Although its old centre of Levantine stone buildings and alleyways lends the city some charm, LIMASSOL (Lemesos in Greek, now the official name) is primarily the industrial and commercial capital of the southern coast, specializing in wine-making, citrus and canning. Limassol south’s largest ,port, with container ship anchoring all year just offshore.
Limassol population 160.000 basks in its reputation as a mini-Texas of conspicuously consuming , gregarious nouveaux riches-and this was true even before a massive, mid-1990s influx of Russian businessman who briefly dominated the “offshore banking” industry here along with the laundering of money smuggled out of the Russian Federation, prostitution and topless ” gentlemen’s clubs” are major local enterprises which have spilled out from the confines of the traditional central red-light zone.
Most of the conventional tourist industry is ghettoized in a long unsightly ribbon of development east of town, in the area of Potamos Yermasoyias and Amathus. This consists of 16km-plus of intermittent roadworks. Faded , rabbit-warren hotel and apartment buildings, neon bars, naff restaurants and “waterparks”, all abutting a generally mediocre beach, jewellery and furs are assiduously pitched at the Russian market-every fourth sign is in the Cyrillic alphabet- while many of the hotel entrances are closely patrolled by eastern European prostitutes.
All is not frowziness and vulgarity, however; since the millennium, extensiveareas of the old commercial centre have been rehabilitated. The giant Anexartisias mall just off the eponymous main street, the refurbished central market and the Lanitis Carob Mill project constitute the main foci of this urban renewal Native Lemessans do their utmost to uphold the city’s reputation as the island’s party town- something abetted by the recent establishment of a technical university-with live music venues, quality restaurants and stylish cafes. And if you’re considering a winter-sun break, Limassol makes an excellent base- as a “real” town, it definitely doesn’t close down of- season the way Ayia Napa does.
The town beach at Limassol, stony and flanked by intermittent breakwaters and stationary tankers, is pretty forgettable;recognizing this, the CTO has improved a beach at Dhassoudhi(Ddasoudi), about 4km east of town near the edge of Potamos Yermasoyias. But you really need to travel further towards Larnaca before reaching any patches of natural coastline.
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