Why lack of policy is destroying Limassol
Limassol is not one of the most expensive towns in the world yet (by the way have you seen the Mercer’s 2007 list?) but surely, if it continues to develop as energetically as now, within next 10 years it will get there. At least, this is true in theory since the town has all the ingredients to achieve the success: 1) it is on the seaside; 2) it has a booming shipping industry; 3) it has a wealthy international community (think of all those Russians); 4) it is popular with tourists; 5) it has a beautiful old town with some of the most spectacular old mansions I have seen on the island that at present are still underused; 6) and finally it has great potential for the development and improvement of all of the above.
So, hypothetically, Limassol could soon equal Moscow and London (on the house price level it is already getting close) providing that the above ingredients mix together well rather than turning into a big and, unfortunately, fragile bubble, which is also very possible. I am not going to elaborate here on how this could be caused by the ingredients number one, two and three simply because I don’t have enough expertise. But I would like to talk about the ingredients four, five and six because since they were main subject of my interest while I wandered around the town I have something to say on the subject. And don’t worry, I am not going to repeat what I have already written in my article on the following pages (well, not quite).
As we all know, Cyprus has one of the ugliest tourism industries in Europe that unfortunately only very rarely has anything to do with the words ‘common sense’ and ‘aesthetics’. In Limassol, obviously, the worst part of it is the so-called tourist area around Galatex. The area around the Carob Mill is, on the other hand, considered pretty. I am not going to dispute that but I still don’t understand why in this land of nicely renovated restaurants some of them are only well-maintained on the ground floor but their upper levels are crumbling. Come on guys, even if some of them are really Turkish Cypriot and only rented to you on a temporary basis don’t you feel the need to at least repaint them to feel better about your working premises?
And even if this is not the case, don’t you think that foreign visitors would probably aesthetically appreciate such a gesture?
The other subject of my constant wonder in Limassol was how it is possible that both the municipality and the CTO have nothing against the fact that the most majestic buildings in, for instance, Ayios Andreas Street are occupied by shops selling the worst crap available.
In any normal place, the ground floor shops of such mansions would house the most expensive fashion boutiques while the upper floors would be occupied by the most luxurious apartments. In Limassol, however, both are mostly filled with rubbish. While I am not really for having the place turned into New Bond Street, I have just one question: isn’t it time for the municipality to design a more effective policy on how to deal with such properties? Limassol is full of interesting shops and some of them, for various reasons, use truly unattractive premises. Maybe, with a few incentives, they would be interested in moving to the more historic location and making Ayios Andreas more attractive, not only for tourists but also local residents.
The third thing that really struck me in the old town was the total lack of any interesting publications on its subject, not only in the souvenir shops (some of which claim to be bookshops as well) but also in a place much more respectable, ie the castle. The castle was actually a real disappointment because it houses a lovely collection of medieval tomb stones from all over the island, some of them very interesting, but has no book on the subject apart from a two-volume, five-kilo publication in French for about £80. But, of course, this is a detail. What is more important, apart from one badly-printed leaflet, the castle shop (if one can call it a shop) has nothing either in its collection about the whole old town, not to mention something as obvious as a good map of the area. I have been told that a few years ago, the Cyprus Conservation Foundation produced a brochure that mapped important artisans from the old town, and guided visitors on a historic walk there. The map was offered to the municipality for use but for unexplained reasons it has never been reprinted hence the current void, aka bubble although not of a huge economic standards. It is just a bubble full of thoughtlessness.
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