CyprusVista

Limassol may be baking in heat this week, but a few residents of this popular Cyprus holiday destination will be right in their element! The Municipal Gardens in Limassol are one of the great secrets of the resort, two acres of formal gardens with a mini-zoo that kids will enjoy. As zoos go, it’s fair to say it’s more an aviary with added extras, but when the extras are a zebra and some cheetahs, no young animal fans is going to be disappointed. Add in an ice-cream in the cool shade of the trees overlooking the sea, and you have a lovely pleasant family morning excursion in Cyprus without needing a car.

In September, you should definitely leave the car behind, as the garden play host to the annual Limassol September Wine Festival. Cyprus wine is surprisingly good; after all, they have been growing grapes here for centuries. You can also sample Cypriot wines all year round at the four main wineries on Franklin Roosevelt street, or hire a taxi and visit to the vineyards on the peninsula beyond Paphos, for a day out with a difference.

For a short excursion from Limassol, the whole family will enjoy exploring the ancient Cyprus city of Kourion. If you don’t want to hire a car, you can catch a bus to this vast site from just outside Limassol Castle, which takes you direct to the ruins. This important ancient town was abandoned after a devastating earthquake in 365AD, but you can still imagine gladiators, senators and merchant wandering around the Roman villas, baths, agora (marketplace), and watching plays in the impressive theatre.

Just a few kilometres west of the Kourion, past the ruins of the Stadium, is the Sanctuary of Apollo Hylates. The strange channels cut into the rock are not water channels, but early planters, originally filled with shrubs and trees to honour the woodland god.

And, of course, if the kids get restless with all this history stuff, there’s always Curium Beach just south of the ruins at Kourium, complete with a couple of tavernas.

The ancient city of Kourium, Cyprus. Photo by Jungle_Boy at flickr.com

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Most visitors to the popular resort of Limassol in Cyprus, now officially called Lemesos, are content to lie on the beach and soak up the sun. Yet with a heat wave forecast for Cyprus over the coming week, and temperatures topping 35 degrees on the coast, the beach may prove just too hot to handle.

So leave the scorching sands and explore historical Limassol and its surrounding areas instead. Remember to take a hat, cover any exposed skin with plenty of sunscreen, and have a bottle of water to hand. Avoid the strong midday sun too - always our favourite excuse for a leisurely lunch in the shade with a cool beer!

Start in the old town and the 13th century Lusignan Limassol Castle. Here, you can see the modifications made by successive rulers of Cyprus, from the Venetians to the British. Climb to the top for a great view of the town from the battlements. Inside, you can cool down with a visit to the Cyprus Medieval Museum, housed in high arched Gothic rooms that seem to echo with the ghosts of past inhabitants. Here, you’ll find impressive Byzantine silver plates, part of a hoard of treasure found in Lambousa (in North Cyprus). Under your feet are the foundations of the Byzantine chapel of Saint George, where Richard the Lionheart is said to have married his bride Berengaria in 1191.

Leave the castle, and you can wander the winding streets of the old Turkish quarter, exploring the small shops and artisan’s workshops that seem to lie behind every door and dusty window. The central market is here too, where you can shop for produce and all sorts of everyday items in the cool of its stone walls.  If you fancy a hot bath, the Turkish hammam south of Cami Kabir is open most afternoons!

If you have the stomach for Cyprus wine in the morning, four of Cyprus’ wineries offer tours and tastings at 10am every morning. All four lie along Franklin Roosevelt, a road west of the old harbour, served by the number 19 or 30 bus. The KEO factory also operates tours at 9.50am from their reception area,  and the tasting session is a great introduction to the different types of Cyprus wine. Try the Commandaria, a sweet fortified wine unique to Cyprus.

After your tasting, simply wander (or gently sway on the bus) back to the seafront, as the area around the old harbour is a nice spot for lunch!

Limassol Castle. Photo by Jungle_Boy at flickr.com

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With soaring temperatures in Cyprus this week, one person definitely feeling the heat is Kyriakos Kyrrou from the Cyprus water department. The problems with the supply of water shipped from Greece and brought to Limassol via on offshore pipeline continues, with an air bubble blocking the pipe and causing a shut-down that may last until Sunday.

Limassol needs the first batch of over 8million cubic metres of water due to be shipped from Greece - and needs it fast. The city’s reservoir has only 800,000 cubic metres of water remaining to supply this busy holiday destination, which normally uses 45,000 cubic metres of water a day. The authorities are currently investigating diverting some of the output from the country’s two desalination plants, which produce 100,000 cubic metres of water a day, from Nicosia to Limassol.

Meanwhile, North Cyprus has been given the green light for a 110km water pipeline from Turkey. Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan stated that; “The project should be completed at the latest within three years beginning in June next year (2009). The government has given the necessary instructions to the environment ministry so the project can be finalised.”

Up to 80 kms of the new pipeline will run under the sea from the Turkish coast to North Cyprus, transporting up to 75million cubic metres per year. The pipeline, and similar water shipping schemes to the current south Cyprus arrangement have been under discussion for several years in North Cyprus.

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The arrival of a tanker full of drinking water off the coast of Cyprus this week will bring welcome relief to the island’s dwindling water reserves.

Two tankers a day for the next six months will leave the port of Elefsina in Greece to sail to an offshore pumping station at Limassol in Cyprus, ferrying a total of 8 million cubic metres of water. Cyprus water supplies are at their lowest since 1908 due to four years without significant rainfall. The emergency shipments, dismissed back in early spring as “pure science fiction” according to a BBC report, will cost the Republic of Cyprus government 38 million Euros.

The Senior Engineer at the Cyprus Department of Water Development, Kyriacos Kirou, explained how the fresh water from Greece has been fully tested before being pumped along a specially constructed underwater pipeline. Most of the imported water will join the supply network in Limassol, with some channeled to the storage depot near Yermasogeias to cope with tourism requirements. Any surplus will join the southern pipeline to supply the Famagusta and Larnaca districts.

Cyprus is not alone in shipping in water to alleviate water shortages. Back in May this year, the Spanish city of Barcelona was forced to bring in tankers of water after the city’s main reservoir dropped to below 18% capacity. 2008 has been the driest year since records began in Spain in 1948. Each shipment of water to the parched Spanish city contains 28 million litres, with up to 12 shipments arriving every month.

Water is also at the heart of negotiations between Israel and Syria over the Golan Heights area. This large plateau provides around 30% of Israel’s fresh water supplies.

Popularity: 55% [?]