Alix Norman

They called him Xenios. He was already dead when they found him. He’d been dead for days. Entangled in a single fishing line, he had panicked, struggling for a ...

At first glance, the numbers don’t add up. According to CyStat, the overall number of foreign holiday trips taken by Cyprus residents in 2023 totalled a cool 1.26 million. Which, given ...

Of course you know Kokos – everyone does! He’s been around for decades, a fixture of the Paphos seafront; a celebrity featured on postcards and stamps, in international articles and ...

Every postcard, mug, ashtray or keyring that depicts a map of Cyprus is likely based on the work of one man: an artist who – though forced from the island time ...

“Everywhere in Ayia Napa,” says Lotta, wrinkling her nose in disgust, “there are reps. They get in your face, touch your body…” Not every visitor to Cyprus has a winning ...

Meet Gracie the cat. In the last week alone, she’s reached over 30 million people. She has hundreds of thousands of followers on social media. But, unlike most influencers, she ...

Once upon a time, everyone in Cyprus, as with much of the rest of the world, knew their neighbours. We knew their likes and dislikes, remembered their birthdays and name ...

Under the warm sun of Avgorou, a young girl runs barefoot across the fields. Her feet are caked with red earth; her dress dusty; her hair flies loose. From this ...

In 2010, Stavros Makrides left Cyprus. It was, he thought, a temporary move. “I went to study in the UK,” he reveals. “And I never came back. Why? Because I’d ...

How many Marias do you know? Give yourself a point for each one. Ten points if they’re a Maria Georgiou; together these two make up the most common full ...

People are not always kind to their animals in Cyprus. In the last few months, we’ve seen a dog dragged behind a car, a kitten beheaded in a Yeri ...

What does the world’s most famous cheerleading team have in common with Cyprus? Nothing right? That’s what I thought too – until I sat down to watch Netflix’ newest ...

“Cyprus is completely surreal – a weird, fantastical dream!” We often think of surrealism in art: Dali’s melting clocks and Magritte’s Son of Man, where the familiar meets the ...

Well-behaved dogs, well-maintained roads, and drivers who use their indicators! According to an article, these are the things that Germans living abroad miss most about their homeland. Similar surveys have ...

In the UK, the most popular street names tend to reflect directions, places, and jobs: North Street and West Way; London Road and Manor Place; Mill Lane and Baker Street. ...

“If I don’t leave Cyprus at least once a year, I go insane! Even paradise palls after a while.” This is island fever. Sometimes known as ‘rock fever’, the ...

Most of us tend to think other people are basically having sex left, right and centre. But when it comes to how often your friends have sex, you’re probably ...

Few of us are doing what we wanted to as children, especially in Cyprus. The passions we had when we were kids rarely translate into a sustainable job. And, on ...

You swallow eight spiders a year in your sleep. Cracking your knuckles causes arthritis. Your fingernails grow after you die. We all grew up knowing these things; knowing that elephants ...

This year alone, nearly four million people have already flown into Cyprus! Of our two international airports, Paphos and Larnaca, the latter sees by far the most arrivals: 8,073,932 flew into ...

In Cyprus, the average woman has grown a great deal in the last few decades! In 2024, we’re actually an average size of 44 to 46 – that’s a size 16 to 18 in ...

Few in Cyprus appear to know street names. We all tend to navigate by landmarks – some of which may not have existed in decades! In Nicosia, we still meet friends ...

Things always take a little longer to get to Cyprus. Traffic signals, for example, are still catching on. Online shopping was slow to arrive – it took the pandemic to coax ...

In Cyprus, everyone speaks at least two languages. Well, almost everyone… According to a recent study, 90 per cent of the island speaks two tongues – one of the highest percentages on ...