Airfare Prague Larnaca

Larnaca

Tourism

Larnaca is one of the major seaside resorts in Cyprus. There are numerous beaches in and around Larnaca which extend for approx 25 km (16 mi). The main Phinikoudes and McKenzie beaches both have been awarded Blue Flags for environmental cleanliness.

The archaeological sites and its six museums are in the centre of the town. Summer sports and sea activities are readily available. The shops are well stocked and medical care is good. Since 2001 there is one main six-screen cinema on the edge of the town.

There is a wide variety of restaurants, tavernas, cafeterias and bars catering for varied tastes between 'traditional Irish pub' through international chains like McDonalds to local Cypriot fare. The Cyprus 'meze' is the food specialty of the town. Cultural life is rich and many events are organized by the town's municipality almost daily.

Within the wider Larnaca district there are 9,500 hotel beds, about 10% of the total all island tourist capacity. Along the Larnaca Bay there are luxurious beach hotels and also hotel apartments or holiday apartments within all price ranges. Prices are generally lower from the rest of the island. Its international airport lies a few kilometres from the centre of the town, but because the flight path is over the sea there is almost no audible noise from landing and departing aircraft.

Cyprus

History

As of today, there are 1,534 Greek Cypriots and 502 Turkish Cypriots missing with the events of the summer of 1974 dominating the politics on the island and the Greco-Turkish relations. Around 100,000 settlers is believed to be living in the north from all around Turkey in violation of the Geneva Convention and various UN resolutions. In 1983 Turkish Cypriots proclaimed independence unilaterally with only Turkey recognizing them. As of today the north is under an embargo as a measure against the illegal partition of the island.

Ever since north and south live separate paths. The south is a constitutional democracy which has reached great levels of prosperity, with a booming economy and good infrastructures, part of the United nations, European Union and several others organizations by whom it's recognized as the sole legitimate government of the whole island. The north is overdependent in help from Turkey with a stagnated economy and under a international embargo which doesn't allow it to be accepted in any big international organization. In 2004 the Annan Plan for Cyprus was put to vote but whilst it was accepted by the north, it was rejected by the Greek-Cypriots as it meant in their eyes, endorsing a confederal state with a weak central government and considerable local autonomy.

In July 2006 the island served as a safe haven for people fleeing Lebanon because of the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah. In March 2007, Greek Cypriot authorities demolished a wall that for decades stood at the boundary between the Greek Cypriot controlled side and the UN buffer zone. The wall had cut across Ledra Street in the heart of Nicosia and was seen as a strong symbol of the island's 32-year division. On April 3rd, 2008, Ledra Street was reopened in the presence of Greek and Turkish Cypriot officials.

Geography

The third largest island in the Mediterranean Sea (after Sicily and Sardinia), Cyprus is situated in the eastern Mediterranean, just south of the Anatolian peninsula (or Asia Minor) of the Asian mainland; thus, it is often included in the Middle East (see also Western Asia and Near East). Turkey is 75 kilometres (47 mi) north; other neighbouring countries include Syria and Lebanon to the east, Israel to the southeast, Egypt to the south, and Greece to the westnorthwest.

However, historically, politically and culturally Cyprus is closely aligned with Europe - the Greek Cypriots with Greece and the Turkish Cypriots with Turkey. Historically, Cyprus has been at the crossroads between Europe, Western Asia, and Northern Africa, with lengthy periods of mainly Greek and intermittent Anatolian, Levantine, and British influences. Though these influences may cause some to consider Cyprus as a transcontinental island, such a term is properly applied only to nations whose boundaries straddle more than one continent e.g. Turkey, Russia and Egypt.

The central plain, the Mesaoria, is bordered by the Kyrenia and Pentadactylos mountains to the north and the Troödos mountain range to the south and west. There are also scattered, but significant, plains along the southern coast. The island's highest point is at the summit of Mount Olympus 1,952 metres (6,404 ft), in the heart of the Troödos range.

The major cities in Cyprus are the capital Nicosia (Lefkosia in Greek, Lefko?a in Turkish), Limassol (Lemesos in Greek), Larnaca, Paphos, Famagusta (Gazima?usa or Ma?usa in Turkish, Ammochostos in Greek), and Kyrenia (Girne in Turkish, Kerynia in Greek).

The climate is temperate and Mediterranean with dry summers and variably rainy winters. Summer temperatures range from warm at higher elevations in the Troödos mountains to hot in the lowlands. Winter temperatures are mild at lower elevations, where snow rarely occurs, but are significantly colder in the mountains with sufficient snow for seasonal ski facilities. Dust storms are frequent throughout the year.

Government

Cyprus is a Presidential republic. The head of state and the government is the President, who is elected by the universal surface for a five-year term. Executive power is exercised by the government. Federal legislative power is vested in both the government and the House of Representatives. The Judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature.

The 1960 Constitution provided for a presidential system of government with independent executive, legislative, and judicial branches, as well as a complex system of checks and balances, including a weighted power-sharing ratio designed to protect the interests of the Turkish Cypriots. The executive, was headed by a Greek Cypriot president and a Turkish Cypriot vice president elected by their respective communities for five-year terms and each possessing a right of veto over certain types of legislation and executive decisions. Legislate power rested on the House of Representatives, also elected on the basis of separate voters' rolls. Since 1964, following clashes between the two communities, the Turkish Cypriot seats in the House remain vacant.

After the 1974 invasion of the island by Turkey, Turkish Cypriots established their own separatist institutions - although not recognized by the south or any other country in the world except Turkey - in the north with a popularly elected President and a Prime Minister responsible to the National Assembly exercising joint executive powers. In 1985, the TRNC adopted a constitution and held its first elections.

As of today the House of Representatives has 59 members elected for a five year term, 56 members by proportional representation and 3 observer members representing the Maronite, Latin and Armenian minorities. 24 seats are allocated to the Turkish community but remain empty since 1964. Since the 1974 events the party system is dominated by the communist AKEL, liberal-conservative Democratic Rally the conservative Democratic Party and the social-democratic EDEK.

On 17 February 2008, Dimitris Christofias of the AKEL was elected President of Cyprus, thus marking his party's first electoral victory without being part of a wider coalition, making Cyprus one of only two countries in the world to have a democratically elected communist government (the other being Moldova), and is the only European Union member state currently under communist leadership. Christofias took over government from Tassos Papadopoulos of Democratic Party, who had been in office since February 2003.

Prague

History

In the following two centuries Prague strengthened its role as a merchant city. Many noteworthy Gothic buildings were erected, including the Vladislav Hall of the Prague Castle.

In 1526 the Kingdom of Bohemia was handed over to the House of Habsburg: the fervent Catholicism of its members was to have grievous consequences in Bohemia, and then in Prague, where Protestant ideas were having instead increasing success[citation needed]. These problems were not preeminent under Holy Roman Emperor Rudolf II, elected King of Bohemia in 1576, who chose Prague as his home. He lived in the Prague Castle where he held his bizarre courts of astrologers, magicians, and other strange figures. Rudolf was an art lover too and Prague became the capital of European culture. This was a prosperous period for the city: famous people living there in that age include the astronomers Tycho Brahe and Johann Kepler, the painter Arcimboldo and others.

In 1618 the famous Defenestration of Prague provoked the Thirty Years' War. Ferdinand II of Habsburg was deposed, and his place as King of Bohemia taken by Frederick V, Elector Palatine. But the Czech army was crushed in the Battle of White Mountain (1620), not far from the city, and thenceforth Prague and Bohemia lived a harsh period in which religious tolerance was abolished and Catholic Counter-Reformation became dominant in every aspect of life. In 1621 there was an execution of 27 Czech lords (involved in the Battle of White Mountain) in the Old Town Square. The city suffered also under Saxon (1631) and Swedish (1648) occupation. Moreover, after the Peace of Westphalia of the latter year, Ferdinand moved the court to Vienna, and Prague began a steady decline which reduced the population from the 60,000 it had had in the years before the war to 20,000.

In 1689 a great fire devastated Prague, but this spurred a renovation and a rebuilding of the city. The economic rise continued through the following century, and the city in 1771 had 80,000 inhabitants. Many of these were rich merchants who, together with noblemen of German, Spanish and even Italian origin, enriched the city with a host of palaces, churches and gardens, creating a Baroque style renowned throughout the world. In 1784, under Joseph II, the four municipalities of Malá Strana, Nové M?sto, Staré M?sto and Hradcany were merged into a single entity. The Jewish district, called Josefov, was included only in 1850. The Industrial Revolution had a strong effect in Prague, as factories could take advantage of the coal mines and ironworks of the nearby region. A first suburb, Karlín, was created in 1817, and twenty years later population exceeded 100,000. The first railway connection was built in 1842.

The revolutions that shocked all Europe around 1848 touched Prague too, but they were fiercely suppressed. In the following years the Czech nationalist movement (opposed to another nationalist party, the German one) began its rise, until it gained the majority in the Town Council in 1861.

At the beginning of the 20th century Czech lands were the most productive part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and some Czech politics began with attempts to separate it from Habsburg empire.

World War I ended with the defeat of the Austrian Empire and the creation of Czechoslovakia. Prague was chosen as its capital and Prague Castle as the seat of president (Tomás Masaryk). At this time Prague was a true European capital with a very developed industry. In 1930 the population had risen to a startling 850,000.

Hitler ordered Germany's army to enter Prague on 15 March 1939 and from Prague Castle proclaimed Bohemia and Moravia a German protectorate. For most of its history Prague had been a multiethnic city with important Czech, German, and (mostly Czech- and/ or German-speaking) Jewish populations. The Czech Jews did not speak Yiddish. From 1939, when the country was occupied by Nazi Germany, and during World War II, most Jews either fled the city or were killed in the Holocaust. The German population, which had formed the majority of the city's inhabitants until the 19th century, was expelled in the aftermath of the war. In 1942 Prague was witness to the assassination of one of the most powerful men in Nazi Germany - Reinhard Heydrich (during Operation Anthropoid). Hitler ordered bloody reprisals. At the end of the war Prague suffered a bombing raid by the U.S. Air Force by mistake (the target was Dresden, 83 miles away). Hundreds of people were killed and some important buildings and factories were destroyed. Prague had revolted against the Nazi occupants as early as 5 May 1945 (see Prague uprising). Four days later the Soviet army entered the city. After this fierce acts of revenge against the German minority of the city were perpetrated and many German civilians were killed by Czech militias until the government slowly put an end to these acts of revenge. The surviving Germans were deported from Prague to West Germany .

Prague was a city in the territory of military and political control of Soviet Union (see Iron Curtain). It, however, suffered under the totalitarian regime, in spite of the rather careful program of rebuilding and caring of the damaged monuments after World War II. The 4th Czechoslovakian Writers' Congress held in the city in 1967 took a strong position against the regime. This spurred the new secretary of the Communist Party, Alexander Dub?ek to proclaim a new deal in his city's and country's life, starting the short-lived season of the "socialism with a human face". It was the Prague Spring, which aimed at the renovation of institutions in a democratic way. The Soviet Union and its allies reacted with the invasion of Czechoslovakia and the capital in August 1968 by 7,000 tanks, suppressing any attempt at renovation.

Czech Republic

History

Slovakia and Subcarpathian Rus gained greater autonomy, with the state renamed to "Czecho-Slovakia" (The Second Republic; see Occupation of Czechoslovakia). Slovakia seceded in March 1939 and allied itself with Hitler's coalition. The remaining Czech territory was occupied by Germany, transformed it into the so-called Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia. The Protectorate was proclaimed part of the Third Reich, and President and Prime Minister were subordinate to the Nazi Reichsprotektor ("imperial protector"). Subcarpathian Rus declared independence as the Republic of Carpatho-Ukraine on 15 March 1939 but was invaded by Hungary the same day and formally annexed on 16 March. Approximately 390,000 Czechoslovak citizens, including 83,000 Jews, were killed or executed, and hundreds of thousands of others were sent to prisons and concentration camps or as forced labour. A Nazi concentration camp existed at Terezin to the north of Prague. There was Czech resistance to Nazi occupation both home and abroad, most notably with the assassination of leading Nazi leader Reinhard Heydrich in Prague suburbs on May 27, 1942. The Czechoslovak government-in-exile and its army fighting against the Germans were acknowledged by Allies (Czechoslovak troops fought in Great Britain, North Africa, Middle East and Soviet Union). The occupation ended on 9 May 1945 with the arrival of Soviet and American armies and the Prague uprising.

In 1945-46 almost the entire German minority of Czechoslovakia, about 2.7 million people, were expelled to Germany and Austria. During this time, thousands of Germans were held in prisons, detention camps, and used as forced labour. In the summer of 1945, there were several massacres. Only 250,000 Germans who had been active in the resistance against the Nazis or were necessary for the economy were not expelled, though many of them emigrated later. Following a Soviet-organised referendum, the Subcarpathian Rus has never returned under Czechoslovak rule and became part of the Ukrainian SSR, as the Zakarpattia Oblast in 1946.

Czechoslovakia uneasily tried to play the role of a "bridge" between the West and East. However, the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia rapidly increased in popularity, particularly because of a general disappointment with the West (due to the pre-war Munich Agreement) and a favourable popular attitude towards the Soviet Union (due to the Soviets' role in liberating Czechoslovakia from German rule). In the 1946 elections, with 38% of the votes, the Communists became the largest party in the Czechoslovak parliament. They formed a coalition government with other parties of the National Front, and moved quickly to consolidate power. The decisive step took place in February 1948. During a series of events characterized by Communists as a "revolution" and by anti-Communists as a "takeover", the Communist People's Militias secured control of key locations in Prague, and a new, all-Communist government was formed.

For the next forty-one years, Czechoslovakia was a Communist state within the eastern bloc (see Czechoslovakia: 1948-1989). This period was marked by a variety of social developments. The Communist government completely nationalized the means of production and established a command economy. The economy grew rapidly during the 1950s and 1960s, but slowed down in the 1970s with increasing problems during the 1980s. The political climate was highly repressive during the 1950s (including numerous show trials), but became more open and tolerant in the 1960s, culminating in Alexander Dub?ek's leadership in the 1968 Prague Spring that tried to create "socialism with a human face" and perhaps even introduce political pluralism. This was forcibly ended by 21 August 1968 Warsaw Pact invasion. From then until 1989, the political establishment returned to censorship of opposition, though using more "carrot" than "whip" policy to ensure the populace's passivity.

In November 1989, Czechoslovakia returned to democracy through a peaceful "Velvet Revolution". However, Slovak national aspirations strengthened until on January 1, 1993, the country peacefully split into the independent Czech Republic and Slovakia. Both countries went through economic reforms and privatisations, with the intention of creating a market economy.

From 1991 the Czech Republic (originally as part of Czechoslovakia, and now in its own right) has been a member of the Visegrad Group and from 1995 of the OECD. The Czech Republic joined NATO on March 12, 1999 and the European Union on May 1, 2004.

Geography

The Czech landscape is quite varied. Bohemia to the west consists of a basin, drained by the Elbe (Czech: Labe) and the Vltava rivers, and surrounded by mostly low mountains such as the Krkonose range of the Sudetes. The highest point in the country, the Snka, at 1,602 m (5,262 ft), is located here. Moravia, the eastern part of the country, is also quite hilly. It is drained mainly by the Morava River, but it also contains the source of the Oder (Czech: Odra) River. Water from the landlocked Czech Republic flows to three different seas: the North Sea, Baltic Sea and Black Sea. The Czech Republic also leases the Moldauhafen, a 30,000-square-metre (7.4-acre) lot in the middle of the Hamburg Docks, which was awarded to Czechoslovakia by Article 363 of the Treaty of Versailles to allow the landlocked country a place where goods transported downriver could be transferred to seagoing ships. The territory reverts to Germany in 2028.

The Czech Republic has a temperate, continental climate with relatively hot summers and cold, cloudy winters, usually with snow. Most rains are during the summer. The temperature difference between summers and winters is relatively high due to its landlocked geographical position.

Even within the Czech Republic, temperatures vary greatly depending on the elevation. In general, at higher altitudes the temperatures decrease and precipitation increases. Another important factor is the distribution of the mountains. The climate therefore is very varied.