Cyprus Latest News June08

I am pleased to announce that the new Italian restaurant, as predicted in last months newsletter, is actually open. Having previously got your taste buds tingling with news of an Indian restaurant that is still to happen, some of you wrote in last month wondering if Cyprus is a country where nothing much goes to plan... well this time something has happened on schedule.

The new restaurant called Mylafiori has a stylish decor in cool shades of cream with bright orange highlights on table cloths and bathroom interiors. The menu is extensive and offers the traditional Italian fare of pasta and pizza dishes together with various interesting meat courses. Plus of course there is Italian wine to wash everything down. The food is reasonably priced and there is a lovely atmosphere for both al fresco dining and indoor winter suppers.

Situated on the T junction close to the Renos apartments, Mylafiori offers a refreshing new approach to dining out in Polis. We enjoyed our first meal there last night and would recommend you try it out on your next visit to Polis.

By the way, we don't yet have an Indian restaurant but a new Indian takeway called Ali's Takeaway will be opening on Latchi marina in the next 4 weeks.

The water crisis continues across the island and even the Paphos area is now restricting water by cutting supplies for 3 days per week. In Limassol, tankers will arrive on Monday 30th June carrying 50,000m3 each which will be fed directly into Limassol's drinking water supplies. The water quality has been thoroughly checked beforehand and the tankers carrying the water have been specially treated to ensure no contamination. So do not panic if you are visiting Limassol and are worried about drinking the water there.

Over the next 6 months, 8 million m3 of water will be transported from Greece at a huge cost of €35 million euros. This amount of water represents almost 15% of the annual needs of the island.

Elsewhere at Stavrovouni, a recent borehole drilling will produce up to 5000 m3 water per hour which will further ease Cyprus' dire water shortage but obviously not solve it. The message remains clear - SAVE water whenever and wherever you can!

Fires have already ravaged several areas in Cyprus, exasperated by the water shortage as helicopters have to fly to the coast to gather seawater rather than using dam water. A large fire near Drouseia village in the Pittokopos area took 5 hours to extinguish last week, 14km of shrubland was destroyed in the Limassol area at the same time and only yesterday, a fire in the Kannaviou area destroyed a farmers crop and feed for his animals.

Some of these fires are believed to have been started deliberately which seems extrordinary with the current serious water shortages. Or it may be just carelessness with people throwing cigarettes and/or bottles out of car windows which are sure firelighters!

We hope that the island does not suffer a really serious fire like the ones in Troodos and Southern Greece last year.

We reported last month that the two leaders, Talat and Christofias, had set a deadline of June 21st for talks over the Cyprus problem to begin. We are still waiting amidst accusations from both sides. Sadly, the optimism seen when Christofias came to power is waning fast. We hope to be able to report some better news next month.

That's all from our Cyprus Latest News June08.

See you next month

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