Explore Cyprus with Our Interactive Map

Featured Articles

Explore our top stories and discover ideas worth your time.

View all articles
Coffee, Conversation, and Morning Interaction in Cyprus

Coffee, Conversation, and Morning Interaction in Cyprus

Cypriots are quite hardworking, but they tend to do most of their work as early in the morning as possible. The morning coffee break follows this early productivity. After completing their first tasks of the day, people pause for what locals call their coffee moment. Traditional Cypriot coffee arrives in a small cup with a glass of cold water on a tin tray. This gesture symbolizes hospitality and is seen as a way to cleanse the palate before enjoying the rich flavors of the coffee. The water also helps balance the strong taste of this unfiltered brew. The coffee itself is prepared in a small pot called a briki or mbriki. It is traditionally brewed over a gentle heat source, often a sand-filled brazier for even cooking. This slow brewing creates the kaimaki, the creamy foam on top that signals a well-made cup. If the foam collapses, locals consider it a sign of poorly prepared coffee. Where Morning Conversations Happen The kafenio serves as the social center of Cypriot communities. It is the meeting place of people of all ages, a place for a game of backgammon or cards, a place for debates and heated conversations about the news of the day. These traditional coffee shops can be found in every village, sometimes just one or two tables set up…

Read more
Basilica of Chrysopolitissa Paphos

Basilica of Chrysopolitissa Paphos

In the heart of Paphos lies one of Cyprus’s most significant archaeological landscapes, where over 1,600 years of urban and architectural history remain visible. The Chrysopolitissa site preserves the remains of a large late Roman basilica, along with later medieval and Ottoman-period structures, offering a layered record of continuous settlement and rebuilding. Today, the complex includes the ruins of the basilica, a later parish church (Agia Kyriaki), fragments of a medieval Franciscan structure, and the remains of Roman and Byzantine-era installations. Historical Background Archaeological evidence confirms that the basilica was constructed in the second half of the 4th century AD, during a period when Cyprus was integrated into the administrative and cultural systems of the late Roman Empire. Paphos served as an important provincial center, and the construction of large-scale public and religious buildings reflects the city’s urban significance during this period. The basilica was built on or near earlier Roman foundations, possibly replacing an earlier civic or domestic structure. Its scale indicates a major investment in public architecture, typical of the late Roman transition into the early Byzantine period. What Makes the Basilica Unique The original structure was one of the largest of its kind in Cyprus. It featured a multi-aisled layout divided by rows of columns and covered an area of approximately 1,600 square meters. Key architectural features…

Read more
Cyprus Folk Instruments Tradition

Cyprus Folk Instruments Tradition

Cypriot folk music is not built around concerts or recordings. It is built around people standing face to face, marking time together, and using sound to guide moments that matter. At the centre of this tradition are two instruments, the viola and the laouto, whose partnership has shaped weddings, village festivals, and communal gatherings for centuries. More than musical tools, they function as social anchors, carrying memory, rhythm, and identity across generations. Understanding these instruments means understanding how music in Cyprus has always been lived, not simply performed. A Musical Language Shaped by Place Cyprus sits at a cultural crossroads, and its traditional music reflects this position clearly. The island absorbed Byzantine chant, Eastern Mediterranean modal systems, and later Western European instruments, but it never allowed one influence to erase the others. Instead, Cypriot musicians adapted what arrived to serve local needs. Music here was never designed for silent listening. It existed to accompany movement, ritual, and spoken word. That practical purpose shaped both the instruments themselves and the way they were played. Precision mattered less than presence. What counted was whether the sound could carry across a village square, guide dancers, and support voices raised in song or improvisation. The Laouto: Rhythm as Structure The laouto is the backbone of Cypriot folk music. Long-necked and steel-strung, it belongs to…

Read more