Cyprus situation.

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kg1
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Cyprus situation.

Post by kg1 »

Is anyone out there in Southern Cyprus? My son and girlfriend are holidaying in Pathos from 5 April. Just wondered how the tourists are managing at the moment getting cash and using credit cards. Thank you.

P.S. ignore my name - we are in the UK!
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CSE
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Post by CSE »

Who knows what it will be like on the 4th as that is 11 days away.
here is the latest news.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/2 ... f=business

PS I assume you mean Paphos
Never try to out-stubborn your guests.
kg1
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Post by kg1 »

Paphos yes sorry :oops:

Just wondered if anyone was there. What's actually happening on the ground is usually more informative than the news-thanks for the link though.
tavi
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Post by tavi »

http://www.fco.gov.uk/en/travel-and-liv ... ope/cyprus

see the UK Foreign Office travel advisories pages - usually fairly up to date afaik.
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PW in Polemi
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Location: A village in Paphos, Cyprus

Post by PW in Polemi »

Hi Kyreniagirl

Your son & girlfriend should bring as much cash as they can and not rely on cards at the moment. Many businesses are not accepting cheques or cards because the banking system is not working, and they need the cash from their customers to pay their suppliers. The banks may be back to work by the time they arrive, but the banking union is threatening a strike by Laiki and Bank of Cyprus employees which may prevent staff at other banks from going to work. :(

If your son & girlfriend can bring small denomination euro notes, all the better because with the banks closed, although the ATMs are working (to a fairly low limit per day), they dish out 20 and 50 euro notes and the shops/restaurants/cafes etc cannot get change from the closed banks!

I'm sure they'll have a lovely holiday, particularly if they venture away from the touristy area of Paphos :lol:
Dogs have masters. Cats have slaves!
tavi
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Post by tavi »

gawd, sounds terrible.

do hope things improve soon for all.
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PW in Polemi
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Location: A village in Paphos, Cyprus

Post by PW in Polemi »

Yeah, it's not been the best 2 weeks of my life so far :roll:

However, things could be a lot worse. We're not in Syria being bombed. We're not suffering mudslides, snow blizzards or torrential rain. The sun shines on most days and heats our hot water for free :lol: I've just been given another carrier bag full of lemons so will make another (very) lemon cake and more (very) lemon curd. The tulips are just coming into flower in our village
http://www.cyprus-mail.com/cyprus/celeb ... i/20120408
but we've not heard anything about the festival yet - I guess the organisers have their minds on other things :roll: :D
Dogs have masters. Cats have slaves!
aasta
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Post by aasta »

:D
aasta
Afrique
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Post by Afrique »

Love the positivity PW, hats off to you and can I have a slice of lemon cake please. :D :D
booboo
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Post by booboo »

Afrique wrote:Love the positivity PW, hats off to you and can I have a slice of lemon cake please. :D :D
:) That's just what I was thinking and I loveeeee lemon cake!!

I hope it works out soon for you all, they say Slovenia is next on the cards :roll:
kg1
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Post by kg1 »

PW in Polemi wrote:Hi Kyreniagirl

Your son & girlfriend should bring as much cash as they can and not rely on cards at the moment. Many businesses are not accepting cheques or cards because the banking system is not working, and they need the cash from their customers to pay their suppliers. The banks may be back to work by the time they arrive, but the banking union is threatening a strike by Laiki and Bank of Cyprus employees which may prevent staff at other banks from going to work. :(

If your son & girlfriend can bring small denomination euro notes, all the better because with the banks closed, although the ATMs are working (to a fairly low limit per day), they dish out 20 and 50 euro notes and the shops/restaurants/cafes etc cannot get change from the closed banks!

I'm sure they'll have a lovely holiday, particularly if they venture away from the touristy area of Paphos :lol:
Thank you so much for the advice. I will tell them small. euro notes. Luckily they are booked for breakfast and evening meal so providing the hotel actually has food or the money to pay it's supplier's they will only have lunch to buy.
I would be very grateful if you could post or pm me if the situation changes for the worse or better. Many thanks.
terrygross
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Cyprus

Post by terrygross »

Just had a Facebook update from a tavern owner in Paphos he says in the tourist area not much is different, atms still work the Brits are still on the beach and the wine is still flowing. And the crisis has been going on for years.
I wish we did not have to work, I am sure we can all think of better ways to spend our time
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PW in Polemi
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Post by PW in Polemi »

Banks are open today, albeit at strange hours. They are only letting 3 people inside at a time, so one or 2 banks we passed this morning had 3 or 4 people waiting outside rather than queuing inside. No riots, no problems. All quite quiet in Paphos, even down on Tomb of the Kings road, a major touristy area. However, as the tourist season does not really get going until after Easter, it's not so surprising - the Greek Orthodox Easter is not for another month!

Kyreniagirl, your son & gf will be fine, they probably won't even notice anything has been wrong with the banking system. People are getting cash from ATMs and now that the banks are working again, banking transfers are going ahead and credit/debit cards are being taken, although 2 out of 3 shops we visited this morning preferred to take our Hellenic debit card rather than the Bank of Cyprus one! :shock: :lol:

I don't know about hotels/restaurants in Paphos town, but the tavernas up here in the hills have had no problems with getting food - and a lot of them shop in the same supermarkets as we do since Cyprus does not seem to have a wholesalers for the trade. The 2 supermarkets we visited this morning were well stocked and had plenty of customers.
Dogs have masters. Cats have slaves!
kg1
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Post by kg1 »

PW. Thank you very much for the update. They are feeling more confident now especially as the reopening of the banks was so calm and orderly. They will still take small euro notes. Which us sensible. They will probably come back as ask what all the fuss is about! Thanks again, there's nothing quite like an ear on the ground.
KathyG
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Post by KathyG »

A friend of mine has just arrived back from Cyprus (Larnaca) today and he said you wouldn't know that there were any problems there. Banks, ATMs, stores all as normal.
Kathy
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