r/cyprus

So when I came to Cyprus in 2022, Paphos was still a bit empty and peacefull and rents were available. I unfortunately came before start of conflict, which was in 2022, then rents became more and more expensive

I could only lock in a 2 bedroom for 700 EUR in Paphos, however I lost my income and can't afford to rent it anymore

Now in Paphos, a peaceful town I can't even rent anything for 400-500 EUR anymore (not even studio that's possible, with rents at the beach going high as 750-850 for a single condo)

In Asia for reference, a lot of rents are about 200-300 EUR for a condo

Is there ever a chance Paphos gets cheap again so I can build my income back or are those times gone?

I’m trying to deal with the Department of Road Transport in Cyprus for a driving learners licence. They asked for proof that I have lived in Cyprus for 6 months within the last year.

What confused me is that the Citizens Service Centre/KEP already accepted my 6 months of bank statements without issue, but the Department of Road Transport officer still refused my evidence.

I live with my parents, so I do not have utility bills in my own name. I’m also not employed, so I don’t have social insurance contributions. I’m graduated studying online with a UK university while physically living in Cyprus and currently waiting for an offer from a university here in Cyprus.

I brought evidence including:

ARC registration certificate from last November

current residence card / ARC card

12 months bank statements showing activity and spending in Cyprus

ATM withdrawals/deposits in Cyprus

mail from my UK university addressed to me at my Cyprus address

Cyta pay-as-you-go number/top-up evidence

parent utility bill/ my parent there as evidence

Random receipts from buying things within Cyprus

At this point I’m wondering if it’s harder to get a driving licence in Cyprus than it was to get my alien registration.

Immigration accepted that I’ve been living here for 5 previous years (them losing my Original documents for years and me reapplying is a whole another story), but apparently proving it to the Department of Road Transport is the real final boss.

I would ask is there a formal complaint route for the Department of Road Transport but that complain would just go right to his uncle

Hello my friends,

I'm moving to Larnaca in two weeks and we have a 2 year old baby.

How do kindergarten work in Larnaca?

Are they expensive?

Please feel free to recommend any options!

Hey folks

My wife's maternity leave is coming to an end. We're lucky enough to both work from home, so we're looking for a nanny in Paphos for 6-12 months to help while we're stuck in the office.

Seems like this space is disproportionately represented by foreign nationals, ideally we'd find someone local to help us, even if that means paying more.

I've been looking around but this seems to be fairly uncommon, maybe I'm looking in the wrong places.

1. Can anyone recommend any suitable platforms to find someone?
2. What sort of contract is expected for something like this?
3. What sort of wages should I budget on? I saw the discussion on the loosely related teachers salaries but of course, a 9-5 nanny is a fairly different scenario.

Link.

> Very good call with President @RTErdogan Türkiye is a key partner in a region in turmoil. Our interests converge; keeping trade routes open, energy flowing and supply chains stable. We will continue working closely together on these priorities. The EU appreciates Türkiye’s efforts to support de-escalation and a diplomatic resolution to the Iran conflict. We also discussed the Eastern Mediterranean and the Cyprus question. We underlined the importance of EU-Türkiye relations. The EU is ready to support the UN-led process at all stages.

I'm aware I'll be getting many down votes, but I could not care less. I'm here to vent and tell the reality I'm living.

Cyprus is not a perfect country. Let me be clear, NO country is perfect. I've lived (yes, lived, long term, not only visited) in a fair amount of countries and I am very aware of that. But in Cyprus, the worst, by far, is its people. And that is very sad.

This land has a beautiful mountain, surrounded by the amazing mediterranean sea with stone and sand beaches. Not too big, not too small, so you can get pretty much anywhere effortlessly within the day. Great weather for the most part of the year (if you like it hot). Every day more services are popping up and are covering more and further areas. Everything is pretty god, but the people...

Dealing with people is the worst, by far. It is *not* everyone bad, but most of my experiences so far are, are the very least, disappointing.

- I get AC workers at home: they do not put the furniture back, they do not clean the mess they did on the wall or the dust on the floor, and when I mention it, they do a half assed job to get out of there as soon as possible and looking at me like they are making me a favour. Full of clippings of material cut thrown out in the garden. Not to mention that I wanted them to do a proper vacuum and cleanup with nitrogen for a good amount of time (very old installation) and they were trying to get away without doing it. And for the cherry on top, smoking.

- Tiling services: you can install the tiles as close as 2mm with rectified ones. I see gaps with obviously more than 2mm (measured) and when I say something about it, they call me out saying that they have more than 30 years of experience. And they say so being upset and angry at me, talking down on me, that that's the way and that it cannot be done better than that.

- Car garage: AC does not work, I stop by, tell them the story of what happened and they just say they will do a check. He plugs the AC lines into a machine and leaves. 30 minutes later he asks for 50 euro because "Gas, oil replacement and pressure test". WTF. I thought this was just a pressure check, but in reality is a complete replacement of those things. No proper communication upfront of what they would do or how much it could be. I'm not expecting a proper exact to the cent quote, but at least a reference as I have no idea what that machine is for. Best thing: that was NOT the problem. So I ask ok, give me a reference of what the cost would be depending on what's broken. It's obvious I do not care about 20 euro or 50 repair, but if I need to replace the compressor or who knows what, a reference on the price would be nice. He "very nicely" tells me that he cannot make 100 calls to different people asking for prices. WTF again. Is there not a range he could give me? Instead of being polite about it, my questions upset him. Oh, and when I try to tell him that he didn't tell me about the price of the replacement in advance, he "threatens" me, asking whether I want it to be drained. And when I ask if it was empty to begin with, all of a sudden his english was not as good and I had to repeat myself 3 times and even still didn't get a straight answer.

- Home water filter: I say I have a leakage, if someone from the company that installed that filter can come and check it up and fix it. Dumb me, I thought this would be covered by some service warranty as it's a leakage. Anyways, they come, ring the bell, ask for 60 euro (approximate, I don't remember the exact amount) and how I want to pay. I'm surprised. They say they have already checked and fixed the leakage and that they also have replaced the filter... wait, what? why? "It needed to be replaced". Well, ok, but why don't you ask first? Act like a decent human being: ring the bell, get into the property, say that you are here and are going to check the filter, check, ring the bell, tell me what you see, what it needs to be done, how much it'll be, and if I agree, proceed with the replacement and then I pay. No. That's way too much effort.

- Labour quotation for renovation: I go to a shop and they very nicely tell me that because I already got some services from them, they could do labour for bathroom renovation for 2000 euro each. Ok, I ask for proper quotation and when I receive it in my email: 3500 euro each.

- Going to random small shops: when they are busy with a client (I understand I have to wait) not even a "kalimera" or "hello" or "yassas". Let alone a "I'm helping this person, I'll be right there when I finish". Nothing. It's ME who's making them a favour even though I'm going to pay for that product or service. Not to mention the outrageous prices for certain products or services and then they make a "discount", instead of coming up with honest straight up prices for everyone.

- Not having contacts: here everything works in a way that if you know people you are much better off. It's not about offering a good service or product because you are a customer, an opportunity for them, and want to help you. You are for the most part an inconvenience, and only when you know somebody you are treated somehow decent.

- Disrespect: it does not matter how much you know about a certain topic. Maybe because it's your hobby, maybe because it's your job, or you used to work in the field in the past. They disregard your opinion, they always know better. And they do it in a very patronising way.

- Appointments or quotations that never arrive: I have a personal, bit of a niche project. I checked with 5 different companies. Most of them do not even show up when scheduled and when I call "something came up, let's reschedule". Some come, and on top of being late, they say "we'll have a quotation in a week". Last time I heard from them. Most of the time I have to call chasing them... when I'm willing to pay them money to do the job!!

- When making a small "good deed" like helping someone, or getting out of their way so that they can pass effortlessly because you see that they are carrying something heavy, or calling someone when you notice that the person being called didn't notice. No "thank you", or "efcharisto", nothing.

- Buying a ring with small diamond stones: they tell me I'm going to get a "proper" certificate. It's a bit strange because of my previous job I already know that proper certificates are only given for rings that are of certain characteristics and the one I was buying didn't get there. So I ask if it's going to be a GIA certificate or IGI, but she does not know, just that it's going to be a proper certificate. I tell her that only stones of certain characteristics get one of those and she was like: "yes of course, this one has it". Anyways, I give in, I wanted the ring anyways, let's see what they give me. I pick up the ring a few days later and the "certificate" is just a piece of cardboard with their logo, handwritten inside the carat of the gold and the diamond. Shameful to say the least. These people will tell anything to get to sell whatever.

- D&Y shop: tired of dealing with people like I described above, I decided to learn how to do some things myself. I need certain chemicals for the pool, so I call the shop and ask whether they have sodium bicarbonate. They ask and I repeat again, making sure I spell it properly because I know these things can be tricky for people that do not know these products. "Yes we do have some bags in stock". Ok, I get in the car, drive 15 minutes to the shop, they point at where the bags are, and when I get there I see in very big letters "sodium carbonate". I could not believe it. No "sorry", no "we made a mistake", no nothing. They just say, ah, let me call and see when we can have it. At least that was nice of them, but I still had to drive 30min for absolutely nothing.

- Driving: what the f guys? What's your problem with tailgating? I'm overtaking this guy at 120km/h, can you not keep the distance for 10 more seconds before I move? No, you gotta be a f hazard for my family, yourselves and other people on the road.

All those are just within the past 2 months! This is not about some people, this is the majority of people. Been living here for almost 3 years now and almost every time I deal with Cypriot people, something like that happens. If they can rip you off they will, if they need to lie they will, if they need to give you empty promises they will.

And all this without getting into the "public workers" troubles: some friends are struggling to get the yellow slip (not even getting an email answer to get an appointment), request building permits, solar panels cuts, water cuts etc.

In general, people here are dishonest, liars, uneducated, trying to take advantage of you. There's lots of good people, but the majority of bad people make me want to leave this country and not look bad. And that's sad. Yeah, sure, foreigners go back to your countries and whatever, but some of us come here and try to integrate like anybody else, we are not filthy rich people paying our way to get whatever at whatever cost. And honestly, if you think that way, you are just as narrow minded and ignorant as the people who have been treating me (and many others, including other Cypriot people) like I described above.

There goes my rant. Am I the only one here?

Cypriots who’ve lived abroad and moved back to Cyprus (or internationals who moved here), do you regret the move?

I’ve been living in the UK for 9 years (3 years in Brighton/ 6 in London). I am thinking of moving back to Limassol but I’m scared I’ll regret it.

I feel very comfortable in the UK as my mum was born there and my accent and vocabulary are identical to locals there. However as much as I feel the UK is like a second home, I cannot get used to the lifestyle there.

Any thoughts are appreciated.

My wife and I are visiting Cyprus for 5 nights soon because we’re considering moving to Nicosia long term! I’m looking into studying graduate entry medicine at UNIC, and we’re also exploring the possibility of starting a business there.

Anyways, we’ll spend 3 nights in Nicosia and 2 nights somewhere else on the island. Yes, we will have a rental car and if we moved there would plan to have a car.

For locals or expats living in Cyprus, please feel free to give any advice and I would love to hear your answers to any of these:
-What places should we absolutely visit (in Nicosia or anywhere else) if we want to understand what daily life is actually like?
-Which neighborhoods in Nicosia would you recommend checking out for young couples looking for a yard/garden that would be reasonably close to UNIC and the downtown area?
-How is UNIC viewed locally?
-Biggest frustrations living in Cyprus?
-What do people love most (and struggle most with) about living in Cyprus?
-If you were considering relocating here, what would you want to experience during a short visit?
-How difficult is life in Cyprus without fluent Greek? And what about running a business without fluent Greek?
-Are there any Protestant Christian churches that are English and you’d recommend?

We’re less interested in tourist attractions and more interested in getting a real feel for the culture, community, lifestyle, and future opportunities.

Thanks so much!!

Straight to the point : Everyone says that getting your license in the first go is unlikely. my mom had to do it thrice and people on the internet say that they fail like seven times. Im 18 and have been taking driving lessons once to twice a week. I don’t have a choice, if I could increase the intensity of practice I would. However, everyone knows how rough the license market is in CY. Is it POSSIBLE to pass in one go? Any advice?

Can somebody genuinely explain what’s going on with security at Eleftheria Square? Why are they going around telling people to sit properly or straighten up? I’m sitting in a public square, not attending military school. What in the North Korea fuckery is that about?

I am new here, still checking out neighbourhoods and getting to know the place.
If you had the option to live anywhere in Limassol, regardless of whatever is stopping you, where would it be and why?

Με τις υγείες μας!

i) Dara (bangaranga by bulgaria) set the new record for the biggest gap between 1st and 2nd place, previously held by Alexander Rybak with his song 'fairytale'.

ii) Bulgaria got it's first ever win thanks to Dara!

iii) Not only one, but TWO countries broke the record for the most amount of times their song's title was sang in their performance. They were Cyprus (Antigoni -JALLA) and Greece (Akylas - Ferto).

iv) Dara became the 2nd person in the new voting system to win both the televote and the jury, first was Salvador in 2017.

v) Ridynm by Leleka (Ukraine) broke the record for the longest "note" sang in eurovision history.

vi) Uk became the first country to get nul points from the televote for 3 consecutive years. (In the new voting system and probably in Eurovision history)