Category: Cyprus

I live in Cyprus for many years now. It is a beautiful little island in Mediterranean Sea. It features warm weather for most of the year, sea, very kind and hospital people, plenty of jobs in IT industry, good food and plenty of alcohol, stable currency, and more. It’s really a nice place to live if you can handle small towns and villages. It’s also a great place to raise the kids.

Not much happens here. It is a quiet and simple place. Yet, when something happens or when I write about it, I post it to Cyprus category.

Limassol buses information

Finally, Limassol is joining a list of pretty much every city on this planet that has a system of public transportation!  Lots of new buses, new routes, new tickets, new passengers – all that is exciting.  I’ve been waiting for this and now I’m happy to see how it grows and improves.  From a myth of bus system, it turned into a real bus network.  It’s true that not everything is covered yet, and that most people still prefer to drive their own cars, but I see light in the end of the tunnel.  I’m full of hope.  And I say – just give it time.  And we’ll have an alternative to personal cars and expensive taxis.

I have tried the new bus system myself.  Together with my son Maxim we took a test ride to grandma’s and back.  The funny bit was when were heading back home, we had a choice of either going back by bus or getting a lift by my brother.  When presented with these options, Maxim chose a bus.  And I don’t see why not.  The buses are new and comfortable.  We already paid for a daily ticket.  There is practically no waiting time.  And it’s all exciting and new.

The only issue I noticed with the new system is that nobody knows which routes are there, where buses stop, and how often they go.  Except for route 30, which goes along the seaside from La Meridian Hotel to the New Port of Limassol and back.  Gladly, there is a website now that solves the problem with detailed information on all routes, bus stops, timetables, ticket prices, and more – LimassolBuses.com . Not only the website is in both Greek and English, but it’s a nice showcase of how WordPress can be used for a non-blog.

Good news from PrimeTel

Yes, I know, I am biased when I talk about PrimeTel, since I used to work there and still have a lot of friends there.  But even with that, how can one not be happy about great news that came in via SMS today:

Your Internet speed will double as of 1/1/2011 with no additional charge. Happy New Year from PrimeTel!

I am getting 4.5 – 5.5 Mbps on my 4 Mbps PrimeTel subscription.  With this new upgrade it seems I’ll be getting somewhere around 10 Mbps. Excellent present – thank you PrimeTel!

Updated: You might also want to read this article in Cyprus Mail.

Just when you thought your tax money were spent wisely

Cyprus Mail reports:

BY A close vote, parliament last night passed a law on combating terrorism and defining a terrorist organization.

The bill passed with 22 votes in favour from DISY, DIKO and European Party deputies, while 19 MPs from AKEL and socialists EDEK voted against. The Greens abstained.

The law specifies what constitutes a terrorist group according to the definition and list of terrorist organisations compiled by the European Council. It also stipulates terrorist offences and subsequent penalties.

It defines a terrorist group as “a group of two or more persons which has been established and operates for a specific amount of time with the purpose of committing terrorist acts.”

I just can’t help the mental picture of the heated arguments over the definition.

  • “It’s not the group of two or more! It’s a group of more than one!”
  • “Period of time, not the amount!”
  • “Now let’s vote on the purpose versus goal”
  • “Is it terrorist acts or acts of terrorism?”

And so on and so forth…