400 metres) did not qualify for their next rounds.

Cyprus has yet to secure a medal in the Beijing Games, and a pragmatic President Christofias is obviously looking ahead to possible future glory as he returned from Beijing. He sent telegrams of congratulations to Cypriot footballs team Anorthosis, who are just one game away from qualifying for the UEFA Champions league.

Popularity: 67% [?]

In Britain it would be inevitable. After months of blazing sunshine and record temperatures the Bank Holiday weekend in Cyprus began on Friday with torrential rain and hailstorms. The unseasonal weather took Cypriot families by surprise, many of whom had travelled to the Troodos Mountains for a traditional picnic on this national holiday.

Just in time for the food to be unpacked, and everyone about to eat, the rain began at around noon, followed by a gentle mist, making roads in the region slippery and low visibility in the mountains. While coastal holidays resorts such as Limassol and Paphos still basked in sunshine and temperatures just over 30 degrees, Nicosia had a short but sharp rain shower that caused flash flooding in the Strovolos area.

However, the welcome rain is just a tiny fraction of the rainfall required to restore Cyprus’ reservoirs to anything like normal levels.

The holiday weekend traditionally involves many Cypriot families heading for the eastern coastal resorts from the towns. The inevitable traffic queues into Protaras, Larnaca and Ayia Napa had almost gone by Saturday lunchtime, as families enjoyed the sunshine and free entertainment laid on by the local councils, such as the free concert by the CyBC Orchestra in Ayia Napa tonight (Sunday 17 Aug.)

Popularity: 55% [?]

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: 32% [?]