Sadly, despite its long history - archealogical excavations put the first signs of civilization in Cyprus at 11,000 years -the island is keen to embrace all that is modern....and European.  The Cypriots are very proud of themselves and their achievements; they rallied to accommodate the several thousand Greek Cypriots who were shoved south as refugees after the Turks invaded the northern part of the island in 1974; they have embraced the 21st century and have invested greatly in their infrastructure;  they have educated their children to a high standard, and struggle financially to send them abroad to train as doctors, lawyers, dentists.  The island has a big percentage of highly qualified professionals.

Cyprus finally joined the European Union in May 2004, thus achieving a long sought after prize.  Despite a last ditch effort to unify the the Turkish occupied north and the Cypriot Greek south, with a plan put forward by Koffi Annan, Cyprus entered Europe as a divided island. The United Nations plan was soundly rejected by the south with the powerful Greek Orthodox Church putting its weight soundly behind the 'no' vote.  The Turkish north voted 'yes'. 

'The Cyprus Problem' (the division of the island) remains front page news in every Cypriot paper, and uppermost in every Cypriot mind.  It is a complicated and politically sensitivie issue.  But outside of Europe and the Middle East and certainly in the Americas, many people have never even heard of the place!  On a visit to New York in 2003, I had to draw maps of the Mediterranean, let alone a dusty rock in the eastern corner to describe where I lived.  Little did many Americans know that Cyprus was used as a preparation point for some of their troops to invade Iraq that same year. 

Three years later, Cyprus was put ‘on the map’,  by a young Cypriot Greek tennis player, Marcos Baghdatis, when he nearly (but didn’t) won a Grand Slam tennis tournament.  Every Cypriot claimed to know Marcos intimately, and Cypriot children, island-wide appeared at tennis clubs with their state of the art racquets…just for one day, and then it was time to move on to the next craze!

Tourism is the island's biggest earner, and Cyprus is the preferred holiday destination for millions of ‘Brits’, particularly, every year.  Do any of them know that Agia Napa is a seaside resort…sun, sea sex, booze and imported white sand, not a country in its own right?  A lot don’t.  Nor do they know that geographically the island is nearer to Turkey than to Greece.  Many are unaware that the small island is politically split in two…legacy of the Turkish invasion: one third to the north (approximately) Turkish occupied, two thirds to the south, home to some 700,000 Greek Cypriots.  Others have no idea that Nicosia is the only divided city in the world today, with a Green Line, bunkers, sand bags and minefields.  The sun shines for about nine months of the year (not the 365 days the brochures profess), the beer is cheap, and virtually everybody speaks English.  The downtown tourist resort menus offer egg and chips and full English breakfasts! 

The quest for European accession was to gain protection from the Turks; the resulting economic problems were never alluded to.   Prices have gone up and the tourists have gone down…Cyprus is no longer a cheap holiday destination.  Old family run tavernas have closed down because they don’t comply with EU Health and Safety standards, and a Starbucks coffee in Limassol is more expensive than the same one in London!

There is a very long way to go before the island can boast a clean and user friendly environment; despite the roadside "keep Cyprus clean - offenders will be prosecuted" notices, 'fag' packets are regularly thrown out of car windows and domestic rubbish is dumped in sackfuls by the side of the road.  A line of black fumes and factory emissions can be seen hanging over the towns most mornings, and one of the supposedly most luxurious spa resorts on the island lives next door to an ancient power station and a cement works, that gushes out black, oily smoke daily.

Once upon a time the cost of living in Cyprus was about 50% lower than that in the UK; now it is pretty much the same.  We used to laugh that a meal at our favourite taverna cost 9 pounds for the three of us, whatever we ate or drank..now it’s more than double that.  It is not unusual to pay 30 pounds a head for a meal, with wine, in a more upmarket restaurant in town…and remember that’s 30 Cypriot pounds which is about 36 pounds sterling (or $US60).  Electricity has gone up by over 25% in the last five years and costs now about the same as the UK.  VAT has doubled in 8 years and heating oil is 100% more expensive.   Petrol is about the only thing that is still cheap - around 50cents (60p) a litre, that and mobile phone calls.  House prices have exploded…a decade or so ago you could still buy a village house in need of renovation for about 10,000 Cyp ($US20.000).  Now a one up one down shack with no roof fetches double that and more.  The new building work is incessant….new villas with pools, grandiose mansions, and hardly any of the beautiful old architecture has survived, so great is the need for  'progress'.

Sadly, everything is façade…nice new buildings, pretty shop fronts, but go behind the scenes and nothing much has changed.  The country has embraced the European selling ethic but not its after sales service; its prices but not its quality. 

As a European passport holder you can move to Cyprus to live and work, but you can only work if the job you are employed to do cannot be done by a Cypriot.  You can start your own business, now without a Cypriot holding the major share; but you have to live and pay tax in the country for 7 years before you are entitled to any benefits, health or otherwise.  Income tax has increased and you are now taxed on your worldwide income, from all sources, not just on what you earn in the country.  Most foreigners work for offshore companies - despite the inordinate hike in prices, local wages remain at 400 Cypriot pounds per month on average (that's just under 500 pounds sterling or $US800) which would now be virually impossible to live on.  You still need to apply for a "pink slip", or a temporary visa, to prove to Immigration that you can support yourself financially and in order to be a legal resident.  Requirements for other nationalities differ.

On joining Europe, Cyprus lost its favourable offshore banking status; people and companies are leaving.  Access to larger European markets and the abolition of import/export duties has served only to benefit the larger concerns.  In many instances it is cheaper to buy imported goods than local produce and smallhold farmers are going out of business.  A bottle of imported French wine is at least a pound cheaper than a locally produced one - and Cyprus produces beautiful grapes, though it has not yet learnt how to transform those into great wine. 

Medical care is essentially private, so you either 'pay as you go' or have medical insurance.  The care is very efficient and very good, as long as you can get over the annoying fact that whatever is going on - even if you are lying half naked having a small mole removed from your abdomen - your doctor will still answer his mobile phone if it rings!

Foreigners are tolerated on the surface (you would not want to be Sri Lankan or a Philippino) and get used to a different price structure: one for locals, one for foreign residents and one for tourists. - Article Continued Below -