Cyprus Facts And Information
Cyprus Facts And Information
History |
Cyprus is a member of the EU, It joined on 1 Jan 2004. Cyprus was invaded by the Turkish in 1974 and remains divided to this day. Cyprus has a colourful history, including being a British Colony until 1960. Deeper into the islands history, it is varied with the Roman, Ottoman and Greek influences amongst others. |
Geography |
Cyprus is the third largest island in the Mediterranean.
I'ts location means that it is at crossroads between Europe, Asia, Africa and The Middle East .
The island has 648km of coastline. |
Temperatures And Climate |
Dry Summers And Cool Winters. Temperatures officially range from about 37c in the Summer in Nicosia in August time, To approximately -3c in the Troodos Mountains in December. However being directly in the sun, or wind chill can make these figure more extreme. |
Transport |
AIR The Island has two main airports, Larnaca in the East, and Paphos in the West.
Larnaca is the busier of the two. With Paphos being sustained mainly by holiday flights, Larnaca welcomes, holiday and scheduled flights. Larnaca is also home to the Island carriers Cyprus Airways and EuroCypria.
Passenger traffic in 2009 at the two airports was 6.7 Million. SEA: The Island has two large sea ports, Limassol Port & Larnaca port. Limassol is the larger of the two and has more traffic through it.
Limassol Port also a high volume of Cruise Ships, with international Cruise Lines often visiting the port on Eastern Med Cruises. Cruises also run from Cyprus to Egypt, and the Greek Islands.
The island also has several smaller harbours home to fishing boats, small pleasure craft, and smaller sailing vessels. ROAD: Cyprus has over 12,000 KM of road network. In Cyprus, Like the UK and other former British colonies they drive on the left.
Dual carriageways run between all major towns and one is on final stages of planning to run between Paphos and Polis.
Cars can be hired with relative ease on the Island, especially in the tourist areas. |
Phone And Electricity |
The phone system in Cyprus is dominated by state owned Cyta, however there are other independent providers including PrimeTel who are increasing in popularity. Many now offer Triple service packages, Telephony, Cable Tv, and Internet.
High speed Internet has become widely available in Cyprus over the last few years. With just a few rural areas still lagging behind.
Mobile Telephony in Cyprus is widely available in Cyprus on GSM networks from both Cyta and independent companies. In most areas it is 3G as well.
Plugs / Electricity on the island is the Same as the UK and runs on 3 pin, 220v variety. Rural areas can be subject to power cuts in storms similar to many countries. |
People And Language |
The official languages of Cyprus are Greek and Turkish. Ethnicity's on the island are made up of 77% Greek Cypriot, 18% Turkish Cypriot and 5% Other. Cypriot people have the reputation of being amongst the most friendly in the world. |
Population |
The island's population is estimated at approximately 800,000 people |
Economy |
The official currency of the Republic Of Cyprus is the Euro (€), Whilst in the occupied part of the island it is the Turkish Lira. The Cypriot economy is a prosperous one and enjoyed continuous growth throughout the recent global economic depression.
Tourism and the service sector is key the economy of Cyprus. Other important sectors include Cyprus Shipping and agriculture on the island. |
Media |
Tv Cybc is the state broadcaster, the second TV channel featues a daily English News Bulletin. Many of the TV stations in Cyprus show English language feature films with Greek subtitles. Pay and Subscription TV services have recently become more popular. Satelite TV is also common throughout Cyprus.
Radio Cybc runs four radio stations on the island. The second channel features English programming in the evening.
BFBS is the forces radio station and can be listened to throughout most of the island. The target audience are the British Forces personnel stationed on the island , but it is listened to by a wider audience of Cypriots and English speaking residents.
Napa FM, Rock FM and Coast FM are all local radio stations that have all or a large proportion of their programming in English
There are numerous other Greek speaking radio stations on the island
Newspapers
The island has a variety of Greek language broadsheets and tabloids most associated with a particular political party.
The two main English language publications are the Cyrus Mail, which runs daily except Monday, and the Cyprus Weekly which is printed on a Friday. |
Time |
Cyprus is two hours ahead of the UK. Like other european countries it adopts the daylight saving scheme. |
Sovereign Base Areas |
After Cyprus gained its Independence from the UK , the UK retained bases on the Island, Akrotiri, Episkopi and Dhekelia are still bases for the UK today. The area is 250 square KM |
Cyprus Tourism |
The island has approximately 2 million tourist arrivals per year. And about 1.3 million come from Britain. It's ranked as 40th most popular tourist destination worldwide, although per capita of population it ranks 6th Tourism makes up approximately 11% of the island GDP. |
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