Category: Limassol

This is my home. This is where I lived, worked, and enjoyed life for more than ten years now. This is where most of my friends and family are.

hack {cyprus} *12

I’ve heard the hack {cyprus} *12 announcements for a few weeks now, but unfortunately was too busy with my own projects to attend.  If you missed all the noise, hack {cyprus} *12 is a hackathon-type event, where a bunch of people get together decide on a few ideas they want to implement and jump into coding.  They usually go at it non-stop for approximately 24-48 hours, after which they present the results.

These are quite common in all the countries where programmers live.  Now, we can proudly say that programmers live in Cyprus too.  The picture above is from a few minutes ago.  Just for the record, it’s Saturday night, after 1:00am!  That’s nothing but impressive.

The event seems to be quite well organized, with its own website, Facebook page, Twitter, and more.  (Have a look at their live stream page for latest updates.)  It is also being sponsored by quite a few companies, including Microsoft, Cyta, and Cyprus University of Technology.

As I said, unfortunately I was preoccupied with something else to book my attendance for this event.  However I am planning to go see the presentations tomorrow (care to join me?).  According to the schedule, some time around 5-5:30pm the teams will show off what they have managed to achieve in such a short time.

Every time I tell people that I prefer cold, windy…

Every time I tell people that I prefer cold, windy, rainy weather, they laugh at me, telling me that I’ve picked the wrong country to live in.  Well maybe.  But then they say how weird I am, and how summer is so awesome.  How they love the sun and the beach.  Well, I hope you all are enjoying it then.  While I sit inside, under the air condition turned on to full power.

The Holy Monastery of Saint Nicholas of the Cats

By following comments at Chris’ blog, I came across the fascinating story that I haven’t heard before – the story of The Holy Monastery of Saint Nicholas of the Cats.

The Monastery of Saint Nicholas of the Cats is regarded as a sacred cat haven in Cyprus, as it’s name has been linked to felines for almost 2,000 years.

The original monastery was built in 327 AD, by Kalokeros, the first Byzantine governor of Cyprus, and patronised by Saint Helena, the mother of Constantine the Great. At that time, a terrible drought affected the whole of Cypus, and the entire island was overrun with poisonous snakes which made building the monastery a dangerous affair. Many of the inhabitants left their homes and moved off the island, for fear of the snakes, but Saint Helena came up with a solution to the plague – she ordered 1,000 cats to be shipped in from Egypt and Palestine to fight the reptiles.

In the following years, the cats did their duty, hunting and killing most of the snakes in the Akrotiri Peninsula, which soon came to be known as the “Cat Peninsula”.

Saxo Bank opens an office in Cyprus

Saxo Bank is a well known name for anyone who’s associated with Forex.  Today I was driving to the Limassol Income Tax Office, past the new KPMG building, when I noticed the new sign of Saxo Bank on the second floor of that building.  I was a bit surprised.  Sure, I’ve heard the rumors that it was coming, but nothing more.  I don’t follow Forex news too much, but I’m sure I would have heard of it.

A few hours later, during the lunch break at the office, while catching up with the news, I noticed the announcement in Cyprus Mail.

SAXO Bank, the specialist in online trading and investing, yesterday announced the opening of its new office in Cyprus which will provide Cypriot investors access to international financial markets.

The office – the Danish bank’s 22nd — is located in Limassol and will serve as a regional business centre covering the whole of Central and Eastern Europe.

I think now we can officially call Limassol – the capital of the Forex industry.

The wedding

For the last week or so I’ve been particularly silent and offline, except, maybe, for my Foursquare check-ins.  The reason for that was my brother’s wedding.

A lot of family flew in from Russia and Urkaine.  They stayed for a few days and we had to show them around.  Gladly, everything went through OK.  All we need now is a week or so to get back to the routine and detox. With more color options than a rainbow can offer, and stunning new designs and patterns, cover chair are perfect to complement your wedding.

P.S.: Official wedding pictures and images aren’t out yet, so I had to shamelessly steal the above image from Facebook.