Cyprus is incredible beauty island, situated among the water sheet of the Eastern Mediterranean. It occupies an area of 9250 sq.km. and has population of around 785 000 people. Geographically, the island is part of Asia, but from cultural point of view, Cyprus is part of Europe. Since 2004 the island is a member of the European Union. Official language of the island is Greek. The English is the second official language.
The island is former possession of the United Kingdom. It is called “the little England” because of its similarity with the Great Britain. One of the 
similarities is the driving on the left side.
Cyprus enjoys a hot subtropical climate with a large number of sunny days per year. It was claimed that Cyprus and the Canary Islands are the places with the best climate in the world. The winter of this island is short – it lasts from the end of December to the end of January i.e. two months. Usually in this part of the year falls the main part of the precipitation. Nevertheless, the weather in the winter is not cold. The daily temperatures in the winter is around 17 – 18 °C. In comparison with the climate in the northern part of Europe, the conditions in Cyprus are absolutely different. The period between March and December offer a lot of sun shine and daily temperatures around 25 °C (in the spring and in the autumn) and more than 30 °C in the summer months. Only these two winter months make the climate to be not tropical, but subtropical. The beach season lasts from March to December. In March 
the sea water is cool, but one month later is warm enough for swimming. But the warm and sunny weather on the coast is absolutely different in comparison by the weather in the 
mountains. In the high parts of the mountains can be formed deep snow cover in the winter months. The winter in the mountains is colder and longer. In the Trodos mountains you can find coolness and freshness even in the summer. The precipitations are more significant and fall all year round. The difference between the coast and interior is not only presented by the different climate conditions. While on the coast you can find luxury hotels and villas with swimming pools, in the interior of the country the landscape is dominated mainly of picturesque villages that have not changed their life style in the last centuries. Many tourists from Britain, Russia, Germany, Canada and USA after their visiting the island decide to settle permanently in Cyprus. And this is not only because of the perfect Mediterranean climate. The atmosphere in Cyprus is calm and quiet, and the without serious criminality. 
In some places that are aside of the touristic routs even can be solitude. The accommodation and the service in the hotels in Cyprus are irreproachable because Cyprians have a lot of experience in the tourism. Cyprian cuisine and wines are not to be missed. In Cyprus prevails the seafood, like in most of the places around the Mediterranean. In many places on the island the preparing of wine is traditional and the without changes in the last centuries. The natives press the grape by feet because to safe the aromatic and gustatory quality.
The biggest cities on the island are Limasol, Larnaka, the capital Nikozia, Paphos and Kirenia. On the west coast is situated Paphos, on the south is Limasol. Larnaka is situated on the south – east coast of the island and Kirenia is on the north shore. Nikozia is not situated on 
the coast.
Cyprus is called “the island of Aphrodite”. In the sea, not far from the shore in the area of Paphos you can see a scale. When, the waves meat the rock is forming, a sea foam. In this sea foam was born Aphrodite – the goddess of love and beauty. The island is full of ancient Greek 
landmarks. Don’t forget the temple of Apolon that offers incredible view to the Mediterranean. The vegetation of the island is strongly influenced by the human activity. In times gone by, the island was covered by lush forest, but today because of the uncontrolled forest clearing for centuries, you can find lush forest only in the mountains. Around the coast you can find only secondary bush plant, citruses, olive trees, banana palms, date palms and so on. The coasts of the island are very different. In some places the coast is rocky and steep, but in other places you can find beautiful beaches. The beaches can be covered by pebbles or sand. The sand can be white, yellow or brawn. Overall the island offer great diversity of landscapes in small territory and this make Cyprus to be charm and picturesque.
The nature is very clean, especially in comparison with the big economic centers in Western Europe. The Cyprus 
economy is based mainly on 
the tourism and the agriculture. This is the main reason for the saving of the atmospheric air cleanness.
The problems of Cyprus. Sunny, calm and incredible beautiful, Cyprus is magnetic for the millions of American, European and Russian tourists. But the paradise island has its dark side. In the 1974 Turkish illegal occupies the northern part of the island. They founded Turkish Cyprian Republic. The international community strongly condemns this action and refused to recognize the division of the island. Today Greek Cyprus and Turkish Cyprus are divided by a border that is guarded by soldiers of UN. Nikozia is divided in two parts through marking. From 2004 Greek Cyprus is a member of the European Union. From the big cities on the territory of Greek Cyprus are Paphos, Limasol and Larnaka. On the territory of Turkish Cyprus is Kirenia.
For the capital Nikozia we sad, that it is situated on the border. When the Turkish have occupied the north part of the island, thousands of Greek Cyprians left their homes. Many of these homes are untouched and they look as in 1974.
Today Cyprians try gradually, through diplomatic and a lot of desire to unite again this paradise island. This is possible, but very difficult.
