Cyprus Latest News July17

I can't believe how long it has been since my last news page, but teaching yoga now takes up a lot of my time, so apologies if you have been missing my updates.

Here's some juicy news from Cyprus in 2017.

New Tavernas in Polis area

Cyprus has enjoyed an uplift in tourism numbers in the past couple of years, partly as it is such a safe destination compared to other hot countries where terrorist incidents have taken place. And that has resulted in several new tavernas being opened to satisfy our culinary tastes.

Coast opened in March on the Argaka coast road and offers very different Greek style dishes with an emphasis on vegetarian fresh produce. Set opposite the sea front, the cool pale blue and white colour scheme of the interiors matches the relaxed ambience inside and the light meze style lunches and dinners we've tasted have all been excellent.

Polis Herb Garden is another new restaurant opened in the grounds and building of the former Laiki bank. Here you can enjoy a wide variety of European and Cypriot dishes all cooked using herbs from the massive herb garden. Service is quick and friendly and it has quickly become popular with locals, both Cypriot and foreign in Polis.

Nostos on Latchi beach front opened its doors in May this year and offers a small but very unique menu with dishes stylishly presented - think of mains served on ribbons of grilled zucchini and marinated saute vegetables. While we enjoyed the food "eventually," the service was exceptionally slow, on our only visit there, so don't go there if you are in a hurry as you may need to wait well over an hour for your food!

Temperatures hit the roof!

Summer has hit with a bang this year after a mini heatwave in mid-May followed by an intensely hot weekend at the end of June where temperatures on the coast in Polis hit 42 degrees. While hot weather is to be expected when summer arrives, to have this level of heat as early as June is unusual.

But the real high as has been how hot the evenings have been. In 13 years living in Cyprus, I have never known night time temperatures to stay in the early to mid 30s. With the wind dropping completely aswell, these high temperatures have made sleeping difficult and early starts for dog walking have become the norm.

Think 5am starts to walk in the relative cool of the morning - even if it is still 32 degrees, at least the sun is not shining at 5.30am!!

High hopes to finally solve the Cyprus problem...

2017 was meant to be the year the Cyprus problem was finally solved. With both the Turkish Cypriots and the Greek Cypriots keen to set aside their previous differences, both sides met in Switzerland in early July at Crans-Montana resort for the much publicised Conference on Cyprus.

Key external figures attended the conference including António Guterres, the UN secretary general, but yet again the talks ended in failure with the UN Secretary general calling a halt to the talks when it degerated into a shouting match!

As usual, both sides are blaming one another for the talks collapsing, and now even the Cypriot opposition parties are blaming President Nicos Anastasiades and his team for failing to prepare properly for the talks.

Ultimately the same old sticking points regarding land, rotation of leadership in a unified state and, perhaps most importantly, the question of Turkish troops remaining in the North after reunification. The Greek Cypriots want total removal, whereas Turkey want troops to remain to protect the high number of Turkish mainlanders who now live in the TRNC as well as the Turkish Cypriots themselves.

So while the island is set to remain divided for the foreseeable future, those who like it HOT HOT HOT can hop on a flight to Cyprus and enjoy the unusually warm weather.

That's all from my Cyprus Latest News July17.

See you next time.

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