Kibkom North Cyprus Forum

Went for lunch at the beach restaurant today at Alagadi beach & was asked to pay for parking. We said we were just going for lunch & the attendant let us through without paying. We asked what was happening & was told that they were making a charge for parking on a Sunday but if you have something to eat or drink at the cafe it will be taken off the bill if you hand over your ticket. They said they had to do this as people were parking but not using the restaurant, so I assume they own the car park land? Personally I don't have a problem with this as I am not a beach user & only go there to eat in the restaurant.

The beach was there long before the cafe! We used to go there in the late 60s !!The same will happen here as happened at Escape. It is ridiculous that once open public beaches are being "privatised". Why are the authorities allowing it?

Maisiemoo wrote:Went for lunch at the beach restaurant today at Alagadi beach & was asked to pay for parking. We said we were just going for lunch & the attendant let us through without paying. We asked what was happening & was told that they were making a charge for parking on a Sunday but if you have something to eat or drink at the cafe it will be taken off the bill if you hand over your ticket. They said they had to do this as people were parking but not using the restaurant, so I assume they own the car park land? Personally I don't have a problem with this as I am not a beach user & only go there to eat in the restaurant.

Did he say that he was only charging on a Sunday

Its probely to pay for the clean up on mondays i've never seen so much rubbish

Perhaps they have heard about Mr Pound!!!!

Yes he said the charge was being made on a Sunday as his customers were having trouble parking. The car park was not full, but busier than last week,I just wonder who actually owns the car park land or do they see it as a way of making a few extra lira?

Please don't for get that he keeps the toilets clean , i went there one sunday and the car park was bursting so don't complain that he charges a few bob we brits think we have a god given wright to owt for nowt.

It is a legal requirement?

I recall paying for parking late last summer. We were given a ticket, which I think had the local belediye stamp on .....

I asked at Esentepe Belediyesi today and they confirmed that the charge is official - seems like the money is split between the restaurant and the Belediye. I asked if the money collected would fund cleaning of the beach and got a shrug... He did say that they collected rubbish from the bins twice a week.

A ccess to any foreshore in N. Cyprus is free (or it was and I dont think the law has been repealled) - though it seems more honoured in the breach than the observance - so it depends on if you can access the beach without using the park and if right to access includes right to park! Sandman is right - this looks like the thin end of the wedge getting thicker.

the beaches WERE free as part of the constitution you took your own gear and parked as you could in small cars. There were a few small cafes good, cheap local food. Cafe owners started cleaningup beaches, providing toilets and showers a small charge was be made for these - few people objected , if you didnt use the facilitites you didnt pay.. Then they provided simple (wicker) umbrellas and (wooden) chairs witha SEPARATE charge . Sadly they then went too far turning the beaches into a geriatric Club Mediterrane and charging entrance to a whole caboodle with "posh" resteraunts serving ersatz expensve food and mirrored chaning rooms, and you pay for access to the entire beach and a load of facilities you neither need nor want.

The object was that the local population and permanent expats could enjoy the health benefits of the sea at prices they could afford.

This trend echoes so many developments in N Cyprus - people came here because they liked the simplicity and had made themselves a good life being forced to return hto a UK no longer "home" because they are being priced out of the very things that they committed themselves to the lifestyle for.

At "my" beach a fancy new staircase is provided in mock marble. Not only it is very slippery when wet, but the height and width of the stairs and the height and breadth of the handrail were desinged by a tall man with large hands. More unsighly than the original hacked out of the cliffside and more dangerous. Cost a lot more and I doubt it will last longer either.

In this case the greatest suffers will be local families with young children and sometimes Granny , who may not want to eat at the cafe every week but need nearby carparking to save dragging kids and their baggage a distance - who probably can only visit the beach on Sundays because of the working hours of one or both partners. Why should they pay for their birthright to be altered to enrich a few entrepreneurs making money out of - often transient - visitors?

That (the) belediyseler are cashing in on this bandwagon by franchasing beaches is a mixed blessing. I supppose at least the local rate payers get some benefit - but if they do cash in at least the authorities should ensure the developers dont ruin the landsc and observe basic health and safety.

And if anyone so much as mentioned "progress" I shall scream! Progress should benefit the human race not disadvantage large sections of it for the benefit of a priviledged few.

rather pay for parking than access to the beach, you at least have a choice OK one person may have to walk after dropping off the others.

That is a pretty cynical and heartless remark, - do you also say "let them eat cake"?

What about people on their own? What about carers who cant help their charges while parking a car? What about couples ,leaving one struggling with two or more young children and their gear while the other parks the car? What about elderly people who are not physically handicapped but slowing down and should not have to trek in the full sun round a carpark provided for people to stuff themselves to food and drink, to get to what should be a pubic facility.

It doesnt worry me too much personally, because I dont sit on the beach and , if the prices are reasonable and the consumables good , happy to pay
for a drink and a snack to use a shaded terrace after a swim. In fact I economise on meals out in winter, just to be able todo so. But that is my choice and this is not just about me, it is about what kind of a country this is becoming that only caters for the healthy AND wealthy.

No I don't, I tend to just let things ride, but as I do come from Britain and Devon where I spent the majority of my adult life is where we had the highest water charges, lowest salaries and all parking in a vicinity of a beach had car parking charges therefore I grew up and am used to this. This was down to the south west's holiday makers industry to keep the beaches clean and the water non polluted, to encourage people from the rest of the country down to buy holiday homes, my husbands family true south west people disliked all the additional changes and charges that this industry bought with it. Here is just going like their little town and villages, before 2000 there were no people demanding and stating what they want, vast quantities of villas, people wanting things lovely therefore cleaning of public places, rubbish collections and roads were not required in quantity therefore now they are someone has to pay for it. Hopefully it is a reasonable charge.

snd: interesting comparison with the West Country - I spent many happy holidays there. but my impression was it became much more commercialised - and expensivein the nineties. Certainly a couple of my favourite hotels - simple, family run places that my family had stayed at so often they felt visiting friends - were taken over by larger establishments and the pretentious embellishments in no way made up for the loss of the friendly helpful service. Now similar things are happening here.

Of course the inhabitants of a lot of tourist hot spots resent the incomers - and often with good reason because there are several places that have sacrificed their enviornment and ecology to the lure of tourism only to find that the locusts got bored and moved on ,leaving the area without natural or other resources.

This is particularly poignant in North Cyprus because a sort of silver lining of international non recognition was that it retained one of the most unspoilt coastlines and friendliest people on the Med, and was gearing up to specialist tourism (flaura and fauna .history etc.) before the Brutish (sorry I meant British) invasion in the l980s killled the golden goose to get at the gilt eggs. The sad thing is that the country, barred from normal foreign trade needed foreign currency and support - but the steadfast reliable kind with repeat business whereas what is happening is long term permanent residents who loved the country and adapted to and suported it are leaving and tourists who had been coming regularly for decades are looking elsewhere.

Of course as you say the services have to be paid for but the demands of the Yeni Brits for items from houses and swimming pools, through cars to meals and tawdry household goods that are completely inappropriate to the country are driving prices beyond what most people can afford. It is Ok with most folk to provide simple toilet and changing facilities and clean the beach at reasonable prices, but the inflated prices for fancy hotels and resteraunts with all sort of unnecessarily ornate . and often impractical , luxuries blocking beach access and destroying the natural atmosphere that sensible people look for in a beach is driving away the faithful , even those who can afford it, by its sheer crassness.

All of which will get me into trouble for going ot, but it appears here that the cafe and its clientele (who dont even necessarily use the beach!) are taking over the beach and it s carpark rather than providing s useful adjunct to it.

Unfortunately up and coming places do not seem to learn from other countries experiences, I remember driving to esentepe in tears when the new road was finished and all those houses but I also remember in 1987 it took over two hours to get there.
The good thing is Gokhan at Alagadi Restaurant does do a lot for the turtle project and if the car parking charges are going towards his costs of keeping the beach and area clean I will support him, its the likes of big restaurants who charge big prices for their food and drink and also access to the beach. When we first introduced to the island it seemed bad manners to not have something to drink or eat at the beach dwellings but the last time we visited the Karpaz I was shocked how many used the toilets and walked through the restaurant with their picnic to get access to the beach.

You are right "when will they ever learn". Improvements could have been made to the roads to improve communications , without tearing up large swathes of countryside an destroying unique and irresplaceableflora and fauna, to make multi line highways for the benefit of speedways for large, heavy inappropriate vehicles. And suitable housing could have been constructed and sited in keeping iwith the land and not blocking wonderful views to buid unsightly grotesques for the sole purpose of showing off keeping up with the Jones with a a so called "villa"

When I first returned to the Island in l994 there were few public toilets and it was generally accepted + particulargly in Girne, the Dome being a favourite - that people walked straight into cafes and hotels to use the conveniences - without payment - after all one doesnt want to empty the tanks, only to immediately fill up again. The establishments accepted this because people got to know them and appreciate that the welcome and relief and would come them back when they did want to eat and drink. However I can see a large portion of the current population would not be so respectful. What is wrong with just making a small charge for toilets an changing rooms although it used to be done by the cafes for the benefit of the custom is brought them for those using the beach.

I must admit it is a long time since I was able to get toAlagadi and it has probably changed, so I accept your word that they serve a useful purpose, and less damaging than the largeer estabishments but I still cannot accept that access to the beach should be blocked by a carpark for the benefit of resteraunt customers to those who most need, and can least afford the benefits of a national asset. With great respect to you and the Charity concerned, nor do I believe that people should have to contribute to a particular charity as part of another activity. It should be remembered that for some people sea bathing is not just for pleasure but it part of medical advised health measures for a number of conditions.

The restaurant does make a charge of 2tl to use the toilets if not a customer, however I saw plenty of people come off the beach to use the fcilities and not pay. You can get on the beach near St Kathleens restaurant and not pay to use the car park but there are no facilities there. The car park charge at Alagadi Beach is only payable on a Sunday, although I do realise this is probably the busiest day. Also bear in mind who is responsible for the upkeep of the road and the car park, not a small area by any means & you do have the option of redeeming your ticket in the restaurant for say a bottle of water or an ice cream.

Famagusta leads the way
http://www.lgcnews.com/free-access-to-a ... a-beaches/

what the hotels think
http://www.lgcnews.com/sort-out-rubbish ... liers-say/