Cyprus 

Cyprus was the site of early Phoenician and Greek colonies. For centuries its rule passed through many hands. It fell to the Turks in 1571, and a large Turkish colony settled on the island. In World War I, at the outbreak of hostilities with Turkey, Britain annexed the island and it was declared a Crown colony in 1925.  Cyprus gained independence from the United Kingdom in 1960. Tensions between the Greek Cypriot majority and the Turkish Cypriot minority followed, resulting in the island being divided in 1974 when Turkish troops invaded to stop Greek military plans for a union with Greece. The fighting in 1974 displaced more than a third of the population as some 180,000 Greek Cypriots fled south and 45,000 Turkish Cypriots went to the northern Turkish-occupied area (37% of the island). Attempts to reunify the island before May 2004, when Cyprus joined the European Union failed resulting in the northern area, known as the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, not being recognised by the UN and unable to join the EU.
 
Cyprus has a population of about 1.2m with about 240,000 living in the capital city of Nicosia. Greek, Turkish and English are spoken.
 
We travelled about 500km to Akamas and the Troodos mountains. The main roads are generally in good condition with many of the roads through the Paphos Forest and Troodos mountains having been replaced recently. As expected, they are very windy roads. Except for the forests, the rural landscape is uninterestingly barren with stony soil and the trees are very sparse.
 
Health & Safety doesn’t seem to conform to EU standards with obstructions such as poles and cables and broken paving forming hazards on the pavements.

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