一月 21 2020
A country which is more known as a holiday destination and its good weather, we are experiencing an upgrading in our standard of living and entertainment, having attracted the attention of international stars, which is now extended to real estate (as it may appear at present). To this end the hospitality of Cypriots play a major part.
The trigger of our article came about due the recent concert that was given on by the Italian international singer Eros Ramazzotti in Limassol. We were there and by mistake we sat on the first 3 rows of seats and this “gig” (using the 1975’s era expression) was most entertaining, with the 6.000 people attending (of all ages mind you). It was a breath of fresh air and a good event for social interaction and getting to know other people. This, until the next show that we will attend, that of Celine Dion in August 2020. These international artists (and deservingly), are the start (not the last we add) which are helping upgrade Cyprus living and culture for which we are not known for. These “gigs” follow other artists such as Elton John, Tom Jones, the Paphos Opera annual event and even sports events such as the Marathon Run (especially the one in Limassol), the sailing boat races, the numerous lectures given by local and international speakers that take place in Cyprus including academics, such as our own Mr. Pissarides (Nobel awarded), whereas the recent upgrading of the Nicosia Theatre and those of Limassol are nowadays hosting all sorts of cultural events, ranging from folk dancing to chorus of international fame and quality, are some of the activities that are taking place.
Cultural events and the attendance of those international stars are a free advertising for Cyprus (be it they do it for money than out of love for this country) generates an interest for real estate and themselves (the stars) puts on the map of international interest for little Cyprus.
We hope that the new and worthy Minister of Tourism gets the message that culture especially at the Cyprus low comparative costs and quality of life, is an opportunity to explore for the “benefit of the wider Cyprus economy”. Promote dear Minister Cyprus our culture, little as there is now, but we are getting there, be it slowly.
In ending we must tell you our little (true) story for a potential foreign buyer who required a house of £1.0 mil. from Leptos Kamares project. At that time (1990) this amount was huge. So we hired a 7-seater Mercedes car, we picked him up from the airport, but because we were early for our appointment on our way to Paphos (we realized that we were 2 hours ahead of the meeting), we stopped for breakfast at the Hani restaurant in Pissouri village. Fried halloumi and eggs, where the grandmother charm did the start. We noted afterwards that he was not so enthusiastic to go further.
Driving through the vine area of Pissouri, we crossed a field where grape picking was in full force with around 20 people plus donkeys to help. The vine owner stopped our car and insisted that we get out, for him to “treat” us (and to be quite honest we did not know how this would have gone). Thanassis, the owner, insisted that we should have as a gift from him, 2 cases of grapes each, and the whole family came around for photos. Long story short, this Swiss client of ours ended up baptizing Thanassis’ son in Pissouri and more importantly and in addition to the purchase of a house there, he built a couple of hotels in Cyprus (sorry Leptos Estates).
There are so many problems in the world from Bolivia to Hong Kong that we do not appreciate how lucky we are, something which the foreign market pays special attention to.