# Pros and Cons for a move to cyprus



## 6ainleys (Mar 11, 2010)

Hi all

Myself, my husband and our 4 children (aged 1-9) are seriously contemplating a permanant move to cyprus, we've been on several visits to check out the areas and have a list as long as my arm with the 'pro's' but would like to know which 'cons' people who have made this move have come across? if any? we've got enough savings to live comfortbly for a year whilst we find work (although we are hoping it wont take a year) 
our ''for'' list is long but need to make sure we've considered all the ''againsts'' so any advice you can offer from your experiences would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks


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## kimonas (Jul 19, 2008)

6ainleys said:


> Hi all
> 
> Myself, my husband and our 4 children (aged 1-9) are seriously contemplating a permanant move to cyprus, we've been on several visits to check out the areas and have a list as long as my arm with the 'pro's' but would like to know which 'cons' people who have made this move have come across? if any? we've got enough savings to live comfortbly for a year whilst we find work (although we are hoping it wont take a year)
> our ''for'' list is long but need to make sure we've considered all the ''againsts'' so any advice you can offer from your experiences would be greatly appreciated.
> Thanks


Please read through all the current and recent threads about young families moving over. Unless you have well-paid jobs already lined up (and these are extremely rare) or can fall back on independent income, you will struggle to raise four children here. The salaries simply will not support the expenses in the vast majority of cases which is why locals have to rely on the extended family network and multiple jobs to get by. I would suggest your biggest obstacle with four children under ten is going to be childcare, because (unless either parent has unique skills for a well paid job such as CEO of a major multinational company) both parents will need to work, and without a family support network, you'll be down to the income of one parent who will have to take on at least two jobs to make ends meet.


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## zeebo (Nov 15, 2009)

Hello,

Kimonas is right. Im here with 3 kids and one on the way. Im on what is a good slaraly overhear and it is a struggle trust me!! Also as said above locals use family as childcare and cooks and sponsors so they can afford to live for less. 

If you can own your house outright and your not too far from where you work then you have a fair chance out here but if not then you may be able to exist but it wont be that good.. would you / could you buy outright?

Salaries are low and the cost of living is high (yeah some people will argue that electric is cheaper blah blah.. but believe me after a few trips to the supermarket you will look at those British gas bills with longing eyes!)... If your living here with kids like me then you will feel it..

The other obstacle is schools.. I have too many kids and not enough money to concider private.. about 6k per year each and it would not be worth it. Mine go to local school but after 2 months now i feel they are stagnating at best (we do home learning now to keep them going). 

The other threads contain plenty of cons... and believe me they exist here!! yeah you might not get stabbed here but corruption/backhanders are rife and people can be petty, small minded, materialistic and insular. However this may just be my little corner of nicosia.

Oh and please don't move to holiday resorts as they are so deserted in the winter months its actually spooky.. 

peace!


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## 6ainleys (Mar 11, 2010)

thank you both for your honest answers, its exactly what i need to consider.
its given me something to seriously think about.

many thanks


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## Cleo Shahateet (Feb 23, 2009)

I also agree with everything that Kimonas and Zeebo have said. Schooling is an issue and for us healthcare has not been the best either. We are expecting a 3rd child and we will go back to the US for the delivery after having one child in Cyprus - I think Kimonas may agree on this one too. Good luck with your decision!


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## donnasb (Jan 14, 2010)

I have been living in Nicosia for almost 3 years and are now on our way to Dubai, which will bring other problems no doubt. But I am glad to be leaving, my 9 year old has made friends and settled in, and I think he shall be sad to leave. However as a family living here, which we can only afford as my husband works for an International company and therefore gets an International wage and school fees paid, the cost of food, drinks , clothes and domestic utility bills is very very high and can't help to compare with UK prices, it just feels that you are constantly getting ripped off. I feel the worse thing about Cyprus or maybe its just Nicosia is the Cypriots, I have never met people so rude and generally miserable !!

I would like to be more positive...The Weather ! now thats a good thing .... but even for me July/August/September/October is just too hot, and there is nothing to do in the day with the Children, to hot to go to the park, no inside Air Conditioned play centres..(oh a little lie, there now is Madisons which has a small play area) ... but thats it!

Think very carefully, if we had known what we we know now, we would not have moved here .

Good luck with your decsions....


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## Veronica (Apr 5, 2008)

As I have said so many times on this forum, Cyprus is not ideal for families with young children. 
If you have fantastic well paid jobs it is great but otherwise it is not easy to make ends meet if you have children. 
Also unless your children go to dancing classes, judo classes or something similar there is very little to keep them occupied, especially in the codler months when the sea and swmming pools are too cold to swim in.

donnasb
I would certainly never have taken young children to Nicosia. As you said, it is unbearably hot in the summer months and there is little or no provision for entertaining them. You might have been happier living closer to the coast but of course if your husbands job is in Nicosia you probably didnt have a choice.
I hope you will find Dubai more to your liking. Good luck.

Veronica


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## zeebo (Nov 15, 2009)

donnasb.. can i have an amen!! 

I thought i was just mad or just culturally an-ware of the or something but i have to say 100% agreement there!! I seem to get it in the neck for expressing my honest opinion on this forum (was even called racist??) but you have hit the nail on the head.. 

Like i have said before I'm awaiting this great moment of acceptance when people will actually talk to me and my kids etc but as yet.. er still waiting... Maybe it is Nicosia? 

The other thing I never expected about CY is the filth.. all of the natural beauty sites are covered in cr4p.. Went to Morphou bay saturday, covered in junk... went to salamis and aiga nappa... covered in junk.. its disgusting! go to Troodos..... u get the picture now

good luck in DB hope it works out


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## kimonas (Jul 19, 2008)

zeebo said:


> donnasb.. can i have an amen!!
> 
> I thought i was just mad or just culturally an-ware of the or something but i have to say 100% agreement there!! I seem to get it in the neck for expressing my honest opinion on this forum (was even called racist??) but you have hit the nail on the head..
> 
> ...


I'm all for a bit of balance and realism, but there are always at least two sides to every story. I'm reminded of the advice I received when out doing fieldwork in Mediterranean villages as an anthropologist/archaeologist. To the outsider the Greek villagers seem surley and positively unwelcoming (especially when they have traditional knives strapped to their waists - in Crete at least). As typical Brits, we tended to only speak when spoken to, and expect a sign of welcome, but in the Med, the roles are reversed - it is the stranger that does the hailing and the greeting and the villager who then responds. Have you tried a few hails and to initiate greeting? It normally works in the villages. Maybe it is just the Nicosians who have a reputation for being a bit offish - but then again I could count at least 20 or so fairly decent friends whom I've met in the last few years who are genuinely friendly, bubbly Nicosians.

As for the rubbish, I noted that Morfou Bay and Salamis are occupied areas where the environmental repsonibilities of the Republic cannot be exercised and the local administration are starved of funds as an illegitimate body in the eyes of international law. Morfou is disgusting, went there last summer. The again it always was becasue of the prevailing currents with all manner of flotsam and jetsom being thrown up 24/7. It's also the home of the trdaitional charcoal makers who litter the shore with their industry. No excuse for Troodos though...


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## zeebo (Nov 15, 2009)

I wish it was just the north.. found the same scum in Lara a few weeks back and the all the usual beaches in the south.. Only one i haven't been to yet are nisi and the kapas ones so hopefully i will find one that isnt ruined.. Actually just remembered the landfill on cape greco and those blue bags everywhere so i imagine nisi will be similar.

We have really ruined this planet its sad.


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## Veronica (Apr 5, 2008)

zeebo said:


> I wish it was just the north.. found the same scum in Lara a few weeks back and the all the usual beaches in the south.. Only one i haven't been to yet are nisi and the kapas ones so hopefully i will find one that isnt ruined.. Actually just remembered the landfill on cape greco and those blue bags everywhere so i imagine nisi will be similar.
> 
> We have really ruined this planet its sad.


This is one of the tihngs that I really dislike as well. Unfortunately some people use the countryside as a dumping ground for any unwanted items of furniture, fridges, ovens, you name it. Quite apart from the unsightly mess t here is is also the danger to young children who have been known to get into old fridges etc to hide and suffocate. This is something which is not exclusive to Cyprus though as most mediterranean countries have similar problems and lets be honest even in the Uk fly tipping goes on. The difference is in the UK the environment agency will chase down the fly tippers and prosecute them while here people turn a blind eye to it.

Veronica


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## kimonas (Jul 19, 2008)

To be fair, most of the Municipalities are seriously struggling with beach restitution problems because of storm damage. Several key beaches have been wiped out this winter season by tornados and storm surges - they're covered in far more debris than usual - some of it fly tipping, granted - but the majority of it was deposited by the same tornados that ripped through markets, destroyed beach facilities, paths, changing kiosks and redistrubted thousands of tons of rubbish from landfill sites onto the surrounding countryside (and beaches). There were at least six major tornados in the last four months that have done millions of euros of damage. It can't all be blamed on irresponsible fly tippers. They weren't minor 'whirlwinds' but proper class 1 & 2 on the Fujita scale (trees uprooted, roofs ripped off frame built buildings, market stalls and small movable objects moved considerable distances etc) and beach facilities totally destroyed). Devastating flooding followed, which rejuvinated ancient rivers and turned them into raging torrents that carried accumulated rubbish out to sea, some of which has since washed back to clutter the beaches.


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## Veronica (Apr 5, 2008)

kimonas said:


> To be fair, most of the Municipalities are seriously struggling with beach restitution problems because of storm damage. Several key beaches have been wiped out this winter season by tornados and storm surges - they're covered in far more debris than usual - some of it fly tipping, granted - but the majority of it was deposited by the same tornados that ripped through markets, destroyed beach facilities, paths, changing kiosks and redistrubted thousands of tons of rubbish from landfill sites onto the surrounding countryside (and beaches). There were at least six major tornados in the last four months that have done millions of euros of damage. It can't all be blamed on irresponsible fly tippers. They weren't minor 'whirlwinds' but proper class 1 & 2 on the Fujita scale (trees uprooted, roofs ripped off frame built buildings, market stalls and small movable objects moved considerable distances etc) and beach facilities totally destroyed). Devastating flooding followed, which rejuvinated ancient rivers and turned them into raging torrents that carried accumulated rubbish out to sea, some of which has since washed back to clutter the beaches.


Kimonas I am not talking about recent rubbish but an ongoing problem in the countryside as well as the beaches. Wherever there is a gorge or hillside you will find huge amounts of rubbish which has been deposited by people who are too lazy to take a trip to the tip.
Lara beach last summer was also littered with drinks cans and all sorts of rubbish that people had just left behind rather than putting it all in bag and taking it home to dispose of responsibly.
Yes of course things are worse than usual at the moment in some areas because of tornados but you cannot get away from the fact that fly tipping and general littering are a fact of life here.
As much as I love Cyprus this is one aspect of it that I hate.

Veronica


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## PeterBu (Feb 26, 2010)

zeebo said:


> Oh and please don't move to holiday resorts as they are so deserted in the winter months its actually spooky..


This sounds like a very sensible point. Please let me check that I've identified the "holiday resorts" correctly. Of the four major towns, I would classify Larnaca and Paphos as probably holiday resorts, and Limassol and Nicosia as probably not. Am I right, please? All comments gratefully received.


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## BabsM (May 24, 2008)

No the holiday resorts Zeebo is talking about are the likes of Agia Napa, Protaras, Pernera, Kapparis and the beaches around those. All of these shut down in the winter. MacDonalds is closed and even the toilets are locked!

Limassol, Paphos, Larnaca and Nicosia are the four main towns and have life all year. Of these four, Paphos and Limassol attract the most holidaymakers by far. Nicosia attracts visitors for sightseeing rather than holidaymaking.


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## PeterBu (Feb 26, 2010)

Many thanks for clarification, Babs.


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## anski (Aug 17, 2008)

i live in Paphos & just returned from a lovely walk along the coastal path, I paused to look at a recent burnt off area & what did I see amongst the debris & ashes several dumped doemestic appliances, beer & drink bottles etc. A real eyeshore overlooked by a lovely resort. Further along there someone had dumped a huge concrete monstosity that once had been stairs.

No pride here just dump it anywhere, tear a road up, patch it up badly, leave wires bits of formwork hanging out to damage cars & injure people. well I suppose these are antiquities of the future.


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## zeebo (Nov 15, 2009)

Hello,

Went to Kapas this weekend and it was amazing.. the best beaches i have ever seen and completely unspoilt by the concrete sprawl typical of cyprus.. spent the whole day there and didnt see another person. 

As for the rubbish.. there was a small amount of rubbish around the tideline but it really was minimal and cannot be helped. 

Took 4hrs to get there (we went all over the monutains, villages below the huge 'flag' etc).. and 2.5hrs to get back. 

The only negitave is the sad state the chruches are in over there.. They have been really vandalised not just neglected, crosses bent out of shape and ripped off of the bell towers and the insides gutted and sprayed with grafiti and evidance of bonfires in them.. what a shame. Its undestandable in Famagusta as it was 500 years ago since the destruction but these places were used 30 yrs ago.


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## BabsM (May 24, 2008)

zeebo said:


> Its undestandable in Famagusta as it was 500 years ago since the destruction but these places were used 30 yrs ago.


If the destruction of the Churches too place 500 years ago they wouldn't be standing now, would they? Surely these churches have been desecrated over the last 35 years?

Yes, supposedly the best beaches are in the North. Its one of the reasons why those in the South lament the loss of their property in the North. Mind you, I wasn't impressed by the beaches around Kyrenia.


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## kimonas (Jul 19, 2008)

BabsM said:


> If the destruction of the Churches too place 500 years ago they wouldn't be standing now, would they? Surely these churches have been desecrated over the last 35 years?
> 
> Yes, supposedly the best beaches are in the North. Its one of the reasons why those in the South lament the loss of their property in the North. Mind you, I wasn't impressed by the beaches around Kyrenia.


Most of the Churches supposedly desecrated by the Turkish invasion of 1974 included on the list of over 700 'desecrated' Churches presented to the Pope by the late Papadapoulos were grass covered basilica ruins by the 6th century, many others were Latin churches that had been destroyed in the various Italian trading state wars in the 15th century - the famous ruins in Famagusta have been romantic ruins for hundreds of years. They are impressive even though the Churches have not been used in a very long time. Most of the Churches and cathedrals converted into Mosques after the 16th century Ottoman invasion were Venetian (Roman Catholic) Churches.There are still plenty of desecrated Churches that *do* date from the 1974 invasion, but equally many that had already been abandoned and deconsecrated by the Orthodox Church in a rebuilding programme in the late 1960s. I wrote a book about this, but pulled the publication after the editors wanted to cut the chapters detailing the destruction of mosques in the intercommunal violence of the 1960s as my interest was in destruction of ALL cultural heritage on the island. There are also a good number of churches that were in private ownership that were vandalised well before 1974.


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## goodman (Oct 3, 2009)

6ainleys said:


> Hi all
> 
> Myself, my husband and our 4 children (aged 1-9) are seriously contemplating a permanant move to cyprus, we've been on several visits to check out the areas and have a list as long as my arm with the 'pro's' but would like to know which 'cons' people who have made this move have come across? if any? we've got enough savings to live comfortbly for a year whilst we find work (although we are hoping it wont take a year)
> our ''for'' list is long but need to make sure we've considered all the ''againsts'' so any advice you can offer from your experiences would be greatly appreciated.
> Thanks


My husband and I lived in Cyprus for 2 years. It was an Army posting so obviously we were looked after. We loved the place and the way of life. Hated going back to the UK, the awful weather and how expensive it is to live there. We are now living in Southern California which is great but we really miss Cyprus. Our dream is to return maybe in a few years. The only thing we found is that during the "out of season months" it can be very quiet with not a lot to do but the summer makes up for that. If I could live anywhere it would be Cyprus. I would not recommend importing any vehicles as it is more hassle than it is worth and very expensive to get them registered.


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## stelee77 (Nov 7, 2010)

*moving to kyrenia*

Hi there

Im having trouble starting a new thread,im new to this.Iwas hoping i might be able to get some feed back from ex pats living in kyrenia.

I lived in paphos for a year and it was really good,i visited kyrenia and it was just as good,im back in england now and am planing a move to kyrenia to give it a shot knowing if i does not work out i can just hop back to the south,i feel i could get better value for money,i am not needing to earn,i have investments else were im 32 male single,looking for a better life in the sun.

my concerns are,with out working will i get bored,i did it for a year in paphos and it was ok,but i was finding it hard near the end,i have money to eat out and have a few beers every night,i would even work a bit for free to kill the time as long as its not to much in the heat,i was thinking just help a handy man or someone like that,could i find work even if it was voluntary,im a scaffolder by trade but have managed to get out of that one,and now i need to get away from england.

Also i was thinking will i be able to find a girlfriend in kyrenia,i know most ex pats are retired and most people are coupled up,and im not sure if turkish cypriot women would go for a foreign man or even if it would work,if i couldnot get a girlfriend and company it would not work for me,when i was in paphos i had my uk girlfriend at the time with me,but there were many girls from different nationalaties working living there,which i could of hooked up with,and if not in the mean time there were plenty of girls on holiday untill i met some one,i was told the greek cypriot women are not to keen on non greek cypriot men,but i dont know that for a fact,and im not sure if kyrenia would be similar.

If my money does stretch further on the north,i would like to rent a detatched villa with private pool,long term i cant find any websites that are showing long term villa rentals,so i dont know what the cost would be,if any one has some idea it would be great,also furnished to a high standard,if you can rent them that way.

I feel the north seems more of a challege and seems more exciteing but im aware it could be a nightmare,but to get an understanding from people who live there would be a great help.

thanks


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