Why Cyprus?

[keving]

Just read on the internet that over 5 million Brits live abroad, and Cyprus doesn't feature very highly in the list of countries.

I wondered why?

If you didn't already have family or friends in Cyprus before you moved to Cyprus, what was it about Cyprus that attracted you? What other countries did you consider?

[Dominic]

We moved here for a number of reasons. We love the slower pace of life, the fact that people are more friendly here, the glorious weather, the outstanding countryside...

A couple of months after we moved, my wallet fell out of my pocket outside a Paps in Paphos. Inside the wallet was a bit of paper with my new Polemi address written on it, as I couldn't yet remember it. Somebody found my wallet, and drove all the way to Polemi. They located my house, which isn't easy, and handed it back to me. I hadn't even realised I had lost it. Cypriots are lovely people.

[PhotoLady]

I think this should give you an idea why we came to Cyprus.... Initially it was purely an accident I came on holiday in 1985 but things changed in my personal life later.

However if it hadn't been Cyprus, we would have lived elsewhere abroad. The timing was right for us in 2004....

https://cypruslifeinpictures.wordpress.com/about/

Please take time to read the comments from readers at the end of the blog post...

[keving]

We moved here for a number of reasons. We love the slower pace of life, the fact that people are more friendly here, the glorious weather, the outstanding countryside...

A couple of months after we moved, my wallet fell out of my pocket outside a Paps in Paphos. Inside the wallet was a bit of paper with my new Polemi address written on it, as I couldn't yet remember it. Somebody found my wallet, and drove all the way to Polemi. They located my house, which isn't easy, and handed it back to me. I hadn't even realised I had lost it. Cypriots are lovely people.

You could say that, compared to the UK, a number of countries (or the particular area or town that you wish to settle in) have a slower pace of life, friendier, more honest people, in a better climate, etc.

Cyprus is not unique in this specification. Did you consider any other countries?

[keving]

I think this should give you an idea why we came to Cyprus.... Initially it was purely an accident I came on holiday in 1985 but things changed in my personal life later.

However if it hadn't been Cyprus, we would have lived elsewhere abroad. The timing was right for us in 2004....

https://cypruslifeinpictures.wordpress.com/about/

Jules, so it was all because of a holiday to Cyprus in 1985?

What might have been if your 1985 holiday had been to New Zealand instead of Cyprus?

[bigfathen]

Garden full of sheep and a funny accent?

[Dominic]

We moved here for a number of reasons. We love the slower pace of life, the fact that people are more friendly here, the glorious weather, the outstanding countryside...

A couple of months after we moved, my wallet fell out of my pocket outside a Paps in Paphos. Inside the wallet was a bit of paper with my new Polemi address written on it, as I couldn't yet remember it. Somebody found my wallet, and drove all the way to Polemi. They located my house, which isn't easy, and handed it back to me. I hadn't even realised I had lost it. Cypriots are lovely people.

You could say that, compared to the UK, a number of countries (or the particular area or town that you wish to settle in) have a slower pace of life, friendier, more honest people, in a better climate, etc.

Cyprus is not unique in this specification. Did you consider any other countries?

No.

[Mrblobby]

When we first left the UK we moved to France , we lived there for 4 years . But found the winters were too cold and long (October to May) . So we looked for somewhere warmer , and decided on Cyprus . It had to be Europe for the reciprocal health care . If we had a choice it would be the USA , but we could not afford the cost of health care over there .

[keving]

When we first left the UK we moved to France , we lived there for 4 years . But found the winters were too cold and long (October to May) . So we looked for somewhere warmer , and decided on Cyprus . It had to be Europe for the reciprocal health care . If we had a choice it would be the USA , but we could not afford the cost of health care over there .

Now this is a good response. Thank you.

[cyprusgrump]

We were keen to leave the UK and would have loved to move to the 'States as we had spent a lot of time there and have some very close friends. However, we considered it too far away from our parents who were all still alive at the time.

We looked at France and Spain first but then stumbled over an article in The Sunday Times about how wonderful Cyprus was (weather, cost of living, low crime, etc.). The low crime particularly appealed as we had recently been burgled in Maidenhead.

Cyprus wasn't even on our radar at that point (we had never been) but strangely everybody I mentioned Cyprus to had a story to tell - they holidayed here, a friend came every year, etc. The guy that did our graphic design said, "my accountant has a villa in Cyprus - send him and e-mail and he'll give you an honest opinion about the place".

So I sent the guy an e-mail and he said that he loved the place and his villa was available (it was a holiday home) so why not go and have a look for ourselves...?

A week later we were getting off the red-eye flight at Larnaca airport and queuing for our Petsas hire car. We got the car, the sun was coming up and we followed the directions to a place called 'Pissouri'!

The journey was easy (too early for the traffic at the Limassol roundabouts!) and the villa in Pissouri was lovely.

Within a few days I was in love with Cyprus. The people were lovely, it was cheap (petrol was soooo cheap) and I loved being able to park the hire car with the keys in the ignition! Everybody else did!

I had a 'Brigham Young' moment and declared 'this is the place'...

We looked at a number of developments at this end of the island, Pafos, Kouklia, Polis, Latchi, etc. with a range of agents and developers (some of them very pushy!) but kept coming back to Pissouri.

So eventually ( I say eventually, we were only here for 2½ weeks!) we bought off-plan in Pissouri.

Before leaving, we also bought a car (a Pajero) and rented a tiny village house to live in while ours was being built. And that was it!

Looking back I can't believe that we were so impulsive but I'm pleased we were and we haven't regretted a day of it.

Just a quick link to another topic of rental deposits...

Probably because by all accounts that anyone who wants your money are usually all sweetness and light at the time of signing the contact...

Our landlord was fabulous from day one right up to leaving the property over 12yrs later but I know of many tenants who have found completely the opposite.

We rented our village house from a lovely Cypriot lady who couldn't do enough for us - plus she was 'the cousin' of just about everybody else we had got to know in the village. We were very naive/trusting and handed over three months rent as a deposit without any form of contract - everybody said that was normal.

Sadly, when we were forced to move out six months later (the place leaked like a sieve in winter and 'George' that built it was unable to stem the flow of water!), she flatly refused to return any of our deposit which left a pretty nasty taste in our mouths after getting on so well with all the Cypriots we had met up until then.

[PhotoLady]

Jules, so it was all because of a holiday to Cyprus in 1985?

What might have been if your 1985 holiday had been to New Zealand instead of Cyprus?

Wouldn't have happened, Kevin...... hate longhaul travel!
The only reason we ended up in Cyprus in 1985 was it was a last minute booking plus the fact we were getting 3 weeks holiday at a lesser price than 2 weeks in the Canaries and after all, 3 weeks was far more enticing.

When the time came for us to take a slower pace of life after my husband's second head trauma incident in 1999, that was the kick we needed. By then we'd already been to Cyprus together a number of times in the last 9 years so it made sense.... However, it almost didn't happen (if you read in the comments below the thread, we were quite sickened by an incident in Paphos which pretty much made us think twice about it). Luckily, we chose to relook at Limassol instead and that was the saving grace.

Other than that, we would have ended up in Spain or Malta!

[Kili01]

My husband and I had both previously lived abroad, me as a young child in Trinidad, while my husband's family emigrated to California when he was 11yrs old. We both came back to the UK, I with my family, he as a 20 yr old to join the RAF. In fact we both saw military service.
He came to Akrotiri several times on detachment, I on an indulgence flight (space available on a military flight) for a holiday. A few years later when we met in Germany we talked about our liking for this island. After we married,he was offered a flying job in Hong Kong. We lived there for 16 years and there was much to like,but it never felt like a real home to us. When we returned to live in the UK once more, he hated the winters with the low light. It depressed him.We had several holidays at different times of the year in Cyprus where the bright light and wonderful weather worked its old magic on us! We liked the expat life, but couldn't agree on living in France or Spain and we felt that Malta though very friendly, was too small to live in and lacked much in the way of hills and had little of the wonderful countryside, mountains, hills and hidden valleys that Cyprus has. We then took holidays around Paphos at all times of the year for several years until my husband retired. We finally came to live here. It is a great place to live, though like everywhere it has its own pros and cons! He sadly died here, and I have stayed on as it felt like my home. Dee

[Barb 36]

The biggest down side is the cost of flights during school holidays - have 3 teachers in the family. Example May half term, around £700 for 2 arriving at 3am in Larnaca! We live in Polis......and no, it wasn't possible to book as soon as flights are announced.

[PhotoLady]

Hmmm, the only solution there then Barb is for someone in your family to change jobs..... not the ideal solution, is it?

[bromerzz]

Used to work in Saudi, needed somewhere within 3 max 4 hrs flight to get away to at weekends and the nearest half decent place to buy a property with cash burning a hole in my pockets was Cyprus. That was almost 14 years ago and still here, now happily on early retirement.

[PhotoLady]

Bromerzz
A guy from Bolton who I met when I was in the property business did something very similar except he had been in Dubai for many years from being a fairly young man. He knew his time with the company was coming to an end because they only employ young staff with all the new training and skills from overseas.
He didn't want to be chucked out of his job then given his marching orders from the country too ...
Knowing he would never go back to his hometown, he was seeking somewhere close to where he'd spent the most part of his life but also offered a safety net of a British feel.
He bought an apartment in Paphos then went back to Dubai to sit out his time.

I never saw him after that but hope it all worked out for him.

I drove him from Limassol to Protaras to look at apartments for one full day and the first time I'd driven an automatic... Good job my prospective buyer was a northern lad

[LouiseCastricum]

My husband met quite a lot of Cypriots in West-Africa. They were very honest and hospitable people. In Holland, being a Consul, he met regularly with the Consul of Cyprus. Also a very nice, honest and polite gentlemen. We went on a holiday in 1990, loved the country and its people. Bought of plan and moved here in 1994. Never ever regretted our decision.

[Mark]

5% tax on occupational pension, best in Europe are the time.

[emgee]

Mrs Emgee could plug her hairdryer in without having to use an adaptor. She had long hair them days.

Alan

[Jim B]

We intended moving to Malta as we holidayed there for many years and love the place but my wife booked an Early Bookers to Cyprus with Airtours, didn't know where we were going to stay or even what resort we were going to and ended up in Paphos. It was a fantastic two weeks and we never went anywhere else and then moved in 2003. Unfortunately after a few weeks of arriving my wife died and I was left with the choice of either staying in Cyprus or returning to the UK; I decided to stay and eventually remarried to a lady I worked with out in Kazakhstan. We have a good life and I'm content, who could ask for more.

Jim