Some Interesting Facts About Cyprus

Public Holidays

Date 2005 Occasion
January 1 New Year's Day  
January 6 Epiphany
March 14 Green/Clean Monday(start of Lent)
March 25 Greek Independence Day
April 1 EOKA Day
April 29 Orthodox Good Friday 
May 1 May Day
May 2 Orthodox Easter Monday
May 3 Orthodox Easter Tuesday*
August 15 Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary
October 1 Cyprus Independence Day
October 28 Ochi Day
December 25 Christmas Day
December 26 2nd day of Christmas

Weekend - Saturday, Sunday

Weights & Measures

The Metric system is used.

Electricity

Cyprus is a 240 V, 50 HZ land so please do bring along that adaptor with you if need be.

Customs & Duties

The export of antiques is strictly forbidden unless you have a license from the Department of Antiques in Nicosia. Other than that you are allowed to import 250 gms of tobacco, 1 liter of spirit, 0.6 liters of perfume and Cyprus pound 100 worth of other goods.

Post & Communications

The most popular way of calling locally nowadays are the new Telecards, which come in denominations of 3, 5 or 10 pounds and can be bought at a number of locations such as banks and post offices.
For international calls, you can call an AT&T operator at 080-90010.

Tipping

All charges are usually added on in restaurant bills, so don’t bother with extras unless you are especially delighted with the service in which case you dole out an additional 5% or so.

English Language Media

You should be able to get international English newspapers at the big hotels and kiosks, but publications and general media is either in Greek or Turkish.
Buying an elementary pocket translation book wouldn’t be a bad idea.