The Edge’s
Where we’ve been...
Known as the Island of Love, Cyprus
was the birthplace of Aphrodite,
the goddess of love who was said
to have stepped from the sea onto
the island. Even one of the greatest
love stories in history has a Cyprus
connection. It’s said that the lovestruck Antony gave the isle as a gift
to his beautiful Cleopatra.
My love of this historic Mediterranean
island stems back to the late 1970s when
I first went there as a boy. My father at
that time was in the RAF and we had
been posted to Akrotiri on the county’s
southernmost tip.
I still remember to this day the wave of
immense heat that hit me as I first stepped
out of the plane into the midday Cypriot
sun, it was like opening an oven door.
We spent three years there at that time
and my memories are mostly of finishing
the school day at 1pm (we started early)
and jumping on the beach bus to spend
all afternoon at Buttons Bay beach.
Happy days!
Seven years ago my parents decided to sell
up here in the UK and move back to Cyprus
and every year I try to get out to see them
and check on how they are squandering
my