Upon the initiative of the National Cyprus Tourism Organization, which promoted this year's tourism season under the slogan Cyprus in Your Heart, three Serbian travel agencies, including Eurojet, included them into the charter set up project on the route Belgrade - Larnaka, the first one after a break of 12 years.
Cyprus, a modern island country in the Mediterranean Sea, located in any sense between East and West, in the last few years the meeting point rather of businessmen and money than tourists, seems to have decided to become the new/old desirable destination in the tourists' hearts. And yes - it has got something to offer. The history of Cyprus dates back for 9,000 years and the oldest found archaeological remnants date back to that period - cross shaped stone idols (from the place called Khirokitia), which may be seen presently at the Cyprus Archaeological Museum in Nicosia.
This island in the Mediterranean Sea, the third largest one in Europe (after Sicily and Sardinia) was named by the old Latins by copper (Cuprus in the Latin language), which made it one of the most important trading centers in this part of the world. During the centuries, Cyprus was conquered, settled or just visited by the Greeks, Romans, Assyrians, Persians, the Egyptian Ptolemies, Byzantines, Crusaders, French Templars, Venetians and Ottomans, who conquered the island at the end of the 16th century. After the Berlin Congress, in 1878, Cyprus became a colony of Great Britain, it was granted independence in 1960, in 1974, Turkey invaded Cyprus and occupied significant portions of the island and on May 1, 2004, Cyprus joined the European Union, visited by millions of tourists from the whole world.
  
  
| WHAT TO VISIT |
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The capital of Cyprus and the not recognized Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, which was called Ledra once upon time, is located on the river Pedieos and it is currently the only divided capital in the world. It has been divided by the Green Line, demilitarized UN zone. It is surrounded by Venetian walls from the 16th century and one enters it through the most beautiful city gate - Famagusta. A visit to the square of the Palace of Archbishop Makarios III, the first and life long President of the Republic, is a must, as well as to the St. John's Cathedral, Byzantine Museum with outstanding icons and the Archaeological Museum of Cyprus, keeping mainly anything excavated from the ground since the prehistoric and ancient periods, but was not taken our all over the world. One arrives through the lively old section Laiki Itonia at the main street and at its end, there is the border crossing, where one with passport may cross into the Turkish Nicosia. The thumb of the Lusignan Kings in the former St. Sophia Cathedral, which is a mosque now, is located there.
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A city on the East Coast of Cyprus, having the St. Lazar Church from the 17th century, built at the place where St. Lazar was actually buried, in the crypt under the church. |
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| LIMASOL |
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The second largest city after Nicosia, with the longest coast, a walking path along the sea, many comfortable hotels , such as Elias Beach, St Rafael Resort and others, a shopping and a walking zone. Countless hotels are replaced by as many well arranged beaches and vice versa. They are mostly public and very well cooled city buses cruise along the whole coast, with temperament drivers (one drive - one Euro, an unlimited number of drives in one day - 2 Euros). In the center of Limasol there is the old, attractive section of the city, with the Castle from Crusader Wars, where the King Richard the Lion Heart married Berengaria from Navarra and made her the Queen of England, in 1191. In a section of this Castle, there is currently the Medieval Museum.
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| AYIA NAPA |
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This once common fishermen's village on the Southeast Coast, is famous for its white sand beaches, crystal clean water and the features making it the capital of entertainment, called the Cyprus Ibiza. |
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Although sometimes it does not look like that on the first sight - in the full summer season the shop opening hours are till 7.00 pm only, the city traffic in the tourist Limasol drives only in the intervals of 20 - 30 minutes, the evening entertainment in the hotels ends about 11.00 pm, however, the National Cyprus Tourism Organization shows growing ambitions, Thus, it called this year's campaign by the slogan Cyprus in Your Heart. And many things remain in the heart, eye and a camera, such as a lot of sand, having white to dark brown color, the greenery, being green and fresh in spite of the climate without rain, the immense citrus plantations, for which you are aware only when you see them in the worldwide supermarkets where all that with the label Made in Cyprus comes from. There are excavations everywhere (only the City of Limasol lies between two ancient towns, Amatus and Kourion), but in Cyprus they are not at all as much used in the tourist sense as in other sections of the world. The hotels in Cyprus are increasingly good, modern and comfortable, but they still miss many features the modern tourists are accustomed to in Turkey, Egypt, Greece and other popular destinations. People are outstanding kind and helpful, the food is a mixture of the Greek, Mediterranean and Turkish cuisine, with plenty of fish and sea food, spices and imagination, wines are tasteful and full of sun.
Cyprus is definitely not a destination delighting one at first sight, one revives it in the memory after return home, the reminiscences of the incredible beauty of the Pafos mosaic, one is excited by the drama of the two sections of Nicosia, delighted by the enjoying grade of those who used to live in Kourion, and, if you were strong enough to swim, in spite of the strong streams and waves, around the rock near the Pafos coast, where, according to a legend, Aphrodite, the Goddess of Beauty, Love and Fertility, was born from the foam, which guarantees your youth longer at least for ten years, you will be back to Cyprus. Thus, the motto of its campaign was not selected by coincidence by the National Cyprus Tourism Organization - Cyprus in Your Heart. It is somewhere there.
| WHAT SHOULD NOT BE MISSED |
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UNESCO put the whole city to the world cultural heritage list.
The St. Solomon Catacombs are extremely beautiful and important as the first Ancient Greek Kings' Thumbs, as well as the museum The house of the God Dionysius, famous for preserved floor mosaics with painted Greek history and mythology.
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Located on the West Coast of Limasol, in a small town of Episkopi, on the ridge of the hill from which there is a great view to the surroundings and the open sea. According to historical data, this famous attraction used to be the capital of the ancient Kingdom of Cyprus, which passed through various stages, from the Hellenic, the Roman and the Christian period. It consists of buildings with outstanding mosaics. The Amphitheater, where a voice echoes from all sides, Forum, Fountain House and the Gladiator House, Achilles House, bathrooms, Nymphaeum and others. |
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| AMATHUS |
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An important place of the ancient Cyprus, one of the King's metropolises, which was also a harbor. It consists of the remnants of the Aphrodite's Temple and Thumb, dated from the Iron Era. |
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