 22 February 2012, Wednesday |
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My Home Page| NORTH CYPRUS HOLIDAY INFORMATION | ||||||||||||||
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Summer Holidays in Northern Cyprus  July sees the start of the summer holidays here in North Cyprus. Unlike the British schools North Cyprus children and universities have a 3 month break during the summer months and throughout the year they start at 8:00am in the morning and some finish as early as 1:30pm in the afternoon. This depends very much on the school and not all are the same as this. With such a long holiday you'd think there';d be lots of kids hanging around the street corners and getting into mischiefsbut that isn';t so. There is a much tighter control and they are involved very much in the family routine and you'll often see them off to the shops helping with the bags for mum and dad. There are local sports fields and activities and lots of different festivals for them to get involved with as well as the local beaches. There is a lively buzz this week as the bars and restaurants have their evenings of entertainment although they're not all belly dancers and such things. There are some fine musicians, and very professional here too and this week saw Bonny Tyler perform in the open air theatre at Salamis do you remember her #8220; holding out for a hero!. the Welsh lady with the big blond hair.. still going strong or you could bump into Elvis, an excellent local impersonator who's been doing the pub and bars here in Cyprus for some time now. If you want to escape the British weather and yes I saw Wimbledon this last week.. it's in the mid 30's here and the sea is warm enough to swim in.. but make sure you have a good sun protector on and drink plenty of fluids. Efes.. no that's the local brew.. plenty of water, at least 2 litres a day, or you be checking out the local health service, which is free for all tourists, unless you seek a private doctor.  The latest on the future of the political situation is there will be a new united nations special envoy to oversee the talks that are taking place this month to try to resolve the political stalemate on the island. This will lead to a fuller discussion on the 1st September and hopefully resolve the deadlock that has happened in many recent talks over the last few years. The newly elected president of the South, Mr Christofias and his counterpart in the North Mr Talat, have a common interest to making the re-unification of Cyprus a success. Ask anybody their opinion on this subject, whether British, Turkish or Greek Cypriot and everyone will give you a different answer, but as of the next few months, all the guess work will be turned into reality. No more referendums, like the failed attempt in 2004 this is possibly the last chanceWinter Sun in North Cyprus Before moving to Northern Cyprus many people write to us and ask us what the winters are really like in TRNC. On the one hand you have travel companies and tour operators telling people that there is winter sun in North Cyprus and promoting year round breaks to TRNC, and on the other hand you have the old expat stories of power cuts and storms to sift through...so where exactly does the truth lie The truth is that I'm writing this article in mid November and just yesterday I was working in the garden and wearing a t-shirt and long shorts yet a little over a week ago we had such intense rainfall one night that roads flooded, drains blocked and the ground was soggy for a week! The truth therefore lies somewhere in the middle of all the stories you've heard about winter in North Cyprus. The majority of the time the sky is blue, the clouds are high, the temperature is mild, the sun is out and you can enjoy lovely long bracing walks on the beach or in the Besparmak Mountain Range. In the evenings when the sun goes down the temperature drops and between November and March you will need to take a light jacket or coat with you when you go out at night. When it does rain it tends to rain hard; but on the plus side you don't get days and days of drizzle and grey skies, you get a hard day or night's rainfall when the drains all block up with leaves and mud and when you shouldn't venture out without your wellies! After the rain clouds disperse the sun will come back out as intense as ever and dry everything off. When it rains it's pretty grim but as soon as the sun comes back you're instantly reminded of why you moved to sunny Cyprus in the first place.  The other stories that people hear about are the ones where expatriates claim they almost freeze to death in their homes each winter! Well, if you move into a house without cavity walls, any form of insulation or heating then you really will feel the drop in temperature as soon as October comes around each year and the summer sun's intensity drops. But if on the other hand you buy property in Northern Cyprus with your eyes open and you ensure the property is being built to at least British standards you should find that your cavity walls and double glazing keep the cold out and your air conditioning units, central heating or open fire keep the heat in. Air conditioning Yes, that's right, all air conditioning units heat as well as cool! So, what about the power cuts...well, it depends a little on where abouts you live. Those in central Girne have fewer power outages than those in Tatlisu, Kayalar or even Esentepe, Catalkoy, Ozankoy or Lapta for example. The greater the number of key businesses in your locale the higher your area will be in terms of priority for the power company when there is an island wide outage. Or at least that's how it appears to me! There tend to be more outages in the winter because the weather is worse and more people are drawing electricity to heat their homes, dry their clothes and warm their water. If you're overly concerned about it there is some good news. Firstly you can buy a generator from around GBP 800 and secondly the TRNC government have just announced that power cuts will be a thing of the past by 2007 because they intend improving and upgrading the entire electricity infrastructure in Northern Cyprus. Essential winter items for your North Cyprus shopping list should include: - wellies, candles, a gas heater - oh, and you'll still need your summer sunglasses and t-shirts too! Basically the weather in TRNC is fantastic 99 of the time and if you're looking to escape the harsher British, German or North American climate the winter sun in North Cyprus should suit you down to the ground! |
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