Kibkom North Cyprus Forum

We spent four days in the South, slept two nights in Paphos, paid sometimes cash sometimes by card, everything was absolutely fine. Our friends are German and live in the South and they have encountered no problems.

Drove more than 300km around the Troodos mountains, looked at high up Berengaria Hotel ruin, were King Faruk spent his countries money. It's just an empty shell, but what an amazing setting. Visited a lovely winery http://www.ayiamavri.com/, drank fabulous price winning 'Moscatos' from Ayia Mavri and also their unlabelled Zivania
Went to the Platres chocolate workshop(mmmmmhhh......fabulous!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) http://www.cypruschocolate.com/
Now.... their Zivania chocolates are to die for!!!!!!!!!!!
Visited all things and places Aphrodite including Aphrodites bath, loved the botanical garden there. It's still new, but in time will be wonderful.
Were absolutely stunned by the most beautiful mosaics in Paphos.

This was our first 'holiday' in the South and we loved it, but that doesn't mean we want to live there, though the Troodos could be tempting.

dippergirl.

What a wonderful trip, we have done this trip a few times when we lived in Nicosia in the 80s.
The hotel were King Faruk stayed is famous for the Brandy Sour cocktail, it was made for King Faruk because he was a Muslim.
The barman made the drink look like a soft drink. the other guests at the time were Agatha Christie and Richard Burton.
They stayed in the mountains for the fresh air in the summer months, I have a Cypriot cookery book written by a Greek Cypriot Chef who worked at the hotel, his name is Nearchos Nicolaou the name is Cooking from Cyprus the island of aphrodite 6th addition 1983 first published 1979.He was not working at the time of the Kings visit.
This was still available in on of the large book sops in the south, I paid £cy3 in 1983.

Glad you enjoyed it Eva.

We had a nice time there too but the receptionist at the Laura hotel (which previously belonged to a lovely Greek family) now it is soulless, she said to us, you are from the North? We said yes we are (she had seen our car number plates). She started on a rant about the Turks taking all their houses and lands - I was so shocked that I said to her - Your murdering lot dropped lots of Turkish Cypriots down the wells in Strovolos! That shut her up and I refused to speak to her again. That took the shine off our holiday and we have not been back there since

Wanting to avoid any confrontations we did not let on about coming from the North, but not many asked us anyway. There were not so many tourists all together and everybody was very polite and considerate.
We stayed for 2 nights in the Pergamos Hotel in Paphos. It was fine, clean, and very reasonable, but not memorable.

Having lived and worked in the south for over 10 years during my teenage years (1970's) and then when I was in HM Forces (1980's and 1990's) we have often taken a couple of days across the south to revisit old haunts. During our time living there we probably explored almost every rock, ruin and beach both sides of the border....great times!

Last trip south was this March, heading for Lefkara, Larnaca, Dhekelia, Pergamos, Ayios Nickolaos then on to Ayia Napa before returning back. A long day slowly driving around looking at old places we used to live or trying to find a special beach, restaurant or shop.....not always easy and often not found!

Whilst we found it interesting to re-visit as it brought back many happy memories at the end of the day we agreed that the draw to go back had now waned a little. We were a little surprised at the cost of just a basic coffee and meal and having looked in a few shops found little to entice us to buy.

No doubt we may go across to the south at sometime in the future but will not rush.

We are going nest week, stopping in Platres for 2 nights planning winery and chocolate factory, given the short time what other places close by do you recommend. Thought of Trudos village?

If you like antiquities and in particular mosaics the the mosaics in Paphos are stunning, if you like walking, the going to Aphrodite's bath is good as there are lots of footpaths and places for birdwatching, can't suggest more as our friends organised everything as a treat, so we did not do much research

Both North and South are beautiful for different reasons, there are also horrors of different kinds of both sides, for me the South lot are always comlaining about the T/C's and will never accept that they were the instigators of the war, the North is a haven for ill treatment of animals, apart from that I love the place, all of it!

If you want a peaceful uncomplicated holiday, don't say any more than you have to, there is no need to mention TRNC or the ROC money problem. Just show, that you enjoy their area.
My biggest problem was not to say 'thank you, please and how beautiful' in Turkish!!

The south has been spoilt over the years and the same is happening to the north and we all know what the causes are!
I was at Akrotiri in the late 60s and lived in Limassol.for 3 years.
Went back for our 25th anniversary in 92 and couldn't wait to get the "holiday" over with.
Dreadful dump now and the Greek Cypriots as ignorant as ever!!!

dippersgirl, I know exactly what you mean about the please and thank you in Turkish. Last year I was treated with complete contempt by a check out woman in a DIY depot down south. She literally threw the change down to the end of the checkout when I accidently said thank you in Turkish. One of the people in the queue behind me called out to her in Greek but all she did was shrug her shoulders. And again about 8 weeks ago in Carrefore in the butchery department my husband said "nery nice" in Turkish ( quietly to me when I showed him yet another pair of shoes I'd just bought) The Assistant walked away and absolutely refused to serve me and called out something in Greek when a young man assistant came to serve me. What ever it was she called out obviously embarrased him and he said "sorry" in English and walked away to serve someone else. I would have tried to find the Store Manager but we were very short of time and had to get back home. I love that drive towards the mountains when we come back down the Lefkosa-Girne straight!!!

Difficult to deny your home when you are driving a TC vehicle.
We had a very uncomfortable time in Platres when locals, who were talking to me, in the village square saw my husband's car approaching. Words of contempt were uttered when he stopped to collect me. We made a hasty departure but I felt very uncomfortable.
Sophie, I have also had the rude cashier syndrome in Super home store, when she spotted my Turkish driving licence in my purse, My change was also thrown down the checkout and her displeasure shown!

When we went to the chocolate shop in Platres, the owner John who is married to a Greek Cypriot finds a lot of discrimination from the locals, who do there best to discredit him on Trip Advisor.
He does talk a lot, but I liked his chocolates and also his ice cream. I did look at trip advisor and it's interesting that the only people who give him a bad review are living locally.