Cyprus October-December 2025

Not an exotic destination for our first extended foray, but nevertheless a good choice to settle into the rhythm of slow travel. As far south as you can go in Europe to enjoy the autumn sun, close enough to easily fly home in the event of family or health issues and a country possessing one of the hallmarks of civilisation; the British 3-pin plug.

This medium-sized island is blessed by beautiful beaches, mountains and the remains of ancient history. All the signs of living in the sunshine abound. Orange trees, olive groves, vineyards and banana plantations. Oleander trees line roadsides, cacti and succulents fill balconies and alleyways.  

Other than the 3-pin plug, the British, who governed from 1978 to 1960, have left other marks on the island; the English language, military bases, driving on the left and pillar post boxes.  British policy in Cyprus was ambiguous and there are poignant reminders of the armed struggle for Enosis – a political union with Greece – between 1955 and 1959 which ended with independence in 1960. Intercommunal divisions culminating in the Turkish invasion of Northern Cyprus in 1974 and partition of the island remain to this day. The Greek flag is much more in evidence than the flag of the Republic of Cyprus.

It’s an island geared towards tourism particularly Brits, Russians, Israelis and Germans. There is a significant local British ex-pat community and evidently many absentee owners of expensive apartments, villas and motor yachts.

Over a million cats in Cyprus outnumber the population. At every accommodation one or more cats would appear very shortly after we arrived to loudly demand feeding. Where this was not forthcoming they adopted an attitude of profound disinterest.

Daytime was spend on the beach or the pool reading and swimming/snorkelling punctuated by walks and trips. My great thoughts were limited to frustration about tourists and locals littering, incredulity about the complete absence of recycling and wondering why there are so many Range Rovers in Cyprus, and how many of them are stolen from the UK.

In the evenings pub singers on the Coral Bay strip would eviscerate Robbie Williams, Motown or Elvis. A profusion of sports bars showing football hosted British ex-pats venting forth opinions on King and Country. Come December when we were in Ayia Napa the evenings very quiet indeed. Unlike being on holiday we don’t feel compelled to go out at night. A Netflix film or mini-series is fine. Freedom from the self-imposed tyranny of endless scrolling Streaming services to reduce the risk of committing an hour or more to something that might ultimately disappoint has been liberating. 

Having time and no distractions to listen to longer podcasts was an unadulterated pleasure. Messrs Sandbrook and Holland entertainingly and informatively explore the past in ‘The Rest is History’ while Alastair Campbell and Rory Stewart provide more earnest commentary on ‘The Rest is Politics’. The humour here is more unintentional but there are some gems. Hannah Fry on science and Alice Roberts on archaeology are also endlessly fascinating on YouTube although, to be honest, they could talk about tax returns or haemorrhoids and I’d remain enthralled.