One Year In: Nicosia, Cyprus
We've just completed the first year of our assignment to Cyprus, and the time has flown by. We've been busy, but still had time to explore. We did suffer a few losses, but we've also increased our quality time. Here are the highlights of our last year, now that we've gotten our feet wet.
Our Arrival in Cyprus
Everything from getting our assignment up to the arrival of our household effects is covered in our Start of Tour Summary for Nicosia Cyprus.
Everything from getting our assignment up to the arrival of our household effects is covered in our Start of Tour Summary for Nicosia Cyprus.
Our life in Cyprus
It took us longer to settle in to life in Cyprus than we'd anticipated. Part of that was due simply to how quickly we got the girls actively engaged in doing things, so that was fine. Our previous tour in Jeddah, Saudia Arabia had taken more of a toll on us than we'd recognized. Have you heard how prisoners who are released after serving their time are confronted with an overwhelming amount of freedom and they just don't know what to do? That's kind of what it was like, and required us to shift our thinking more than we'd expected.
On a personal level, we lost several loved ones during our first year on the island. About a month after our arrival, we lost our dog Chip to a massive seizure. Over the winter holidays, Greg's father lost his two year battle with cancer. In the spring, it was time to say goodbye to our very old cat. That same week, while still mourning the old cat, we were forced to say goodbye to our other cat Bertie who was poisoned by a neighbor. Here are the posts that tell those stories:
- In Memory of Our Beloved Chip
- Father's Day, 2018
- What It Means to Love a Dog (and Cat) in the Foreign Service
- What Happened to Bertie (Corinne's first blog post)
Things kind of specific to working in Nicosia and/or Cyprus
It's hard to talk about Cyprus without bringing up the "Cyprus Problem", which is the fact that the island of Cyprus is not unified and the city of Nicosia itself is the last divided capital city in the world. The UN administers the "Green Line" buffer-zone / no-man's-land between the north and the south of the island, and both sides of the line have a very different vibe.
It's hard to talk about Cyprus without bringing up the "Cyprus Problem", which is the fact that the island of Cyprus is not unified and the city of Nicosia itself is the last divided capital city in the world. The UN administers the "Green Line" buffer-zone / no-man's-land between the north and the south of the island, and both sides of the line have a very different vibe.
Things to do and places to see in Cyprus:
Cyprus is a Mediterranean island that possesses a long history. We've only scratched the surface of things to do and places to see in Cyprus, but here are some of the highlights.
Cyprus is a Mediterranean island that possesses a long history. We've only scratched the surface of things to do and places to see in Cyprus, but here are some of the highlights.
⁕
⁕
Hiking in the Troodos Mountains
 |
| (Yes, there's snow in Cyprus) |
⁕
Aphrodite's Rock & the Baths of Aphrodite
⁕
Staycationing in Paphos
⁕
Exploring the shoreline at Ayia Napa and Cape Greco
Trips from Cyprus
Even though Cyprus is a vacation destination, sometimes it's good to get away for a bit. We haven't developed island fever just yet, either.
Even though Cyprus is a vacation destination, sometimes it's good to get away for a bit. We haven't developed island fever just yet, either.
Other Blogs and Cyprus References
- Far Flung Family: Adventures in Cyprus
- Hiking in Cyprus: Trail Descriptions and Trail Maps
- Cyprus North-South Crossing Locations
- Historic Cyprus Tours
Cyprus in the News
In general, most of the news in some way connects to the "will-they/won't they" reunification talks. That's just about the whether or not the talks will happen, much less whether or not reunification will happen. Most every newsworthy item has some financial aspect to it.
In general, most of the news in some way connects to the "will-they/won't they" reunification talks. That's just about the whether or not the talks will happen, much less whether or not reunification will happen. Most every newsworthy item has some financial aspect to it.
- (Sep 2017) Billionaires investing in Cyprus in exchange for EU passports
- (Dec 2017) FBI investigates Russian-linked Cyprus bank accused of money laundering
- (Feb 2018) Presidential Elections
- (Feb 2018) Turkish warships block drilling rig near Cyprus
- (June 2018) Cyprus starts charging for plastic bags
- (June 2018) First Greek-Cypriot to start building a home in the Turkish-occupied north of Cyprus (pics)
- (Summer 2018) Turkish Lira falls, affecting Turkish-Cypriots in the north.
Your blog is great!
ReplyDeleteNice blog post. The country offers the investor a unique chance to obtain Cyprus Permanent Residence which will lead to subsequent EU or Cyprus citizenship. If you will invest in other countries, it would generally take 6 to 8 years for citizenship, but in Cyprus, it would take only 3 to 4 months. Moreover, the benefit is that it does not need the investor to live in Cyprus and neither to become tax residents.
ReplyDelete