NEWS BLOG

The following article was written in 2004 and describes the rich culture and unspoilt countryside in the Paphos region of Cyprus.

Secret Cyprus

By Colin Barrowclough.

The key to travelling, as every explorer knows, is trusting in the gods.

I’d chosen to visit Cyprus for its renowned Mediterranean heat; instead, I stumbled into the wettest week for years. Banking into our final approach to Paphos airport, above the island’s western tip, the plane dipped into the meanest electrical storm I’ve ever experienced. Bolts of lightning razored open gunmetal skies, revealing slating rain, and below, foaming brine and crashing waves. With little prospect of basking on the beach, I needed an alternative theme for the week. Culture? Cyprus is so full of ancient history that it’s tough to pop out to a Paphos pub without banging your head on a temple arch. But my mood had become as sullen as the weather. I could no more rejoice in ruins than squeezes UB rays from the stormy skies.

I was consoling myself a coffee when my eye fell on a sporty little jeep across the road. For hire.

Just a 30-minute drive inland, I knew, lay the Paphos Forest, home to some of the best mountain driving in the Mediterranean. In a flash, I had a plan. Renting a car in Cyprus couldn’t be simpler. But traversing the pine-clad ridges of the Paphos Forest is a different matter. The high-altitude terrain is uninhabited and devoid of surfaced roads. The only way in and out is by tortuous mountain tracks.

At times the beauty of the mountain views was breathtaking. Patches of low cloud drifted among forest ridges.

Mulchy odours of damp earth and pine needles willed me to cut the engine. There was no sound except the rain, and not even a faint breeze. When I was still, the world was still. I was alone with awesome nature.

Rushing to beat the falling dusk, I struggled to keep traction on the damp trail. At last, breaching asphalt at the village of Kinousa, I cruised downhill to the phosphorescence of the Mediterranean surf below.

The main town on the western coast of Cyprus is Polis, where the Archontariki tavern serves an excellent roast lamb, accompanied by wines from the next-door monastery.

To the west of town yawn the cliffs of the Akamas Peninsula, in Greek myth, Aphrodite, the goddess of love, chose this spot to emerge from the brine in her scallop shell. The bulk of the peninsula remains unravelled. Old-world villages, many abandoned by Turkish Cypriots in the Seventies, fight a losing battle against encroaching gorse, carob and maquis scrub.

Donkeys are the prime means of transport. It’s so remote that sea turtles come to lay their eggs in the sands off Lara.

Turn south from here on the B7 and it’s an easy cruise along the valley floor to Paphos. Climb on the Akamas ridge above Neo Chorio, however, and the terrain changes abruptly.

The earth, lush in the valley, becomes parched and stony. It’s perfect terrain for guerrilla warfare. In the fifties, Greek Cypriot pro-independence fighters used the gulleys to ambush British Army columns on the Paphos-Polis road.

As I left the boulder-strewn track for the last time, I remembered a eulogy to Cyprus written by Lawrence Durrell in 1957. The country, he wrote, was ‘fertile, full of goddesses and mineral springs; ancient castles and monasteries; fruit and grain and verdant grasslands; priests and gypsies and brigands.’

In a place like that, I thought, who wants to bask on the beach, anyway? I slipped into gear for the final leg to Paphos and knew that the Cypriot gods had been good.

Daily Mail – Travel.

This article from The Telegraph reflects some of the topics Heather talked about during our client seminar evening last night, such as our future partnership with the Anassa Hotel and the unique location of the Sandy Beach development. Written in 2001, just after the terrorist attacks on the Twin Towers, this article demonstrates the timeless appeal of both the Anassa and the beautiful area surrounding it.

Cyprus: Clouded Judgment

He was a hunched 5ft 6in with a face like a smudged oil painting; she was 6ft 1in and fabulous in her Gucci heels. He liked to pile his tiger prawns sky-high from the lavish buffet; she loved the fact that Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta Jones stayed in the same suite. The Russian Mafioso and his mistress were enjoying dinner on the terrace of the Anassa Hotel in Cyprus.

So was I. On September 13, I left a nervy Heathrow on a half-empty scheduled flight to Larnaca. Six hours later, I was eating seafood meze at this gorgeous retreat, built in traditional Cypriot village style with whitewashed walls, clay roof tiles, local stone and wooden doors and shutters. Looking across the landscaped gardens of olive, carob and cypress as fragrant jasmine and lavender wafted on the sea breeze, I was not about to fret about being so close to the Middle East.

Nor were the Russians. While the Anassa has attracted some stellar names (Rod Stewart, Leonardo DiCaprio and the Beckhams), a senior member of staff confided to me that it is Russian guests that flaunt it. A £15,000 room bill is not unusual. And, she added discreetly, it's common practice for Russian "businessmen" to have a mistress accompany them for the first week and their wife flown in for the second.

The town of Paphos is unrivalled in Cyprus for its archaeological remains - and is now recognised as a Unesco World Heritage site. The Paphos Roman Mosaics, first discovered by a ploughing farmer in 1962, are among the finest in the Mediterranean. Excavations continue across a wide area for more buried treasures.

A few miles away, the Tombs of the Kings is an elaborate complex of necropoli that do not contain royalty but the remains of Cypriot aristocrats from the third century. Influenced by the Ancient Egyptians, the tombs are carved from solid rock and decorated with Doric pillars. Entering these regal burial sites is an eerie experience.

Returning to Paphos along the coastal highway, I was seduced by the sight of Petra tou Romiou, more popularly known as Aphrodite's Rock. According to legend, it was here that the ancient patron goddess of Cyprus first emerged. Couples hoping to guarantee eternal love are obliged to swim around the imposing outcrop - one place in Cyprus you can be sure you won't spot a Mafioso and his floozy.

Telegraph.co.uk, 2001

This recent article from the Sunday Telegraph epitomises the untouched beauty of Western Cyprus. The area is proving to be an increasingly popular spot for savvy investors looking for unique, distinctive and unspoilt residential developments that truly blend into their natural surroundings.

The beautiful Akamas Peninsula has unlimited potential.

The wilderness of the Akamas Peninsula, the westerly tip of Cyprus, covers six per cent of the island and is home to turtles, rare birds and butterflies. Yet it is, so far, untapped by British buyers, who have the more traditional tourist areas further south – from Ayia Napa’s club land on the east coast to Paphos, the popular winter sun destination, in the south west – firmly rooted in their affections. But this looks set to change. Although the national park on the Akamas Peninsula itself can thankfully never be built on, it is the unspoilt coastline that skirts it on either side that is ripe for glamorous new properties. The area is soon to be accessed by a new fast road from Paphos, due in 2011 and has steadily become a focus for boutique developers, who have begun to build striking beachfront homes on an island that has previously offered little to rival the multi-million pound offerings of the southern French or upmarket Balearic coastlines. Exquisitely contemporary villas on these secluded stretches naturally come at a cost. Dotted around the Akamas peninsula are attractive villages, set in lemon, almond and olive groves that will appeal to those seeking a quieter, traditional taste of Cypriot life – within easy reach of the coastline that is drawing the millionaires.

Sunday Telegraph, 31^st January 2010.