Chilly
It’s February, my favourite month, and as it’s going to finish in festival mode from the 24th ’til 27th, we might as well warm up through the month with a few live gigs and parties … I mostly love it coz it makes me laugh on the 14th when I watch the postman try to squeeze all my valentines cards in that little slot on my letterbox …
Winter?
As we’ve only got another month of winter to go, make sure you make it up to the Troodos mountains to see the snow. Remember in Cyprus you can snow ski in the morning and waterski in the afternoon. My absolute favourite in February are those long embracing walks along chilly coastlines, the sea air full of Iodene, invigorating, to say the least, and in fact, perfect natural health care for the older generation.
Spring
You can tell that spring is in the air, the blossoms are out, the fragrances delightful, and everything is still sooo green, but whatever you do, don’t blink coz you’ll miss it as on those warm sunny days in February we’ll be enjoying temperatures reaching up to 28°C allowing us to top up the tan and even swim in the sea … a few more blinks and it’ll be summer … hurry up, I want my flipflops back!
Valentines
Cyprus is the Island of Love, with the icon of The Goddess of love Aphrodite evident everywhere. Valentine’s of course a time for love and romance and you’ll find many restaurants and bars putting on romantic events … Why not visit one of our jewellers or florists or maybe treat your valentine to dinner at one of our recommended restaurants, but book early to avoid disappointment!
Carnival Season
On the weekend of the 25th & 26th expect to find carnival parades in all the big cities often at different times so you can get to more than one … Limassol leading the way with the biggest one, but they’re even putting on a good show in Ammochostos these days, Larnaca brilliant, The Capital Nicosia spectacular, and this year’s carnival in Paphos should be awesome.
Fasting
In Greek it’s called Katherie Theftera, which means Clean Monday, aka Green Monday coz it’s the start of Greek Orthodox Lent. It’s ‘Carnival Season’, or originally, ‘Carnivore’ season, which of course means our nationals start to fast, with ‘no meat’ for 49 days, or until Easter, starting on Green Monday falling on 27th February this year … no chance here, I like my meat too much!
Green Monday
As part of the seasonal celebrations, Cypriots all go out into the fields to light their BBQ’s with all their families and friends … on the menu, no meat, so fresh fish, seafood, lots of salads, fresh and dried fruit, nuts, and well, almost anything you can think of that’s not meat. The theme for the day is fancy dress, lots of face painting, lots of kite flying, oh and don’t worry if you haven’t been invited, just go for a walk in the fields and chances are you’ll get an invite, you know Cypriot Hospitality n’all
Let it rain
We had so much rain in January, causing floods in many coastal towns, which was a first for me and I’ve lived here 30 years, many locals had never seen anything like it. So, we’re expecting February to be dryer than normal, and as we only get 35 to 40 days of rain a year and we need the rain, we say, ‘let it rain’ and remember we have the best climate in the world, long hot summers short mild winters … don’t you just love Cyprus!
Rain Food
In many authentic traditional tavernas all over, they’re relishing the Rain Food they find out in the fields at this time of the year, including lots of different wild mushrooms, snails of all different sizes, and my favourite ‘Wild Asparagus’ … and the strawberries, just coming into season are just delicious!
Shopaholics
The February sales are already up and running, think they started on boxing day lol, so it’s a great time to grab a bargain … Maybe buy that last winter warmer still needed at night through ’til March … Leading the way in fashion are London Clothing Company with shops all over Cyprus and Y2K in Ayia Napa, and Broushka and BrouskaBlue in Paphos.
Winter Warmers
Many restaurants along the coast especially over Protaras and Ayia Napa way are closed but you’ll find enough restaurants open to eat a different cuisine every night. Many of them have welcoming open fires or those tall gas heaters to keep you warm on those chilly nights. Some have wicked DJ’s, mixing to mostly our locals and a few tourists and of course our ever-increasing long stayers … Click on a city and go Eating Out, then choose a cuisine … and enjoy some of the best restaurants on the island
Live Nights
Many bars and eateries put on a bit of live music to entertain. My favourites include; O’Neill’s Irish Bar in Paphos and Rock Tepee in Limassol, the original Savino Live in Larnaca, oh and leading the way on the east coast Koursaros Rock Bar in Protaras, and The Queen Vic in Napa who all normally have regular gigs throughout the winter …
Social Network
Our 19,000 plus followers of What’s On Cyprus, include over 17,000 on Facebook, everyone’s talking about us, with our daily post engagement around 10,000 people a day, commenting, liking and sharing our stuff … oh, you can also follow us on Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest, and don’t forget to subscribe to our YouTube Channel, oh and please tag and share if you care … it’s 6 of the world’s top social media Apps all linked together … tbh, It’s Everything you need to know and … More! … Check out how cool our website is …
Finally
If it’s your first time here, what took you so long?, and if you’ve been here before, welcome back!, I’ll let you into a little secret, one day you’ll probably move here … If you already live here, you know it makes sense, oh, and as always if I can give you one tip … “make sure you do at least one thing you’ve never done before”!
Na da Boumen!
Tony Dynamou
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