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Tourism / Transport

Tourism and Heritage Unesco

Maritime and archeological tourism have developed very well over the past 30 years. The southern shores of the island represent the symbolic environments of the Mediterranean Sea and its climate. There are so many cruises that choose Cyprus as a stopover. Even the inland landscape (despite being somewhat isolated) fascinates visitors, especially during the summer.

Cyprus also has great tourism sources protected by UNESCO as World Heritage. In total, the protected sites are 3:

Choirokoitia. The site is in good conservation; It was a neolithic urban setting, it is a rare example of buildings for man of that time. In fact, unlike the other Neolithic sites Choirokoitia, there are massive and studied processing constructions. The city (primate for that time) was fortified by imposing bastions and its inhabitants who lived in sheep farming were protected by a city wall.
Painted churches of Cyprus. These are 10 buildings (nine churches and a monastery) built in Byzantine times, between the 11th and 16th centuries, and disseminated in the mountain range of the Troodos Mountains, which occupy much of the island's surface and is the main one. Between the peaks of the mountains, several churches and monasteries were erected over the centuries, almost all decorated with frescoes that represent the pictorial evolution in the culture of Cyprus. The churches have a typical sloping roof with tiles.
Paphos (original name Paphos), an ancient port city at the western end of Cyprus, today Kouklia, was known for the presence of a sanctuary dedicated to Aphrodite, a goddess born there, according to the ancients. A story intertwined with that of the Roman Empire has given impressive palaces to Paphos where mosaics are still well preserved, depicting events of mythology or history.
Foreign trade

Exports
0.43 billion euros (2000).
Imports
3.41 billion euros (2000).
Main sectors / products
Tourism, industry (metalworking, chemicals), timber, food and beverages, textiles, clothing, footwear, agriculture (potatoes, citrus fruits, vegetables, barley, grapes, olives).
Main business partners
United Kingdom, Greece, Germany, France, Italy, Russia, United Arab Emirates, South Korea, Japan;
Northern Cyprus: Turkey, United Kingdom.

Music

The traditional folk music of Cyprus has several common elements with Greek, Turkish, and Arabic music including Greco-Turkish dances such as the sousta, syrtos, zeibekikos, tatsia, and karsilamas as well as the Middle Eastern-inspired tsifteteli and arapies. There is also a form of musical poetry known as chattista which is often performed at traditional feasts and celebrations. The instruments commonly associated with Cyprus folk music are the bouzouki, oud ("outi"), violin ("fkiolin"), lute ("laouto"), accordion, Cyprus flute ("pithkiavlin") and percussion (including the "toumperleki"). Composers associated with traditional Cypriot music include Evagoras Karageorgis, Marios Tokas, Solon Michaelides and Savvas Salides. Among musicians is also the acclaimed pianist Cyprien Katsaris and composer and artistic director of the European Capital of Culture initiative Marios Joannou Elia.

Popular music in Cyprus is generally influenced by the Greek Laïka scene; artists who play in this genre include international platinum star Anna Vissi,^{[217][218][219][220]} Evridiki, and Sarbel. Hip Hop, R&B and reggae have been supported by the emergence of Cypriot rap and the urban music scene at Ayia Napa. Cypriot rock music and Éntekhno rock is often associated with artists such as Michalis Hatzigiannis and Alkinoos Ioannidis. Metal also has a small following in Cyprus represented by bands such as Armageddon (rev.16:16), Blynd, Winter's Verge, Methysos and Quadraphonic.

Literature

Literary production of the antiquity includes the Cypria, an epic poem, probably composed in the late 7th century BC and attributed to Stasinus. The Cypria is one of the very first specimens of Greek and European poetry. The Cypriot Zeno of Citium was the founder of the Stoic School of Philosophy.

Epic poetry, notably the "acritic songs", flourished during Middle Ages. Two chronicles, one written by Leontios Machairas and the other by Georgios Voustronios, cover the entire Middle Ages until the end of Frankish rule (4th century–1489). Poèmes d'amour written in medieval Greek Cypriot date back from the 16th century. Some of them are actual translations of poems written by Petrarch, Bembo, Ariosto and G. Sannazzaro. Many Cypriot scholars fled Cyprus at troubled times such as Ioannis Kigalas (c. 1622–1687) who migrated from Cyprus to Italy in the 17th century, several of his works have survived in books of other scholars.

Hasan Hilmi Efendi, a Turkish Cypriot poet, was rewarded by the Ottoman sultan Mahmud II and said to be the "sultan of the poems".

Modern Greek Cypriot literary figures include the poet and writer Kostas Montis, poet Kyriakos Charalambides, poet Michalis Pasiardis, writer Nicos Nicolaides, Stylianos Atteshlis, Altheides, Loukis Akritas and Demetris Th. Gotsis. Dimitris Lipertis, Vasilis Michaelides and Pavlos Liasides are folk poets who wrote poems mainly in the Cypriot-Greek dialect. Among leading Turkish Cypriot writers are Osman Türkay, twice nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature, Özker Yaşın, Neriman Cahit, Urkiye Mine Balman, Mehmet Yaşın and Neşe Yaşın.

There is an increasingly strong presence of both temporary and permanent emigre Cypriot writers in world literature, as well as writings by second and third -generation Cypriot writers born or raised abroad, often writing in English. This includes writers such as Stephen Laughton, Michael Paraskos, Stel Pavlou and Stephanos Stephanides.