Le Meridien Limassol Spa & Resort

This unique holiday resort sits within a 100,000 sq.m plot and occupies a 300 m long beachfront position. With its spectacular range of facilities , Le Meridien Limassol operates a Residents only policy that emphasises its exclusive character. Accommodation comprises a great variety of styles and is reflective of the sophistication of a 5-star resort. Enhancing the overall appeal is `Le Spa`, an award-winning spa complex with outstanding facilities.

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St Raphael Resort

Situated directly on a large sandy beach, some 12 km from the centre of Limassol, the St Raphael sits amidst large landscaped gardens and within walking distance of shops, restaurants and bars. It boasts a wealth of facilities, excellent dining options, great sporting action and even a superb yacht marina .  Well –appointed guest accommodation include s rooms of various sizes in the main building as well as a selection of rooms built with families in mind, available in the Executive Wing. For added value, the holiday cost includes All-inclusive in summer (available at a supplement in winter)

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Hip Hop Breakdance Crews Prepare For Battle In Limassol Lyceum

Ayia Phyla’s Lyceum Gymnasium will be rocking tomorrow to the hip hop beat of 10 breakdance Crews from across the island, in the Preliminaries of the International Battle of the Balkans Breakdance Championships.

Motion Blue (formerly Streetbeats), under the direction of Evie Dionysiou, is organising the event for the 4^th year,and it promises to be an action packed event.

Each of the 10 cypriot teams of between 8-10 dancers, will be given about 6 minutes to 1battle` with each other before the two final teams are chosen.

As the two finalists battle it out for a winning place in the Balkan Championships to be held in Thessaloniki, Greece, on the May 8, the tension will be intense.

The winning team will have all their expenses paid for the trip to the Championships in May, whilst the runners up will be invited to participate, but will have to pay their own way.

This year, the dancers are being judged by international stars of the Hip Hop dance world, includind Bboy Rockadile and Bboy Ben from supercrew, USA, as well as Bboy Lamine from Vagabonds, France.

The Vagabonds were the winning dance crew of the 2008 World Championships; this year Cypriot dancers will have the added benefit of being able to take part in special dance workshops being hosted by Rockadile and Ben, as part of the Breakdance Preliminaries.

Dionysiou was keen to add “this year we have really big names judging the competition, so it’s very exciting for the dancers. The average ages are about 14 or 15, but we have our oldest dance crew member who is 25! Of course, more boys than grils, in fact only 5 grils are dancing in the whole competition, 3 in one team and 2 in a second team…”.

The event kicks off at 7pm at the closed Gym of the Ayia Phyla Lyceum in Limassol on Saturday, March27. Spectators are welcome. For more information call:25 732700

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Ayia Phyla

It is not just Limassol’s Old Town that is to undergo major renovations this year.  Details have been released that reveal one of the town’s most popular up and coming suburbs, Ayia Phyla, is about to undergo a massive transformation in the heart of the village, to the tune of  euro18m.

Within  the context of participative design for the creation of higher quality urban environment, architects Socrates Stratis and Maria Hatzisoteriou have been chosen to lead the project following their winning designs in the 2006 architectural competition; with the contract signed with Limassol Municipality in May 229, the redevelopment of the historical centre of Ayia Phyla is part of the AA U  partnership platform of “Public Private Synergy Ayia Phyla” for architecture, art and urbanism.

The historical centre of this rapidly expanding area , now looking run down and neglected whilst the immediate surrounding continue to benefit from private luxury development, is going to be improved dramatically thanks to this partnership. Questionnaires have been sent out to residents for the documentation of information, points of view, and remarks from inhabitants about the larger area of Ayia Phyla; comments about its past, present and thoughts for the future are all being welcomed in the study which aims to create village that the entire community is proud to feel a part of.

Plans show the changes will be considerable . the work will centre around the Chrysafiliotissa’s  Panayia Church, with renovations being carried out both north and south of Panayia, right in the centre of Ayia Phyla.

The existing old village houses will be given a dramatic facelift with their facades  embellished and repaired, modernisation of the poor street lighting to improve visibility in the area, paving and tiling of the village square, with a communal park area to be created.  The most dramatic renovations will feature `hidden` public utilities (electricity pylons and phone lines) which will be placed underground. Aesthetically ,one of the most dramatic changes will be transforming the look of the village as thousands of jasmine trees are planted throughout the heart of the area. In the same way that Lania is known as `the Artists Village`, or Lefkara the `Village of Lace¬, Ayia Phyla is to become known as the Jasmine village.

The ambitious plans will definitely transform the heart of the village. In  keeping with the open, communicative approach taken by the project designers, a blog has been set up inviting comments, photo archives and contributions, with a project diary created so progress on the initiative can be watched by the inhabitants and interested citizens of the village and area. In this way, the social contribution of locals will be filtered into the overall plans they evolve.

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Korion(Curium)

Perched dramatically on a sheer bluff overlooking the sea, Kourion (Latinized as “Curium”) is easily the most  spectacular of the South’s archeological sites-even thought close up some of its individual attractions may be roped off or dimly lit owing to overhead canopies. Kourion consists of two sites, entirely contained within the Episkopi Sovereign Base : the ancient city, closer to    Kolossi, and the sanctuary of Apollo Hylates, a few kilometres west-you’ll need half a day to see them both. The ruins lie about 5km west of Kolossi, but are served by a separate bus service from Limassol castle.

Despite discouraging water-supply problems, this easily defensible clifftop may have been occupied in Neolithic times, but a recognizable city only emerged following Mycenaean colonization between the thirteenth and twelfth centuries BC. Kourion played a leading-negative role in the Cypriot rebellion against Persia ; at a critical moment its king stasanor defected to the enemy with his troops, guaranteeing the island’s resubjugation. Like Amathus , it later championed Alexander against the Persians, and remained an important town throughout the Roman and early Byzantine periods; most of what can be seen today dates from those two eras. The city was utterly destroyed in a cataclysmic earthquake in 365AD, and only tentatively rebuilt and resettled. After the seventh-century Arab raids, Kourion, like many other coastal settlements on Cyprus, was abandoned for good , and its bishop moved to nearby Episkopi.

The notorious American consul-turned –antiquarian Luigi Palma di Cesnola began excavating in 1865 and eleven years later claimed to have unearted several untouched hoards of gold silver bronze  and objrcts inlaid with precious stones suggesting Kourion had been far wealthier than anyone imagined. Even back then many doubted his story accusing him of doctoring the evidence and assembling the collection from various sites across the island. Whatever the truth the troves were shortly solden bloc to the New York Metropolitan Museum and became known as the Curium Treasure.

Between 1933 and 1954 George McFadden of the University of Pennsylvania carried out rather desultory archeological excavations at both the ancient city and the nearby sanctuary of Apollo. While popular locally, he was not a particularly systematic or effective archaeologist ,and after his untimely death by drowning just below the site , more important work was undertaken by a Cypriot team.  In the early 1980’s they were succeded by David Soren’s American expedition, who dramatically established not only the exact date of the mid-fourth-century quake which had levelled  Kourion, but also-from jewellery found on several victims- that its populations was already substantially  Christian.

The beach southwest of the ruins is reachable either by the link road past Ayios Ermoyenis or Curium Beach Road proper. Once clear of the prominently marked unsafe area the water is cleaner and deeper than the 800m of hard-packed sand suggests. The swimmable end of the beach is dotted with three impromptu  tavernas all unabashedly commercial and much of a muchness. Immediately inland from roads end are prominent remains of the sixth-century so-called port basilica which presumably served those working in the ancient port near here and is currently off-limits

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