People ask me why I came to live here…
Well, what can I say? Hmmmmmm, take a little time to read below and all will come clear:
I’m a 50 something female originating from a small town in Lancashire, United Kingdom.
I first visited Cyprus for a 3 week holiday towards the end of November 1985 and stayed near the ETKO tower in Limassol at the Lordos Apartments. Debenhams was Woolworths in those days, the White Horse pub was close by as was the petrol station.
The KEO (beer delivery truck) used to park up fully loaded at the end of the street every evening with its’ covers wide open to the world. Cars were left overnight with the windows down and the keys still in the ignition. We ate most nights in a small takeaway (near to Kanika Corner) run by a fabulous guy called George Michael.
We hired a car for 2 of the 3 weeks and travelled the length and breadth of the island. Ayia Napa was nothing but a tiny fishing village with a small harbour. The Woolworths store window in Nicosia took our breath away when we saw the Christmas decorations (not the one on Ledra Street). Paphos was a nothing town at the time but the fort looked fabulous.
The Cypriot people were warm and friendly, inviting us to eat with them, share in their birthday and more.
Driving was easy as the roadsigns were similar, everything was written in English, the electricity supply was the same as in UK and we could drink the water directly from the tap!
It took a long time coming and many, many holidays later – I eventually came to live in Cyprus in March 2004.
In between, I met a man (British) who later became my husband and we married at Paphos Town Hall in November 1999. Luckily, he also fell in love with Cyprus. Thank God for that one!
The rest is history…..
Shell
Below is my first post on my new Cyprus blog.
So, I’ve finally decided to have my very own blog to share my life in Cyprus.
Shell & Clem at the Sanctuary of Apollo, Ancient Curium, Episkopi
I’ve decided to call my site “Cyprus Life – in pictures” as that’s pretty much what it’s all about. 🙂
I like to mooch around with my camera from time to time and just snap images that either capture the moment, my attention or if I’ve gone looking for something in particular.
I will be updating my website from time to time with new photos, thoughts on Cyprus and other things along the byeways of life….
I hope you enjoy it.
Shell
January 11, 2012 at 15:38
Oh I’m so pleased to have found you Shell after you left a lovely comment on my blog. As I live in Scotland it’s lovely to see your photographs of the beautiful light and sunshine you have there in Cyprus. As I type this it’s blowing a gale here! I’m off to hit the subscribe button and look forward to seeing more of your pictures and hearing your stories.
Jacqueline
January 11, 2012 at 16:10
Glad to you see you are ‘living the dream’, so to speak! I had a work colleague who retired to Cyprus in 2003 and I don’t think he has looked back. My very best wishes to you and thanks.
June 19, 2012 at 14:44
My best friend lives in Paphos; in Agia Varvara.
I have often though of moving there, but my missus is not so keen.
I think I’ll spend some time around your blog and maybe I’ll find something that might change her mind.
June 19, 2012 at 18:32
Hi Douglas
Feel free to spend time on my blog and have a look around but please also bear in mind that we live in Limassol and not Paphos.
We are some 65km east of Paphos main tourist area (harbour end and Tombs of the Kings road) but we are also around 12km out of the tourist area on the west side of Limassol.
We consider ourselves too young for Paphos as we’re not yet at retirement age and I work full time for an offshore company in Limassol. Work is not so easy to come by in Paphos and for this reason alone we’re glad we chose Limassol as we both feel we would possibly not be in Cyprus 8 years down the line had we gone with our original thought of Paphos.
We changed our minds in the last 18 months before we decided to leave UK after a disappointing encounter with some UK expats in a Paphos bar one evening. It left a bitter taste in our mouths and we almost dropped our plans because of it…
But, we chose to look back again at Limassol which had become familiar to us a number of years before. This decision has been the making of us and we have made some very good friends here.
So it really depends on what you want from a new life in Cyprus. If you have no need to work then it could work very well for you but if you do need to work or if you have school age children, I would suggest you look to other areas such as Limassol, Larnaca or Nicosia.
Good luck with your quest.
August 5, 2012 at 20:45
Wow, so glad to have found you too and am sorry for your ex-pats experience, actually would like to know more as we are thinking of moving to Paphos but keep seeing Limassol as the best investment for lots of reasons. Please reply to me via FACEBOOK or email, thanks so much, am from Derbyshire xx
August 5, 2012 at 21:28
Hi Julie
I’ve just sent you an email from my personal email address (it’s from a gmail account so please look out for it). AOL is notorious for blocking emails but I couldn’t find you via your email addy on Facebook.
November 25, 2012 at 01:14
Hi! I’m Sue, and I’m from slim kicker, a fitness/diet app and website. I found your blog today and it captured my interest!
I’m contacting you b/c we’re about to release a fitness tracker (similar to FitBit) early next year, and are looking for bloggers who would be interested in getting 1 for free to review when it is out (negative or positive).
Would you be interested in doing this?
In case you don’t know, our website basically turns your fitness/diet goals into a level-up RPG game. The tracker will work with the website, and allow people to track calories burned and number of steps they walk automatically. The more they exercise, the more points they rack up! That’s basically how it will work.
April 13, 2013 at 14:33
Hi Cyprus Life in Pictures, I nominated you for the Versatile Blogger’s Award!
April 13, 2013 at 14:33
http://theseoulofcyprus.wordpress.com/2013/04/13/versatile-blogger-award-pass-it-on/
October 8, 2013 at 10:22
Hi Shell
I’m a sub-editor at Expat Arrivals, which aims to give expats and potential expats well researched, on the ground information about moving overseas. We receive between 200,000 and 300,000 unique visitors a month.
I’m impressed by your blog and would like to speak to you about contributing to our site as I’m busy with an overhaul of our Cyprus guide. Drop me an email if you’re at all interested and we can discuss things properly from there.
You can see some of my work in the Greek section of our site.
Sincerely,
Xavier
January 19, 2014 at 08:49
Hello Shell ! Thanks for following A Journey of Wonders (www.journeywonders.com), I’m sure you’ll enjoy reading about my travel adventures as well as my tips for saving money in order to travel more 😀
June 22, 2014 at 10:45
Love this blog. Keeps me closer to my spiritual home Cyprus. We lived in Cyprus for nearly 3 years back in 88 when my husband was posted there, my love of the place started then. I remember Woolworths so very well – used to do my shopping there. We now come back every year and stay in Pissouri but do travel to Limassol often, especially to visit St Andrews Street. Many thanks Louise
June 22, 2014 at 11:28
Thank you for your lovely comments, Louise. I’m pleased to hear you like my blog and glad that you still come back and visit each year.
I too remember Woolworths very well from my first visit in November 1985.
In case you’re not following please also keep an eye on Cyprus Life in Pictures facebook page too. There’s a link to it from my WordPress blog.
Many thanks, Michele
November 23, 2014 at 22:48
Hello Shell, If you are fifty something like me then you will probably remember the 1980 BBC television series The Aphrodite Inheritance filmed on Cyprus and which has just been released for the first time on DVD after all these years. In one scene the two main actors namely Alexandra Bastedo and Peter McEnery are in an old abandoned village. It has been a sort of a hobby of mine whilst on holiday to devote at least one day tracking down film locations used in the series, some have been easy to find others not so easy but the one place which has so far remained elusive is the village, you see it was never mentioned by name in the series that would have made it too easy. The nearest place I have found which remotely resembles it is the old village of Mathikoloni but I am not entirely convinced. This has been driving me nuts for ages so if you can be of help the last piece of the jigsaw will fall into place. I can provide you with some screenshots from the series if you have somewhere I can send them to. Incidentally the DVD can be bought at Amazon for about £17.70. Regards, Philip K Clarke.
February 15, 2015 at 09:49
Hi Philip
It isn’t something I’ve heard of unfortunately – I think most of my free time in the 80s involved nights out and clubbing so didn’t really watch too much heavy TV during those points of my life.
I did Google it after you posted on my blog and then it slipped my mind and then I lost my password/username for my page 😦 So whilst I’m back here today, I will go and take another look.
February 19, 2015 at 19:06
Hello thank you for visiting cyprusscene.com and its nice to know whats’s happening on the other side of the island. Keep up the good work.
March 1, 2015 at 00:24
Hello – We have been coming to Limassol since 1992 and all the places you mention are all very familiar to use. We will be there again in May. I have a brass band weekly programme that plays out on six community radio stations here in the UK, one in New Zealand and for the last year one in Cyprus which is based in Nicosia. I intend visiting the station in May for the first time…
March 3, 2015 at 11:20
Had a wonderfull holiday in paphos, as my friend had her wedding there many years ago. Loved it may return one day. x
March 3, 2015 at 23:02
My family originates from Achna,not far from Dhekalia barracks. Sadly(at50),I cannot persuade my wife to live in Cyprus. My 84yr old grandmother lives alone.My auntie and uncle have just moved out and my father visits a couple of times a year. I holiday there once a year with my family,but i’ve noticed the increase in Russian immigration. If that is a good thing,for the still,slightly corrupt people in power. I do envy you(just a little),because I to enjoy photography,but still haven’t photographed as much as I would like.
March 3, 2015 at 23:56
Thank you Andreas 😉 for sharing that with us and I’m sad to hear you probably don’t get to see your grandmother as much as you would like. I know that family is very precious in Cyprus…. And, I want to see those photos!
March 15, 2015 at 23:55
HI, I have really enjoyed reading you blog and comments. I was born in Cyprus in 1969, my dad served in the RAF. I returned most years in my teens with my parents and fell in love with the Island. I later lived there again with my ex-husband from 2000-2004 working at Episkopi. By then I had two children, who both loved life out there. My children and I return in June this year with my dads ashes, he is to be scattered at Kolossi Castle with my mum. Our Villa and flights are booked and we have been talking about the good old days, I was devastated to see that Orphanides is closed!! I’d be very grateful for some advice on where to shop and hire a car, we’ll be staying at Pissouri 🙂
March 16, 2015 at 18:23
Hi Chantal, thank you for sharing your thoughts about Cyprus.
I’m sorry to hear about your Dad… but Kolossi is a good place for a final resting place, methinks. We’re quite close to it albeit in the next village to Kolossi and it’s alway been a favourite place of ours from long before we came to live here.
You will be pleased to know there is a large supermarket on the old road at Pissouri these days (close to the junction for the turning up the hill).
If you’re going to Kolossi, there’s also an Alfa Mega supermarket on the road heading back up to the highway if you are going back in the direction towards Paphos).
We’ve also got a Papantonios supermarket in Ypsonas (on the old Paphos/Limassol road) and if you continue in the direction of Limassol you will find a Carrefour supermarket not far from where the old road joins Makarios Ave).
For car hire, would you be better to collect one at the airport perhaps? We’ve always been happy with Sixt in the past but there may be companies in Pissouri but it’s not somewhere we go regularly….
I hope that’s helped a bit!
January 1, 2017 at 13:35
Hi Chantal,
If you will be staying in Pissouri you will find a large supermarket on the old Paphos to Limassol road just before the turning up towards Pissouri village on your left hand side if approaching from Paphos direction. I think it’s a Papantoniou supermarket. There are also some smaller shops within the vicinity of the village square. However, if you’re staying closer to the sea you will find the odd tourist supermarket there but will pay more for your groceries, bits and bobs etc…
We often pre-booked our car in advance and either arranged for it to be collected directly from the airport or delivered to us at our chosen accommodation. We tended to use Sixt car hire company (we always stayed in Limassol, the office there is right next to McDonald’s on the seafront).
If you were in Cyprus in 2004 you wouldn’t have known about Lidl supermarkets – they arrived a few years ago and have been springing up all over the island. As we were in Ypsonas, we shopped at Papantoniou and Lidl stores as they’re both next to each other on the left hand side of the road almost opposite Zorbas bakery and a little after you pass through the traffic lights at what was the old Red Arrows taverna (I use that term loosely), I’m sure you know which place I’m referring to ;-). You should also see a small KFC on your right hand side near Zorbas.
Yes, the closure of Orphanides came as a big shock to us all….. it was something all too familiar to us during our holidays to Cyprus. A sad day for all when that happened….
Sorry to hear about your Dad but at least you know now that both parents will be together after your visit to Kolossi Castle.
We lost my Dad at the end of October, hence our reason for returning to UK after 12yrs in Cyprus at the end of April this year as we could see he was deteriorating. Unfortunately, it all happened rather quickly in the end but at least he is now at peace.
We’re here for the future now and are on hand for my Mum who lives a short distance away from us.
Thanks for taking the time to read my blog. I’m glad you enjoyed it!
Michele
May 7, 2015 at 12:56
I am so happy to have found your blog. My ex husband was in the British Army and we spent two glorious years living in Akrotiri. I loved trips to the mountains, and all the lovely little villages, delicious food, the people. I became part of Turtle Watch and spent many nights sitting on beaches watching over turtle nests. Oh the joy watching for the first time all those tiny babies as the sand erupted like a mini volcano and they all started their long journey down to the ocean.
May 14, 2015 at 18:43
Hi Liz, they sound like great memories…. treasure them, always 🙂
June 11, 2015 at 02:12
Oh my days I lived in Heywood 😃 I move to epi in July with my husband who is in the military …I only get the 3 years though…no eternal sunshine ….love looking at this I’m so excited to start the next chapter x
January 15, 2016 at 11:53
Hi Shell, loved reading the comments and looking at your pictures here. I too am a 50 something (male) originating from a small town in Lancashire 🙂 People always say “home is where the heart is”, my home is most definitely in Cyprus. Unfortunately only my heart is there as my finances don’t allow me to live my dream (sooo jealous of you). I am Ex RAF and lived on the eastern side of the island ’97-’01. I return almost every year on holiday and still hold on to my dreams of living there permanently, preferably before I have to retire. This brings me to a question I hope you can help me with. Could you direct me to any relevant sites, or advise me about finding employment on Cyprus? I have my HGV (Truck) licence and am currently working as a taxi driver (needs must), my wife is an NHS Pediatric nurse and speaks fluent Greek and we have a 10yr old daughter. We ALL love Cyprus and I’m sure growing up there can only be beneficial for my daughter. I would appreciate any insight you can provide. Many thanks, Lee.
January 15, 2016 at 19:16
Hi Lee, thank you for your comments and I do hope you will be able to live the dream sometime soon!
Sadly, we will be leaving Cyprus this year after spending 12yrs here but it’s due to family illness in UK and we feel it’s time to make a change. We’ve had 12 very good years so we have no regrets and actually we’re both looking forward to the forthcoming switch. We’ll lose the weather of course but we hope to be within walking distance of the seafront in our new location which will be an added bonus. We’re currently about 10 minutes drive from the closest beach.
As to getting employment in Cyprus I’m afraid you may find it’s pretty impossible to do before you get here…. Cyprus is one of those places that you can apply for a job and hear absolutely nothing for weeks then out of the blue, a phone call for an interview the next day and then they want to know if you can start as soon as possible. If you’re not here or don’t have a Cypriot address or phone number, it’s unlikely you will be contacted.
HGV licences in UK may not stand for anything in Cyprus and the same may well apply for taxi driving too…
We made our mind up about 2 – 3 years prior to our move that we were coming to live here. We sold up everything we had in UK, which wasn’t a great deal based on the sale of a 2 bedroom terraced property in north west UK after we paid off the outstanding mortgage. Booked our dogs, booked the flights and then came to search for a rental property a couple of months before we were due to depart. Four days of searching gave us the result we wanted and we’re still in that same rental property as I type this!
We were lucky, the risk paid off and although I did have a job to come to by transferring to the overseas office with my existing employer, I decided it wasn’t for me after just 4 weeks and 1 day and literally walked out of the office one lunchtime and never went back.
I’ve had several jobs since then with only a short space of unemployment and eventually found a niche for myself.
You have to be prepared to move away from what your current job in UK is and learn to diversify. It’s surprising what opportunities arise when you put your mind to it.
Your wife could very well fall on her feet which will help for your daughter and her education. For you, you may well need to rethink but, remember RAF Akrotiri is just down the road from us and people do get jobs there – especially ex RAF peeps!
So, don’t give up hope but sitting back and waiting for it to happen may just have to take a back seat and it’s down to you and your family to take the bull by the horns and “just go for it” – otherwise you may still be there saying “I wonder what would have happened if….”
Good luck!
Shell
January 20, 2016 at 15:12
Hi Shell, sorry to hear that you have left the island … I just found your website (which is gorgeous) and remembered some places, where my husband and I had been 3 years ago. Great pictures!
We lived several month in Cyprus. Now we are thinking of maybe, eventually returning, but it still needs some thinking. One question is, if there is a chance to find people who could work in an internet environment. Ideally someone capable of English and German. And if such a person is not to find, is there a chance to hire someone for the household (f.ex. in the Limassol area).
I wish you all the best for the new start in the UK. All the best, Andrea
March 8, 2016 at 19:38
We haven’t left yet, Andrea – hopefully around the end of April subject to the UK property purchase coming through on time…. so, still here in sunny Cyprus just now 🙂